Ta amsa da ladabi.

Here ta means she.

More specifically, it is the 3rd person singular feminine subject marker used with the perfective/completive form of the verb. So ta amsa means she answered or she replied.

If the subject were masculine, you would normally say ya amsa for he answered.

Usually, yes, in a sentence like this it is most naturally understood as past: she answered / she replied.

But it is better to think of this Hausa form as perfective/completive rather than exactly the same as an English past tense. It presents the action as completed. In many everyday contexts, English translates that as a past action.

Amsa is the verb here, meaning to answer or to reply.

In this sentence, it is the main action word:

• Ta amsa = She answered / She replied

Depending on context, Hausa often allows this verb without stating what was answered. English can do that too: She replied politely.

Da is a very common Hausa word with several uses. In this sentence, it introduces the manner of the action.

So:

• da ladabi = with politeness
• natural English: politely

A very literal breakdown would be:

• Ta = she
• amsa = answered/replied
• da ladabi = with politeness

Ladabi means politeness, courtesy, good manners, or even respectful behavior, depending on context.

So da ladabi can mean:

• politely
• courteously
• with respect

It is a noun, not an adverb by itself. Hausa often uses a structure like da + noun where English might prefer an adverb.

Because Hausa often expresses manner with a phrase like da + noun instead of using a single adverb.

So where English says:

• She answered politely

Hausa says more literally:

• She answered with politeness

This is a very normal Hausa pattern, and it is something English speakers need to get used to.

Hausa does not use articles in the same way English does.

So a noun like ladabi can mean politeness, the politeness, or just the general idea of politeness, depending on context. You do not need to insert a word corresponding exactly to a or the here.

Not always.

In Hausa, just like in English, answer/reply can stand on its own if the object is obvious or unimportant:

• Ta amsa da ladabi. = She answered politely.

But you can also add an object if needed, for example:

• Ta amsa tambayar da ladabi. = She answered the question politely.

So the sentence is complete even without saying what she answered.

The basic word order here is very normal:

• subject + verb + phrase of manner

So Ta amsa da ladabi is the straightforward way to say it.

You may sometimes see other orders for emphasis, but for a learner, this is the best neutral pattern to remember.

A rough pronunciation is:

tah AHM-sah dah lah-DAH-bee

A few useful points:

• a is usually pronounced like the a in father
• each vowel is normally pronounced clearly
• Hausa spelling is fairly consistent compared with English

So the words are roughly:

• Ta → tah
• amsa → AHM-sah
• da → dah
• ladabi → lah-DAH-bee

Also, Hausa is a tone language, but tones are usually not written in ordinary spelling, so beginners often learn them gradually through listening.

You would usually say:

Ya amsa da ladabi.

The only change is the subject marker:

• ta = she
• ya = he

Everything else stays the same.

You would say:

Ba ta amsa da ladabi ba.

This means She did not answer politely.

A common Hausa negative pattern is:

• Ba ... ba

So here:

• Ba ta ... ba = she did not ...

You normally have to include it.

In a normal independent sentence like this, Hausa needs the subject marker:

• Ta amsa da ladabi.

If you say only Amsa da ladabi, that would sound more like an instruction such as Answer politely!, not a statement about she.

So ta is necessary here to show who did the action.