Questions & Answers about Suna yin magana da sauri sosai.
Broken down, the sentence is:
- Su – they
- -na – imperfective/progressive marker (attached to su to form suna)
- suna – literally they + IMPF → they are / they (habitually)
- yin – doing (a form of the verb yi “to do”)
- magana – speech, talk; here: speaking / talking
- da – with, using; also used to form adverbs of manner
- sauri – speed, quickness → quickly in this expression
- sosai – very, really, extremely, a lot
So a very literal gloss is:
They-IMPF doing speech with speed very.
In normal writing it is treated as one word: suna, but grammatically it comes from two parts:
- su – “they” (3rd person plural pronoun)
- na – imperfective/progressive marker
You see the same pattern with other persons:
- ina – I am (imperfective)
- kana / kina – you (m/f sg) are
- yana / tana – he / she is
- muna – we are
- kuna – you (pl) are
- suna – they are
So suna is “they + IMPF” fused into one written form.
It effectively covers both ideas at once:
- It identifies the subject: they
- It marks the aspect: imperfective (ongoing / repeated action), often translated with English are or simple present.
Depending on context, suna yin magana… can be translated as:
- They are speaking… (right now)
- They speak… (in general, habitually)
So you usually translate suna as “they are” or “they” (do X), depending on what sounds natural in English.
Yin is a form of the verb yi “to do, to make”. Here it works like “doing” and combines with magana (“speech, talk”) to make the verbal expression:
- yin magana – literally “doing speech” → speaking / talking
Hausa often uses yi + a noun to express activities:
- yin aiki – doing work → working
- yin waka – doing song → singing
In Suna yin magana…, yin magana is the part that means are speaking / talk.
Yes, both are grammatical and understood:
- Suna magana da sauri sosai.
- Suna yin magana da sauri sosai.
In many contexts they mean essentially the same thing: They (are) speaking very fast.
Subtle points:
- suna magana… – very common, feels slightly more direct: they are talking…
- suna yin magana… – can feel a bit more like they are doing the act of speaking…, sometimes a touch more formal or explicit.
Most learners can treat them as interchangeable for everyday use.
The form suna + (verb) is imperfective, which in Hausa covers:
- ongoing actions (progressive):
- Right now they are speaking very fast.
- habitual/repeated actions:
- They (generally) speak very fast.
So Suna yin magana da sauri sosai can be translated as either:
- They are speaking very fast.
or - They speak very fast.
Only the larger context (time expressions, situation) tells you which English tense is best.
To put it in a simple past (perfective), you normally use sun yi instead of suna yin:
- Sun yi magana da sauri sosai.
→ They spoke very fast. / They talked very fast.
Compare:
- Suna yin magana da sauri sosai. – They are speaking / (they) speak very fast.
- Sun yi magana da sauri sosai. – They spoke / have spoken very fast.
Da has two very common functions:
“and” – joining words or phrases:
- Ali da Bala – Ali and Bala
“with / using / in (a certain manner)” – here it marks manner:
- da sauri – with speed → quickly
- da ƙarfi – with strength → strongly, forcefully
In Suna yin magana da sauri sosai, da is this second type: it introduces a manner phrase, telling you how they are speaking (with speed → fast).
Literally:
- da – with
- sauri – speed, quickness
- sosai – very, a lot, extremely
So the literal sense is “with very much speed”, which idiomatically equals “very quickly / very fast.”
This da + noun pattern is a standard way to form adverbs of manner in Hausa:
- da sauri – quickly
- da sauri sosai – very quickly
- da hankali – carefully / thoughtfully
- da ƙarfi – forcefully
Sosai normally comes after the word or phrase it intensifies. Here it intensifies the whole manner expression da sauri:
- da sauri sosai – very fast / very quickly
If you change the position, you change or break the meaning:
- Suna yin magana sosai.
→ They talk a lot / very much (intensifying magana, not da sauri). - Suna yin magana sosai da sauri.
→ sounds odd or at least unclear; not the standard way to say very fast.
Natural way for very fast is to keep:
- … da sauri sosai.
You can front for emphasis in more complex sentences, but for learners, keeping sosai after what it modifies is a good rule.
In full sentences you usually keep da for manner:
- Motar nan tana tafiya da sauri sosai.
→ This car is going very fast.
But people do sometimes say sauri sosai in short answers or comments, where da is understood:
- Yana gudu da sauri sosai. – He is running very fast.
- Sauri sosai yake! – He’s (going) very fast!
For learners, the safest pattern is to treat da sauri sosai as the standard “very fast / very quickly” chunk and always include da inside sentences.
You just add da Hausa (in Hausa) after magana:
- Suna yin magana da Hausa da sauri sosai.
Literally: They are doing talk with Hausa with speed very.
Natural translation: They are speaking Hausa very fast.
You can also say:
- Suna magana da Hausa da sauri sosai. – also natural and common.
A few key points:
- suna – SU-na: both vowels like in put but a bit clearer, two syllables.
- yin – yin with y as in yes; roughly “yin”, one syllable.
- magana – ma-GA-na: three syllables, stress often feels strongest on -ga-.
- da – short “da”, like the da in Madagascar.
- sauri – SAU-ri: au like English ow in cow → “sow-ree” (but short).
- sosai – SO-sai: ai like eye.
Try saying it in a smooth rhythm with all syllables clearly pronounced:
SU-na YIN ma-GA-na da SAU-ri SO-sai.