JAMB Syllabus for Hausa 2025/2026

(a) Ƙa’idojin Rubutu (Orthography);
alphabetization, spelling, rules of word merger and division, punctuation and paragraphing all in line with standard Hausa.

(b) Auna Fahimta (Comprehension);
contextual questions from short
unseen passage of about 200 words.

(c) Tsarin Rubutun Insha’i (Composition Techniques);
argumentative, descriptive, dialogue,
expository, narrative and letter writing.

(d) Fassara (Translation)
i. Ire-iren fassara (types of translation)
ii. Ƙa’idojin fassara (rules of translation)
iii. Matsalolin fassara (problems of
stranslation)
iv. Dabarun fassara (techniques of
translation).

(e) Tsarin Sauti (Phonology)
i. consonants – production and
classification in terms of phonation, place and manner of articulation;
ii. vowels – production and classification
in terms of position of tongue and lips;
monophthongs and dipthongs;
iii. tone – e.g. high, low and falling tones;
iv. syllable structure – syllable types, e.g. open and close syllables, light and heavy, syllables; syllabic categories of words –
monosyllabic, disyllabic, etc.
v. vowel length – long and short vowels;
vi. phonological processes – e.g. assimilatory: palatalization, labialization and vowel harmony; non-assimilatory: insertion and deletion.

(f) Ƙirar Kalma (Morphology)
i. roots and stems;
ii. affixation – e.g. prefix, infix suffix
and their derivational and inflectional
functions;
iii. gender and number inflections;
iv. derivation of nouns and adjectives from verbs; adjectives and verbs from nouns.

(g) Ginin Jumla (Syntax):
i. word classes-e.g. nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, prepositions, conjunctions, interjections and ideophones;
ii. grammatical categories – e.g. tense
and aspect (general and relative past:
general and relative continuous, first
and second future, habitual); mood
(subjunctive and negative); gender
(masculine, feminine and neuter) and
number (singular and plural);
iii. sentence structure – e.g. verbal
sentence, nominal phrase + verbal
phrase and their components, nonverbal sentence: nominal phrase + stabilizer, nominal phrase+ compliment + stabilizer, nominal phrases + continuous frame
(yana../yake…) (+da) + nominal phrase;
iv. sentence types – e.g. simple sentences,
compound sentences and complex sentences;
v. clauses – types (e.g. relative and
subjunctive); functions (e.g. main and
subordinate).

(h) Ma’ana (Semantics)
i. lexical aspects of word meaning – e.g.
ambiguity, synonym and antonym;
ii. figures of speech – aspects of specialized meanings of words and
phrases, e.g. idioms, proverbs etc.

i. recognize the basic Hausa orthographical rules;
ii. apply the Hausa orthographical rules;
iii. identify linguistic errors, such as; grammar, wrong choice of words, wrong spelling etc

i. read written Hausa texts;
ii. comprehend Hausa text in a given context;
iii. interpret various meanings and functions of words in a given text;
iv. acquire sufficient vocabulary;
v. recognize central issues in a given text;
vi. draw conclusions based on available evidence in a given text.

i. acquire the knowledge and techniques of composition writing in Hausa;
ii. recognize the different segments of composition in Hausa;
iii. recognize the different types of Hausa
composition.

i. translate proverbial and idiomatic expressions and new words from English to Hausa;
ii. recognize the different types of translation;
iii. understand the basic techniques of translating proverbial and idiomatic expressions and new words into Hausa;
iv. identify the problems of translation into Hausa

i. analyse the process of sound production and combination of sounds to form meaningful words in Hausa;
ii. appraise the importance of vowels in determining meaning;
iii. distinguish between the phonetic attributes of sounds;
iv. recognize the number of syllables and their types in a word;
v. analyse the phonological processes in Hausa

i. explain the roots and stems of Hausa words;
ii. explain the inflectional process in Hausa word formation;
iii. explain the derivational process of word formation in Hausa;
iv. differentiate between the two morphological processes.

i. analyses the processes governing word
combination to form phrases; clauses and
sentences in Hausa
ii. detect linguistic errors in the grammar;
iii. recognize ideas or thoughts in written form;
iv. construct grammatical sentences for effective communication;
v. use the appropriate tenses in spoken and written Hausa;
vi. use the appropriate gender and number in spoken and written Hausa;
vii. differentiate between types of sentence structure;
viii. distinguish between nominal and verbal phrase;
ix. distinguish between types of sentences;
x. compare types of clauses.

i. analyses the mechanisms of generating meanings in Hausa;
ii. build up their vocabulary;
iii. recognize the various meanings and functions of sentences in communication;
iv. use words and sentences suitable for a particular purpose;
v. construct meaningful sentences for effective communication.