Ni bana son jinkiri, ina zuwa a kan lokaci.

I don’t like being late; I come on time.

Breakdown of Ni bana son jinkiri, ina zuwa a kan lokaci.

• ni: I
• ne: to be
• zo: to come
• ba … ba: not
• lokaci: the time
• so: to like
• jinkiri: the lateness
• a kan: on

Questions & Answers about Ni bana son jinkiri, ina zuwa a kan lokaci.

Why do we have both Ni and bana? Aren’t they both saying I?

Ni is an independent (emphatic) pronoun, meaning I / me (personally).
In bana, the -na part is actually the subject pronoun I, attached to the negative marker ba:

• ba + na → ba na / bana = I don’t / I do not

So:

• Ni bana son jinkiri ≈ As for me, I don’t like being late.

You can drop Ni and just say Bana son jinkiri; it will still mean I don’t like lateness, just with less emphasis on I.

Is it bana or ba na? And what about ba ni?

All of these are seen, but they are not exactly the same:

• ba na son jinkiri (two words) – very clear and common in careful writing.
• bana son jinkiri (one word) – the same thing, just written fused; very common in everyday writing.
• ba ni son jinkiri – used in some speech, but it can be confusing, because ba ni also means give me.

For learners, the safest is:

• Ba na son jinkiri or Bana son jinkiri
  and avoid ba ni son jinkiri until you know the patterns well.

I thought Hausa negatives often have ba … ba. Why is there only one ba here?

You’re right that many negative sentences use a ba … ba pattern, for example:

• Ba na jin Hausa ba. – I don’t understand Hausa.

But in everyday Hausa, especially with simple present states like liking, speakers often drop the second ba, and just say:

• Ba na son jinkiri. / Bana son jinkiri.

Both:

• Ba na son jinkiri.
• Ba na son jinkiri ba.

are possible; the version without the final ba is very common and perfectly natural here.

Why is it son and not just so in bana son jinkiri?

So is the basic verb to like / to love / to want.
In bana son jinkiri, we are not using the simple verb form, but its verbal noun plus a linking -n:

• so → so-n → son (liking / love of)

So bana son jinkiri is literally:

• I do not (have) liking-of lateness.

This pattern is very common:

• Ina son ki. – I love you. (literally: I am in liking-of you)
• Ba na son shayi. – I don’t like tea.

What exactly does jinkiri mean? Is it just “late”?

Jinkiri is a noun that means things like:

• delay
• lateness
• being late / slowness / procrastination (depending on context)

Common uses:

• yi jinkiri – to delay / to be late
  (literally: do delay)
• Jinkiri ba kyau. – Lateness is not good.

So bana son jinkiri is about disliking delay or lateness in general, not just one specific late event.

Should it be bana son yin jinkiri instead of bana son jinkiri?

Both are possible, but they feel slightly different:

• Ba na son jinkiri. – I don’t like lateness / delay.
  (treats jinkiri as a noun: lateness in general)
• Ba na son yin jinkiri. – I don’t like doing lateness / I don’t like to delay.
  (literally: I don’t like the doing of delay)

In normal speech, ba na son jinkiri is shorter and very natural for “I don’t like being late.”

Why is it ina zuwa and not ina zo?

In Hausa, the progressive / habitual form with ina (I am / I usually) is followed by a verbal noun, not the simple verb stem:

• verb: zo – come
• verbal noun: zuwa – coming

So:

• Ina zuwa. – I am coming / I (habitually) come.
• Ina zuwa a kan lokaci. – I come / I arrive on time.

Ina zo is not the usual pattern; use ina zuwa with ina.

Does ina zuwa mean “I am coming (right now)” or “I come (usually)”?

It can mean either, depending on context:

• Right now / currently:
  Ina zuwa yanzu. – I’m coming now.
• Habit / routine:
  Ina zuwa wurin aiki da wuri. – I go to work early.

In your sentence, together with bana son jinkiri, it’s understood as a habit:
I (always) arrive on time.

What does a kan mean in ina zuwa a kan lokaci?

a kan is a prepositional phrase:

• a – at / in / on
• kan – top / surface / head

Together a kan often means on / on top of / about / concerning.

In this fixed expression:

• a kan lokaci – on time
  (literally: on top of time, i.e. at the right moment)

So ina zuwa a kan lokaci = I come on time.

Can I write akan lokaci instead of a kan lokaci?

Yes, you will often see:

• a kan lokaci
• akan lokaci

Both are used in practice with the meaning on time.
For a learner, it’s slightly clearer to keep it separated as a kan lokaci, because you can still see the preposition a and the noun kan.

Can I drop Ni and just say Bana son jinkiri, ina zuwa a kan lokaci?

Yes, that is perfectly correct:

• Bana son jinkiri, ina zuwa a kan lokaci.

Adding Ni at the beginning adds emphasis, like:

• Me, I don’t like being late, I come on time.

Without Ni, it feels a bit more neutral and matter‑of‑fact.

Is any word for “and / but / so” missing between the two parts?

Hausa often just places two related clauses side by side, especially in speech:

• Ni ba na son jinkiri, ina zuwa a kan lokaci.

If you want to be very explicit, you can add a connector:

• Ni ba na son jinkiri, don haka ina zuwa a kan lokaci.
  – I don’t like delay, so I come on time.
• Ni ba na son jinkiri, shi ya sa ina zuwa a kan lokaci.
  – I don’t like delay, that’s why I come on time.

But the original version with a comma is natural and idiomatic.

How do you pronounce jinkiri and zuwa?

Approximate English-like pronunciations:

• jinkiri ≈ jin-KEE-ree
  
  • jin like “gin” with a soft j as in jam
  • stress usually on the middle syllable: jin-KEE-ree
• zuwa ≈ ZOO-wah
  
  • zoo as in English zoo
  • wa like wa in water (British-like), short

Of course, real Hausa has tones and vowel length, but these approximations are close enough to be understood.