Learn Hardcore Hausa: Ni da kai muna son ’yanci ga kowa. - You masculine and I like freedom for everyone.

Ni – I (independent 1st person singular pronoun)
da – and / with (here: and)
kai – you (2nd person singular, masculine; talking to a man)
muna – we are / we (in present/habitual aspect); literally mu (we) + na (continuous aspect marker)
son – verbal noun of so “to like / to love / to want”; son ≈ liking / wanting / love (of)
’yanci – freedom, liberty, independence
ga – to / for / towards (preposition indicating direction or beneficiary)
kowa – everyone / everybody / anyone

So the structure is roughly:
I and you – we-are wanting the-freedom to/for everyone.

Why does the sentence use Ni da kai instead of just Mu for “we”?

Ni da kai literally means “I and you”, so it explicitly lists the people in the group. Using it:

Emphasizes that the group is specifically you and me
Can sound more personal or inclusive: “you and I (together) want freedom for everyone”

If you just said:

Mu muna son ’yanci ga kowa.
→ We want freedom for everyone.

…it would be correct, but less specific. Mu could be “we” in a more general sense (me + you + others, or just “our side”), depending on context.

So Ni da kai highlights exactly which people are included in “we.”

If the subject is Ni da kai (“I and you”), why is the verb muna (“we”) and not something like a singular form?

In Hausa, when you say Ni da kai (“I and you”), that combination is grammatically plural, because it refers to two people.

So the verb agrees with that plural meaning:

Ni da kai muna… → You and I *we (are)…*

Using a singular form here would be ungrammatical. Whenever you have X da Y as the subject (two people), Hausa treats it as plural, and you use the 1st person plural form (mu- / muna / mun, etc.) if it includes the speaker.

Could I just say Mu muna son ’yanci ga kowa instead of Ni da kai muna son ’yanci ga kowa?

Yes, that is correct:

Mu muna son ’yanci ga kowa.
→ We want freedom for everyone.

Differences in nuance:

Ni da kai muna…
- Explicitly: “You and I (specifically) want…”
- Strongly inclusive of the listener as a partner.
Mu muna…
- Just “We want…”
- Who exactly is in “we” must be understood from context.

In conversation, Mu muna son ’yanci ga kowa is often enough; you only choose Ni da kai when you want to clearly stress “you and I together.”

What exactly does da mean in Ni da kai? Is it always “and”?

In this sentence, da means “and”:

Ni da kai – I and you

But in Hausa, da is very flexible. It can mean:

and: Ali da Zainab – Ali and Zainab
with (accompaniment): Na tafi da shi. – I went with him.
having / possessing: mutum mai kudi da ilimi – a man with money and knowledge

Here, in Ni da kai, it is the coordinating “and” meaning.

What does muna tell me about tense or aspect? Is it “are wanting,” “want,” or something else?

Muna is the 1st person plural continuous / present-habitual form:

mu (we) + na (continuous aspect marker) → muna

It usually covers:

Present ongoing: We are wanting / we are liking
Habitual / general truth: We want / we like (as a general stance)

In natural English, “we want freedom for everyone” or “we like freedom for everyone” are the best translations. “We are wanting” is not idiomatic English, but it shows the idea of a current, ongoing state or attitude.

What is the difference between so and son in muna son ’yanci? Why not muna so ’yanci?

so is the verb “to like / love / want.”
son is its verbal noun (like “liking / loving / wanting”).

Hausa often uses the verbal noun + a noun for “to like/want (a thing)”:

Ina son shayi. – I like tea.
Muna son ’yanci. – We want freedom. / We love freedom.

Rough pattern:

[pronoun + aspect] + son + [noun]
- Muna son ’yanci. – We want freedom.
[pronoun + aspect] + so + [clause / verb]
- Ina so in tafi. – I want to go.
- Muna so a ba kowa ’yanci. – We want everyone to be given freedom.

So in muna son ’yanci, son is correct because ’yanci is a noun (freedom).

Does ’yanci just mean “freedom,” or does it have any special nuance?

’yanci primarily means:

freedom, liberty, independence

It can refer to:

Political independence: ’yancin kai – self-rule, sovereignty
Personal freedom / civil liberties: ’yancin magana – freedom of speech
General idea of being free instead of controlled or oppressed.

So in muna son ’yanci ga kowa, you are expressing a fairly broad idea of liberty for all, not something very narrow like “a bit more flexibility.”

What does ga mean in ’yanci ga kowa, and how is it different from other Hausa words for “for/to” like don?

In ’yanci ga kowa, ga is a preposition roughly meaning “to / for”, marking the person who benefits or the direction:

’yanci ga kowa – freedom for everyone

Common uses of ga:

Beneficiary: kyauta ga yara – a gift for children
Direction/goal: Na ba shi littafi ga malam. – I gave the book to the teacher.

Difference from don:

don often means “for the sake of / because of” and can carry a reason or purpose sense.
- Na yi haka don kai. – I did that for your sake / because of you.

Here, ga kowa is the natural way to say “for everyone (as recipients/beneficiaries of the freedom)”. Using don kowa would feel more like “for everyone’s sake,” and is less idiomatic in this exact phrase.

What does kowa mean exactly? Is it “everyone” or “anyone,” and does it change with negation?

kowa is an indefinite human pronoun. Its basic meanings are:

everyone / everybody
anyone / anybody (depending on context)

Examples:

Ga kowa. – It’s for everyone.
Kowa yana son ’yanci. – Everyone likes freedom.

With negation, kowa usually means “no one / nobody”:

Ba kowa a gida. – There’s nobody at home.
Ban ga kowa ba. – I didn’t see anyone / I saw nobody.

In ga kowa, without negation, it clearly has the “everyone/everybody” sense.

Can the word order in Ni da kai muna son ’yanci ga kowa be changed, or must Ni da kai come first?

The most natural, neutral order here is:

Ni da kai muna son ’yanci ga kowa.
(Subject → verb phrase → object → prepositional phrase)

You can sometimes move things around for emphasis, but:

Putting Ni da kai at the beginning is the standard way to mark them as the subject.
Moving ga kowa before ’yanci (e.g. Ni da kai muna son ga kowa ’yanci) is not natural; ga normally comes directly before the noun phrase it governs: ga kowa.

You could say:

Muna son ’yanci ga kowa, ni da kai.

This feels like: “We want freedom for everyone — you and I.” It sounds more like adding ni da kai as an afterthought or clarification rather than a straightforward subject. The original order is the clearest standard sentence.

If I’m speaking to a woman instead of a man, does Ni da kai change?

Yes. Kai is the 2nd person singular masculine form (“you” to a man). To talk to a woman, use ke:

To a man: Ni da kai muna son ’yanci ga kowa.
To a woman: Ni da ke muna son ’yanci ga kowa.

Everything else in the sentence (muna son ’yanci ga kowa) stays the same.

Why is there an apostrophe before y in ’yanci? Does it change the sound?

Yes, it matters. In Hausa spelling, ’y is a different consonant from plain y.

y is like the English y in yes.
’y represents a palatal implosive sound (often written /ʄ/ in linguistics). There’s no exact English equivalent, but it’s a kind of “harder” or “more loaded” y sound.

For a learner:

If you just pronounce ’yanci with a normal y (like yanci), most speakers will still understand you.
But the apostrophe is not just decoration; it marks a distinct consonant in Hausa, and in other words it can distinguish meaning.

So ’yanci (with ’y) is the correct spelling and pronunciation for “freedom, liberty.”