Ɗalibai suna mayar da hankali ga malami.

Because Hausa often uses a noun subject + subject marker together.

So:

• Ɗalibai = students
• suna = they are / they do in this verb pattern

This is normal Hausa grammar. English usually does not repeat the subject like this, but Hausa often does:

• Ɗalibai suna... = The students are...

So suna is not extra or wrong; it helps show person, number, and aspect.

suna is the 3rd person plural imperfective/continuous marker.

In a sentence like this, it can often mean:

• are ...-ing
• or sometimes do / usually do

So Ɗalibai suna mayar da hankali... can mean:

• The students are paying attention...
• or, depending on context, The students pay attention...

In many learning materials, it is often easiest to think of suna here as are.

Ɗalibai is plural: students.

The singular is:

• ɗalibi = student

So you can compare:

• ɗalibi yana mayar da hankali ga malami = The student is paying attention to the teacher
• ɗalibai suna mayar da hankali ga malami = The students are paying attention to the teacher

It is a very common Hausa expression meaning:

• to pay attention
• to concentrate
• to focus

You should learn it as a unit:

• mayar da hankali ga... = to pay attention to... / focus on...

Even if the individual words have their own meanings, the whole expression is the most important thing to remember.

hankali often means things like:

• mind
• sense
• attention
• understanding

In mayar da hankali, it contributes the idea of attention/focus.

So while the full phrase means pay attention, the word hankali on its own is broader than just that one translation.

In this expression, da is part of the verb phrase structure.

A simple way to learn it is:

• mayar da hankali = pay attention / direct attention

You do not need to translate da word-for-word every time. In many Hausa expressions, da helps connect the verb to what is being acted on.

So for learners, it is best to memorize:

• mayar da hankali not just
• mayar

Here ga means something like:

• to
• toward
• at

In this sentence:

• ga malami = to the teacher

So:

• mayar da hankali ga malami = pay attention to the teacher

In Hausa, ga is very common after this expression.

Hausa does not use the and a/an the way English does.

So malami can mean:

• a teacher
• the teacher

The exact meaning usually comes from context.

In this sentence, if the meaning given is the teacher, that comes from the situation, not from a separate word like English the.

The order is:

• Ɗalibai = subject
• suna = subject/aspect marker
• mayar da hankali = verb expression
• ga malami = prepositional phrase

So the pattern is roughly:

Subject + marker + verb phrase + prepositional phrase

That is why the sentence looks like:

• Ɗalibai suna mayar da hankali ga malami.

The letter Ɗ / ɗ represents a sound different from ordinary d in Hausa. It is usually described as an implosive d.

For an English speaker:

• a plain d approximation will often be understood at first
• but it is good to notice that Hausa treats d and ɗ as different letters

So:

• ɗalibi and a word with plain d would not be exactly the same thing in Hausa

If you are a beginner, saying it close to d is a reasonable start, but try to hear and copy native pronunciation over time.

Yes, depending on context, that is possible.

The Hausa imperfective form here can cover both:

• an action happening now: are paying attention
• a general/habitual action: pay attention

So context tells you which is meant. If this is a classroom scene happening right now, are paying attention is the natural translation. If it is describing their usual behavior, pay attention can also fit.

Yes — that is actually the best approach.

Memorize it as:

• mayar da hankali ga... = pay attention to... / focus on...

Then you can swap in different nouns:

• ga malami = to the teacher
• ga darasi = to the lesson
• ga littafi = to the book

Learning the whole chunk will help you sound more natural than translating each word separately every time.