Musa yana karanta littafi a gida.

Musa is reading a book at home.

Breakdown of Musa yana karanta littafi a gida.

• ne: to be
• Musa: Musa
• gida: the home
• littafi: the book
• karanta: to read
• a: at

Questions & Answers about Musa yana karanta littafi a gida.

Why do we use yana in this sentence?

Because yana is the third-person masculine singular form of the continuous (progressive) tense in Hausa. It indicates that Musa (a singular male) is currently doing the action of reading.

What does karanta mean?

The verb karanta means to read. It’s used here to express that Musa is reading something—in this case, a book.

Why is littafi used instead of another form of the noun?

The word littafi is the singular form for book. If you wanted to say books, you would use the plural form littattafai.

What does a gida add to the meaning of the sentence?

The phrase a gida means at home, telling us where Musa is doing the action. Without a gida, the sentence would simply say Musa is reading a book, without specifying the location.

How would you change the sentence if you were talking about more than one person reading?

You would replace yana (singular) with suna (plural), for example: Musa da Ali suna karanta littafi a gida (Musa and Ali are reading a book at home). Remember that suna indicates a plural subject in the progressive tense.