HAUSA 101: LESSON 1 - by Ibn Abdullah 🦁

Good day, class. Welcome to Hausa 101. I am your lecturer, Professor Farouq, and over the coming weeks I shall be introducing you to the rich and beautiful Hausa language. Please take your seats. Open your notebooks. For today's lesson, we'll begin with some simple greetings. PSYCHE!!! Forget greetings. Let's talk insultssss (Evil lecturer laugh.) "There is no superior way to acquaint oneself to a new language than by first mastering the harshest, cruellest and most abusive expressions said language has to offer". - William Shakespeare (I so did not make that up) Now then... Let's begin. Lesson One: The Starter Pack You've probably heard these before. - Shege- Wawa- Uwarka- Ubanka- Dan Iska- Dan Burauba (type shii) But have you ever stopped to ask... "What do these actually mean?" Congratulations. Wonder no more for I will educate you. Shege: We'll start with the classic. Shege literally means a bastard—a child born out of wedlock. The feminine form is Shegiya. Some literal examples: Tana dauke da cikin shegeShe is pregnant with a bastard Yarinyar shegiya ce.The girl is a bastard Shegen yaro.Bastard boy. Pretty straightforward. Literal Now let's see how it's used artistically as insult Exhibit A A thief has just been caught. One angry man lands a solid 2×2 on the back of his head. "Shege barawo!" Translation? "You thieving bastard!" Exhibit B A stubborn child has successfully tested the patience of his parents for the seventeenth time that day. "Shegen yaro! Tafi ka bar nan!" "Bastard boy! Get out of here!" Another common expression is: Dan Shegiya Literally, "Child of a bastard." Since Shegiya is feminine, it specifically implies your mother is the bastard. Which makes it absolutely hilarious whenever parents call their own children shege given the implications. Dan Iska / 'Yar Iska This one is my favourite. Because translating it literally makes almost no sense. Dan Iska Literally means... Son of the Wind. 'Yar Iska Daughter of the Wind. 'Yan Iska Children of the Wind. Take that, Tomi AdeyemiWho needs Children of Blood and Bone when you've got children of wind!!!!! So what does it actually mean? Well... It depends. This is one of those wonderfully flexible Hausa insults. Generally it refers to someone who is bad, wayward, shameless, mischievous or morally questionable... But the exact flavour depends entirely on context. Example 1 Two friends are walking together. A beautiful woman walks past. One whispers something utterly obscene. The other sighs. "Kai dan iska ne fa." Translation? "Bro... You're such a pervert." Example 2 Khadijan can? Yarinyar 'yar iska ce.» "That Khadija? That girl is shameless." Example 3 Yaron nan baya jin magana. Dan iska ne. "That boy never listens. He's a proper rascal." Ubanka & Uwarka This is easy. Ubanka Your father/your papa Uwarka Your mother/your mama Simple. Effective. Vanilla. Yet somehow capable of triggering an exchange of fists. Then there's Wawa Wawa Fool. Female? Wawiya. Because Hausa looked at nouns and decided, "Everyone gets a gender." Examples? Jaki – Male donkey Jaka – Female donkey Alade – Pig Aladiya – Female pig Bunsuru – Billy goat (specifically the thickly bearded one) Everybody gets grammatical gender. Lol There's also Sakarai Basically... An imbecile. Not just stupid. Professionally stupid. Stupid pro-max If stupidity were a degree, this person graduated with First Class. Katsina people, for reasons only they understand, seem particularly fond of this one. The Weird Insults Sometimes Hausa insults make perfect sense. Other times... they absolutely do not. For example: Gidan ku "Your house." Apparently... your house itself is offensive. Then we have Kwanon gidan ku "The plate in your house." Why? Don't ask me. I'm only the professor. The Final Boss Now... The one we've all heard. Burauba. Or its many upgraded forms: - Kutuman Burauba!- Buraubanka!- Dan Burauba! Most people don't even use it as an insult anymore. It's become an all-purpose exclamation. You nearly get hit by a car. Kutuman Burauba! Your barber messss up your hairline Kutuman Burauba! Ten million naira mysteriously enters your account. Kutuman Burauba! Ten million mysteriously leaves your account. Kutuman Burauba! Now... What does it actually mean? Ahem. There are various colourful street explanations for this expression, and this is the one most people grow up hearing. Uba means father. Bura... ...let's just say refers to a certain male anatomical feature. That which shall not be named I'll leave the rest to your imagination. So when people say: Buraubanka They're saying, "Your father's..." You know what. And Dan BuraubaLiterally becomes something along the lines of "Son of your father's..." You know what. Which, if you think about it... is technically how all of us got here. Isn't language just beautiful? Before You Go... Yes. There is a female equivalent.That one is unspeakable Utter it and your life may be forfeit No be for my mouth you go hear that one oooo Lesson over! In conclusion: 1. Do not call your parents shege. (Try am na)2. Do not test today's vocabulary on random strangers. (You can if you want)3. Hausa 101 accepts no responsibility for any slaps, beatings, disownments or lawsuits resulting from misuse of today's lesson.You have been warned! Class dismissed.Professor Farouq out!!!! I will be back!!!;Await my return!!!!!

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