category: Pronouns

subcategory: Personal Pronouns

description: Personal pronouns in Zarma are invariable across nominative, objective, and possessive cases.

zarma: ay

english: I, me, my

zarma: ni

english: you, your (singular)

zarma: a (nga)

english: he, she, it; his, her, its

zarma: iri (ir)

english: we, us, our

zarma: araŋ

english: you (plural), your

zarma: i (ngey, ey)

english: they, them, their


subcategory: Demonstrative Pronouns

description: Demonstrative pronouns indicate specific items; 'din' suffix can be added to nouns for specificity.

zarma: wo

english: this, that

zarma: wey

english: these, those


subcategory: Indefinite Pronouns

description: Indefinite pronouns refer to non-specific entities.

zarma: boro

english: someone, one (person)

zarma: hay kulu

english: everything

zarma: hay fo

english: something


category: Nouns

subcategory: Definite Article

description: Definite articles are expressed by adding 'a' or 'o' to the noun based on its ending.

ending: a

rule: add 'a' (e.g., zanka → zankaa)

exceptions: Pre-1999 texts may not change

ending: o

rule: change to 'a' or add 'a' (e.g., wayboro → waybora)

ending: ko

rule: change to 'kwa' (e.g., darbayko → darbaykwa)

ending: e, i, u, consonant

rule: change to 'o' or add 'o' (e.g., wande → wando)

ending: ay

rule: change 'ay' to 'a' or add 'o' (e.g., farkay → farka or farkayo)

zarma: zanka → zankaa

english: a child → the child

zarma: wayboro → waybora

english: a woman → the woman

zarma: darbayko → darbaykwa

english: a fisherman → the fisherman

zarma: hansi → hanso

english: a dog → the dog

zarma: farkay → farka

english: a donkey → the donkey


subcategory: Definite Plural

description: Definite plural is formed by replacing the definite singular vowel with 'ey'.

pattern: Replace final vowel with 'ey' (e.g., zankaa → zankey)

zarma: zankaa → zankey

english: the child → the children

zarma: hanso → hansey

english: the dog → the dogs

zarma: farka → farkey

english: the donkey → the donkeys


subcategory: Indefinite Article

description: No explicit indefinite article; 'fo' (one) is used to specify 'a certain' or 'one'.

pattern: Add 'fo' after noun for specificity (e.g., musu → musu fo)

zarma: musu

english: a cat

zarma: musu fo

english: a (certain) cat, one cat


subcategory: Gender

description: No grammatical gender; specific words indicate male/female for living beings.

zarma: alboro

english: man

zarma: wayboro

english: woman


category: Verbs

subcategory: Completed Action (Past Tense)

description: Verbs without auxiliaries indicate completed actions (past tense).

pattern: Subject + Verb (e.g., ay neera)

zarma: ay neera

english: I sold

zarma: a neera

english: he/she sold

zarma: zankaa kani

english: the child went to bed


subcategory: Uncompleted Action (Future Tense)

description: Future tense uses auxiliary 'ga' before the verb.

pattern: Subject + ga + Verb (e.g., ay ga neera)

zarma: ay ga neera

english: I will sell

zarma: i ga neera

english: they will sell


subcategory: Continuous Aspect

description: Continuous aspect uses 'go no ga' before the verb for ongoing actions.

pattern: Subject + go no ga + Verb (e.g., ay go no ga neera)

zarma: ay go no ga neera

english: I am selling

zarma: a go no ga neera

english: he/she is selling


subcategory: Subjunctive

description: Subjunctive uses 'ma' to indicate possible actions.

pattern: Subject + ma + Verb (e.g., ay ma neera)

zarma: ay ma neera

english: I should sell

zarma: ni ma neera

english: you should sell


subcategory: Imperative

description: Imperative uses 'ma' or 'wa' before the verb, or just the verb alone.

pattern: [Ma/Wa] + Verb or Verb alone (e.g., Ma haŋ or Haŋ)

zarma: Haŋ!

english: Drink!

zarma: Ma haŋ!

zarma: Araŋ ma di!

english: You (plural) see!


subcategory: To Be

description: The verb 'to be' varies by context: 'go', 'ya...no', or 'ga ti'.

zarma: A go fu

english: He/she is at home

zarma: Ay ya alfa no

english: I am a teacher

zarma: Nga ga ti wayboro

english: She is a woman


subcategory: Irregular Verbs

description: Some verbs place objects unusually (e.g., direct object before verb without 'na').

zarma: Ay di a

english: I saw him/her

zarma: A ne ay se

english: He/she said to me


category: Adjectives

subcategory: Qualifying Adjectives

description: Adjectives follow the noun they modify.

pattern: Noun + Adjective (e.g., fu beeri)

zarma: fu beeri

english: a big house

zarma: hansi kayna

english: a small dog


category: Sentence Structure

subcategory: Basic Order

description: Basic sentence order is Subject-Verb-Object (SVO).

pattern: S + V + O (e.g., Ay neera bari)

zarma: Ay neera bari

english: I sold a horse


subcategory: Direct Object

description: Direct object before verb requires 'na' in past positive.

pattern: S + na + O + V (e.g., Ay na bari neera)

zarma: Ay na bari neera


subcategory: Indirect Object

description: Indirect object is marked with 'se' after the object.

pattern: S + V + O + IO + se (e.g., Ay no bari wayboro se)

zarma: Ay no bari wayboro se

english: I gave a horse to the woman


category: Negation

subcategory: Past Negative

description: Past negative uses 'mana' after the subject.

pattern: S + mana + V (e.g., Ay mana neera)

zarma: Ay mana neera

english: I did not sell


subcategory: Present/Future Negative

description: Present/future negative uses 'si' instead of 'ga'.

pattern: S + si + V (e.g., Ay si neera)

zarma: Ay si neera

english: I do not/will not sell