Useful phrases in Hausa

A collection of useful phrases in Hausa, a Chadic language spoken mainly in Nigeria and Niger.

See these phrases in any combination of two languages in the Phrase Finder. If you can provide recordings, corrections or additional translations, please contact me.

Key to abbreviations: >m = said to males, >f said to females

English	ḥawsa (Hausa) حَوْسَ
Welcome	Sannu da zuwa
Hello (General greeting)	Sannu Salama alaikum A gaishai ka Amin. Alaikum salam (reply)
How are you?	Kana lahiya? (>m) Kina lahiya? (>f)
Reply to 'How are you?'	Lafiya (good) Lafiya lau (fine) Lafiya ƙalau (very good)
Long time no see	Kwana biyu
What's your name?	Mi sunanka? (>m) Mi sunanki? (>f)
My name is ...	Sunana ...
Where are you from?	Daga ina ka fito?
I'm from ...	Na fito daga ...
Pleased to meet you	Ina farin cikin haduwa da kai
Good morning (Morning greeting)	Ina kwana? (How did you sleep?) Lahiya lau (reply - in health)
Good afternoon (Afternoon greeting)	Barka da yamma
Good evening (Evening greeting)	Barka da yamma
Good night	Allah ya ba mu alheri Mu kwana lafiya
Goodbye (Parting phrases)	Sai sannu Sai an jima Sai gobe
Good luck!	Allah ya ba da sa'a
Cheers! Good Health! (Toasts used when drinking)
Have a nice day
Bon appetit / Have a nice meal	A ci abinci lafiya
Bon voyage / Have a good journey	Sauka lafiya (arrive safely)
Do you understand?	Kana jin harshen? Ka gane? (>m) Kin gane? (>f)
I understand	Na gani
I don't understand	Ban gane ba
Yes	Eh
No	A'a
Maybe	Watakila
I don't know	Ban sani ba
Please speak more slowly	Fadi sannu sannu
Please say that again	Dan Allah kara fada
Please write it down	Dan Allah rubuta
Do you speak English?	Kana jin harshen turanci kuwa?
Do you speak Hausa?	Kana jin harshen Hausa?
Yes, a little (reply to 'Do you speak ...?')	Eh, kadan kadan
How do you say ... in Hausa?	Yaya zakace ... da Hausa
Excuse me	Gafara dai
How much is this?	Nawa ne?
Sorry	Sannu barka Yi hak'uri
Please	Don Allah
Thank you	Na gode
Reply to thank you	Ba kome
Where's the toilet / bathroom?	I na makewayi ya ke?
This gentleman will pay for everything	Wannan mutumin zai biya komai
This lady will pay for everything	Wannan matar zata biya komai
Would you like to dance with me?	Zaka so kayi rawa da ni (>m) Zaki so kiyi rawa da ni (>f)
Do you come here often?	Kana zuwa nan sosai?
I miss you	Ina madaicin ka (>m) Ina madaicin ki (>f)
I love you	Ina son ka (>m) Ina son ki (>f)
Get well soon	Allah ya kawo sauki
Go away!	Tafi daga nan! Bar nan!
Leave me alone!	Rabida ni! Kyale ni!
Help!	Taimaka!
Fire!	Wuta!
Stop!	Tsaya! Dakata!
Call the police!	Kira yan sanda!
Christmas greetings	Barka da Kirsimatikuma
New Year greetings	Barka da sabuwar shekara
Birthday greetings	Barka da sabon shekera
Congratulations!	Taya murna!
One language is never enough	Yare daya bazai isa ba
My hovercraft is full of eels	Jirgina a cike yake da bano

If you would like to make any corrections or additions to this page, or if you can provide recordings, please contact me.

Hausa pages

Information about Hausa | Phrases | Numbers | Tower of Babel

Links

Other collections of Hausa phrases
http://wikitravel.org/en/Hausa_phrasebook
http://mylanguages.org/hausa_phrases.php
http://www.lrc.columbia.edu/ha/ha10000/vocab/dailyexp
http://multimedia.peacecorps.gov/multimedia/audio/languagelessons/niger/NE_Hausa_Language_Lessons.pdf

Phrases in other languages

[top]

Talk in Arabic - Learn Egyptian, Iraqi, Levantine, Sudanese, Moroccan, Algerian, Tunisian or Saudi Arabic

You can support this site by Buying Me A Coffee, via PayPal or Patreon, or by contributing in other ways.

If you find all the adverts annoying, there is now an Ad-free version of Omniglot which you can access for a small monthly or annual donation.

Note: all links on this site to Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.fr are affiliate links. This means I earn a commission if you click on any of them and buy something. So by clicking on these links you can help to support this site.

[top]