Learn Hardcore Hausa: Shi yana barci yanzu, bai tashi ba. - He is sleeping now, he has not gotten up.

Function here: It adds emphasis or contrast.
- Shi yana barci yanzu… = “HE is sleeping now…” (as opposed to someone else).
Is it required?
- Grammatically, no. You can absolutely say:
  - Yana barci yanzu, bai tashi ba.
- Adding shi just makes the subject more prominent, like starting with “As for him, …” or “He, he is sleeping now…” in English.

So both are correct; shi mainly affects emphasis, not basic meaning.

What exactly is yana barci? Is barci a verb or a noun?

In yana barci, the structure is:

yana = “he is” in the progressive aspect (literally “he is -ing”).
barci = a verbal noun meaning “sleep” (like “sleeping / sleep” as a thing).

Hausa often forms the progressive with:

(subject) + (progressive form) + verbal noun

So:

Yana barci = “He is sleeping.”
- Literally: “He is (in the state of) sleep.”

barci itself is not a finite verb here; it’s a verbal noun used with yana to form the progressive.

How does yana barci relate to English tenses? Is it always “is sleeping”?

In most everyday contexts:

Yana barci ≈ “He is sleeping” (present progressive).

Depending on context, it can also be translated as:

“He’s asleep” (state).
In narrative, sometimes “he was sleeping” if the story is in past tense, though Hausa aspect is more important than strict tense.

But for a learner, treating yana barci as “he is sleeping” is a good default.

What tense/aspect is bai tashi ba? Does it mean “did not wake up” or “has not woken up”?

bai tashi ba is the negative perfective.

Affirmative perfective: ya tashi = “he (has) gotten up / he woke up.”
Negative perfective: bai tashi ba =
- “he did not get up”
- or “he has not (yet) gotten up / woken up.”

In your sentence with yanzu (“now”), the natural English translation is:

“He is sleeping now; he hasn’t woken up (yet).”

So it’s a completed action viewed as not having happened, very similar to English present perfect negative in this context.

Why do we have both bai and ba in bai tashi ba? Isn’t one ba enough to negate?

Hausa negative with perfective verbs often uses a “sandwich” pattern:

ba- + (subject) + verb + ba

With 3rd person masculine singular:

ba + ya tashi + ba
→ in writing usually bai tashi ba (ba + ya → bai).

So:

bai … ba = “he didn’t / he hasn’t …”

The last ba at the end is not optional; you generally need both parts in this structure.

Examples with other persons:

ban tashi ba = I did not / have not gotten up.
bata tashi ba = she did not / has not gotten up.
basu tashi ba = they did not / have not gotten up.

What’s the difference between bai tashi ba and ba ya tashi?

They are both negative, but they usually express different aspects:

bai tashi ba
- Negative perfective.
- Focus on a specific event not happening / not (yet) completed.
- Common translations:
  - “He did not get up.”
  - “He has not (yet) gotten up.”
ba ya tashi
- Negative imperfective/progressive or habitual.
- Meanings:
  - “He is not getting up (right now).”
  - “He does not get up (habitually).”

In your sentence, waking up is seen as a single event, so bai tashi ba is more natural: “he has not woken up.”

Why do we use the progressive (yana barci) in the first clause but the perfective (bai tashi ba) in the second?

Because the two verbs describe different kinds of situations:

barci (sleeping) is an ongoing state/activity → use progressive:
- yana barci = “he is sleeping.”
tashi (get up / wake up) is a punctual event, a change of state → use perfective to say whether that event has happened:
- ya tashi = he got up / has gotten up.
- bai tashi ba = he has not gotten up.

So together:

Shi yana barci yanzu, bai tashi ba.
→ “He is sleeping now; he has not woken up.”

Could we also say Yanzu yana barci, bai tashi ba instead of Shi yana barci yanzu, …?

Yes, that is completely grammatical:

Yanzu yana barci, bai tashi ba.
= “Now he is sleeping; he hasn’t woken up.”

Changing the word order or moving yanzu slightly changes focus, not basic meaning:

Shi yana barci yanzu… – focuses on “he” (as opposed to others).
Yanzu yana barci… – focuses on “now” (the time).
Yana barci yanzu… – more neutral; simple statement.

Is the comma necessary? Could this be one sentence or two?

In real spoken Hausa, this is just two clauses said in sequence. In writing you have a few options:

With a comma (as you have):
- Shi yana barci yanzu, bai tashi ba.
As two separate sentences:
- Shi yana barci yanzu. Bai tashi ba.

Both are acceptable. The comma simply reflects the pause between “he is sleeping now” and “he hasn’t woken up”. It’s not changing the grammar of the clauses themselves.

What does tashi mean here? I thought tashi could also mean “stand up” or “take off.”

You’re right: tashi is a flexible verb. Its meaning depends on context:

tashi = to get up, stand up, wake up, take off (for planes), set off (for a journey), etc.

In the context of barci (sleep):

tashi (daga barci) = to wake up / get up from sleep.

So in bai tashi ba after yana barci, the natural interpretation is:

“he has not woken up / he has not gotten up (from sleep).”

Could we replace tashi with farka to say “wake up”? For example: bai farka ba?

Yes, you can:

bai farka ba = “he has not woken up.”

Differences:

tashi is broader (“get up, stand up, wake up, take off…”).
farka is more specifically “wake up / regain consciousness.”

Both are commonly used with sleep:

Bai tashi ba – he hasn’t gotten up / woken up.
Bai farka ba – he hasn’t woken up (more narrowly about waking).

Your original sentence with tashi is completely normal and idiomatic.

Is barci the only way to say “sleep”? I’ve seen bacci and yin barci too.

You’ll see some variation:

barci and bacci – same word, different spellings/pronunciations depending on dialect/orthography tradition.
yin barci / yin bacci = “doing sleep” → “sleeping.”

In the progressive:

Yana barci.
Yana yin barci.

Both can mean “He is sleeping.”
The version yana barci is very common and straightforward.

Do we always have to repeat the subject in the second clause, like shi … bai tashi ba? Could we say just Yana barci yanzu, bai tashi ba?

You do not have to repeat the independent pronoun shi in the second clause:

Yana barci yanzu, bai tashi ba. – perfectly fine.

The subject is already encoded in bai (the -i is from ya, “he”), so Hausa doesn’t need another shi there.

If you wrote:

Shi yana barci yanzu, shi bai tashi ba.

that would be grammatical, but it would sound more heavily emphasized or even slightly overdone in many contexts, like:
“HE is sleeping now, HE has not woken up (you know).”

The natural version is what you have: Shi …, bai tashi ba (or just Yana barci yanzu, bai tashi ba).