Learn Hausa

Where it's spoken

Northern Nigeria, Niger, Ghana, Chad, Cameroon

Speakers

around 80 million including second-language speakers

Writing system

Latin alphabet (Boko), historically also Arabic script (Ajami)

Hausa is the trade language of the Sahel and the language of major regional broadcasters, so it travels much further than its home region.

What makes Hausa different

• Hausa uses hooked letters ɓ, ɗ and ƙ for sounds English does not have.
• It is tonal, with high, low and falling tones.
• Long and short vowels are different words, so vowel length matters.

Your first Hausa phrases

Each phrase is written the way it's spelled, then respelled for English speakers with the stressed syllable in capitals.

• SannuHello/SAN-noo/
• Na godeThank you/na GO-deh/
• Barka da zuwaWelcome/BAR-ka da ZOO-wa/
• Sai an jimaGoodbye/sigh an-JEE-ma/
• IiYes/EE/
• A'aNo/AH-ah/
• Don AllahPlease/don al-LAH/
• Yi haƙuriSorry/yee ha-KOO-ree/

Want the full list? Read the free Hausa phrasebook with pronunciation, grab the free printable Hausa starter kit, or compare SemaSoma with other African language apps.