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Grammar help

Tell the time

In general the perception of time among Zarma may be very different from ours. 'We have a clock, they have time' expresses this difference in a nutshell. Often time is expressed in relation to the part of the day or the time of the prayers. However, it is possible to use the clock to say the time of the day. In addition, there are way to say now, later, before, etc. (see idiom).

klok

we have the clock

paet of day

they have the time

Topics

Express time

without clock

with clock

Idiom

general

part of day

Express time in relation to part of the day (without clock)

Often time is expressed in relation to the part of the day which are most of the time related to the time of the prayers. For greetings related to the time of the day, see Lesson 5.C.

Zarma	Prayer*	English
alfazar	at sunrise	dawn, sunrise
adduha	9:00 till 10:00 am	early morning sunrise till 10:00 am
weete	10:00 till 12:00 am	mid-morning 10:00 till 11:30 am
zaari		noon
aluula	2:30 till 3:00 pm	early afternoon 12:30 am till 4:30 pm
wiciri	4:30 till 5:00 pm	late after noon to sunset
hiire		after sunset till supper time
almaari	8:30 till 9:00 pm	after dark until bed time
ciini		night

* Formal current prayer times are different.

'Han fo', a day, shows you the main parts of the day that a distinguished by the Zarma. In total there are nine periods.

Other expressions

susubay morning, from sunrise to noon (adduha and weete).
wiciri kambu or wucir kambu is also used for wiciri
almaari kambu means twilight
ciini bine and ciini bindi mean might night,
ciini bine is said to be used for the time between 00:00 and 05:00 hours

Express time using a clock

Although time is normally expressed in relation to the part of the day, there is a way to express time using a clock. There is a story that the origin of the Zarma word for hour guuru is derived from the iron (guuru) bells that rang, often old rims, to indicate the time to start or finish work in the days of forced labour. Therefore it is the idea of the metal sound that links hour to iron by guuru signifying both hour and iron.

To ask and to tell time is very simple as soon as you can count in Zarma.

Zarma	English
Guuru watifo no?	What time is it?
Guuru iyye.	Seven o'clock.
Guuru hinka kaŋ sinda minti ahakku.	Eight minutes before two o'clock

The system is depicted below

The whole hours

guuru fo

guuru iddu

guuru yegga

zaari (noon) or ciini bindi; ciini bine (midnight)

Half and quarter of the hours

guuru hinza

guuru hinza nda minti way cindi gu

guuru hinza nda jere

guuru taaci kaŋ sinda minti way cindi gu

Before the hour: kaŋ sinda

After the hour: nda

guuru ahakku kaŋ sinda minti waranka

guuru ahakku kaŋ sinda minti way

guuru ahakku nda minti way

guuru ahakku nda minti waranka

Time idiom, general

A list of expressions about relative time.

English	Zarma
Now
now	sohõ
now directly	sohõ-sohõ
After
after dinner	hawrey banda
Before
before Abdou arrived, I was studying	za Abdou mana kaa, ay go go caw
Future
I will see you later on	ay ga di ni nda tonton
in a little while we will eat	a tonton kayna iri ga ŋwari
Past
it´s been a little while since he came out	a gay kayna, a fatta
just a bit ago I told him	jinjina ay ci a se
formerly it was here he worked	doŋ ne no a goy
formerly, I couldn't speak Zarma	watodin, ay si ma Zarma cine
in the past, Arlit was a small town	watodin, Arlit ya kwaara kayna no
in those days, Zinder was the capital of Niger	watodin, Niizeer laabu kapitalo go Zinder
a long time ago he said he would come	za watifo a ne nga ga ga kaa
we have know him, it's been a long time	iri n´a bay, a gay
Already / Yet
you have already seen it	ni jin ga di a
you haven't told me yet	ni mana ci ay se jina
this time (at the identical moment)
about this time	danga sohõ waato
this time tomorrow	suba yacine
or	suba mansaŋ cine
this time Saturday	asipti mansaŋ cine

Time idiom, part of day

The name of the part of the day is used in idiomatic expressions. For of all with greetings, but also to express that someone spent that part of the day doing something and

Greetings

Term	Greeting	Used during
kaani	Ni kaani baani?	alfazar and adduha
weete	Ni weete baani?	weete
foy	Ni foy baani?	zaari and aluula
wiciri	Ni wiciri baani?	wiciri
hiire	Ni hiire baani?	hiire
almaari	Ni almaari baani?	almaari

To spent a part of the day or begin at a part of the day

Zarma	English
hanna ka ... ay izo hanna ka hen	to spent the night my child cried all the night long
weete ka ... i weete ka caw	to spent the forenoon they spent the morning reading (or studying)
foy ka ... i foy ka koy	to spent the whole day they work all day long
biya ka .. iri ma biya ka koy naaruyaŋ	to begin early morning let's start our trip early in the morning
wayma ka ... i wayma ka tun	to begin late afternoon they set out late afternoon

Other expressions

Zarma	English
a kaa zaaro ra	he came in the day time
a ga dira zaari	he will travel by day
a kaa da wayno	he came in the heat of the sun

Current prayer times and names in Arab

Formal current prayer times may differ (see here)

nr	Arab name	English	time
1	Fajr	morning	between the very beginning of dawn and sunrise
2	Shurooq	sunrise	the time of sunrise, the time when the upper limb of the sun just starts to appear above the horizon. This marks the end time for Fajr (morning) prayer.
3	Dhuhr	noon	Between the declining of the sun and Asr (when the shadow of something is twice its own length)
4	Asr	late afternoon	Immediately after the last time limit of Dhuhr until (just before) the sunset
5	Maghrib	evening	Soon after the sunset until the disappearance of the twilight
6	Isha	night	After the disappearance of the twilight until midnight.