Mun yi magana kwanan nan.

We talked recently.

Breakdown of Mun yi magana kwanan nan.

• yi: to do
• mu: we
• magana: to talk
• kwanan nan: recently

Questions & Answers about Mun yi magana kwanan nan.

What does each part of Mun yi magana kwanan nan mean?

A natural breakdown is:

• mun = we in the completed/perfective form
• yi = do / make
• magana = speech / talk / conversation
• kwanan nan = recently / lately / the other day

So the sentence is literally something like:

• We did talk recently
• or more naturally: We spoke recently

In Hausa, yi magana is the normal way to say to speak / to talk.

Why is it mun and not just mu for we?

Because Hausa changes the subject form depending on the tense/aspect pattern.

• mu is the basic independent pronoun we
• mun is the form used here with the completed/perfective idea

So in this sentence, mun tells you both:

• the subject is we
• the action is viewed as completed

That is why Mun yi... is the normal pattern for we did... / we have...

Does Mun yi magana literally mean we did speech?

Yes, more or less.