Yara za su ci abinci da rana.

Children will eat food during the day.

Breakdown of Yara za su ci abinci da rana.

• abinci: the food
• rana: the day
• yaro: the child
• ci: to eat
• su: they
• da: during

Questions & Answers about Yara za su ci abinci da rana.

What does za indicate, and how is it used here?

za is the future‐tense marker in Hausa. It precedes the subject pronoun to form a simple future construction. In this sentence, za + su gives za su, meaning “they will.”

Why is su used after za, and what does it mean?

su is the third‐person plural subject pronoun “they.” In Hausa, personal pronouns follow tense‐aspect markers like za, so za su literally means “will they” (i.e. “they will”).

Why is the verb ci in this basic form, and not cin or something else?

After a tense marker (za) plus pronoun (su), the verb takes its bare stem form—in this case ci (“eat”). The form cin appears in other contexts (for example, when the verb is nominalized), but not immediately after za su.

Why is there no word for “the” or “a” before abinci?

Hausa has no articles like English “the” or “a.” abinci simply means “food” or “a meal,” and context tells you whether it’s definite or indefinite.

What does da rana mean, and why is it placed at the end?

da rana means “during the day” or “in the daytime.” Time‐of‐day phrases often follow the main verb and object in Hausa, so it naturally comes at the end here.

How would you say “They will eat lunch” instead of “They will eat food during the day”?

Use the genitive suffix -n on abinci to get “the day’s meal” (lunch):
Yara za su ci abincin rana.
That literally means “Children will eat the meal of the day.”

How can you make this sentence negative?

Wrap the verb phrase in ba ... ba.
Negative form:
Yara ba za su ci abinci da rana ba.
= “The children will not eat food during the day.”

How do you turn it into a question?

You can add the question marker shin at the start, or rely on rising intonation. For example:
Shin yara za su ci abinci da rana?
or simply
Yara za su ci abinci da rana?
Both mean “Will the children eat food during the day?”

Can you change the subject to “we”? How would that look?

Replace su with mu (we):
Za mu ci abinci da rana.
You may also include the noun/pronoun at the front for emphasis:
Mu za mu ci abinci da rana.
Both mean “We will eat food during the day.”

Is it possible to move da rana to the front of the sentence?

Yes. Hausa allows topicalized time phrases at the beginning:
Da rana yara za su ci abinci.
This still means “During the day, the children will eat food,” though the original end‐of‐sentence position is more neutral.