Ina jira yayin da dillali yake duba takalmin.

I am waiting while the dealer checks the shoe.

Breakdown of Ina jira yayin da dillali yake duba takalmin.

• ni: I
• jira: to wait
• takalmi: the shoe
• duba: to check

Questions & Answers about Ina jira yayin da dillali yake duba takalmin.

What does ina mean here? I thought ina? means where?

That’s a very common confusion. In Hausa, ina can mean different things depending on context.

In this sentence, ina is the 1st person singular continuous marker, so ina jira means I am waiting.

As a separate question word, ina? means where?
For example:

• Ina kake? = Where are you?
• Ina jira. = I am waiting.

So the surrounding words tell you which meaning is intended.

How does ina jira mean I am waiting?

Hausa often forms the continuous/progressive idea with a subject marker plus the verb.

Here:

• ina = I am
• jira = wait / waiting

So ina jira means I am waiting or I’m waiting.

For an English speaker, it may help to think of it as a built-in progressive form rather than trying to translate each word too literally.

What does yayin da mean?