Learn Hardcore Hausa: Baba na yana dawowa gida da yamma daga aiki. - My father returns home in the evening from work.

Baba – father, dad
na – my (a possessive ending that attaches to the noun)
- Baba na = my father / my dad
yana – he is / he (3rd person singular masculine in continuous aspect)
dawowa – returning / coming back (verbal noun from the verb dawo, “to return”)
- yana dawowa = he is returning / he returns
gida – home / house (here: “(to) home”)
da yamma – in the evening / in the late afternoon
daga – from
aiki – work / job

So the structure is roughly: My father – he is returning – home – in the evening – from work.

Why is na placed after Baba instead of before it, like in English “my father”?

In Hausa, possessive pronouns usually come after the noun as endings (often called suffixes or clitics), not before it as separate words.

Baba na = father my → “my father”
gida na = house my → “my house”

Other examples:

Baba ka – your (m.sg.) father
Baba ki – your (f.sg.) father
Baba sa – his father

So the normal order is noun + possessive, not possessive + noun as in English.

Is Baba na the only way to say “my father”, or can it also be written as one word?

You will also see it written as Babana (one word). Both represent the same thing:

Baba na
Babana

They both mean “my father / my dad.”

In many grammars and dictionaries, the possessive pronoun is shown attached to the noun (e.g. babana, gidana, motata). In everyday writing, some people separate them, especially in informal contexts. For learning purposes, it’s useful to recognize both styles, but understand that grammatically it’s the noun plus a possessive ending.

What exactly is yana doing in this sentence? Is it like the verb “to be”?

Yana is a combined subject + aspect marker and it functions somewhat like “he is …ing” in English.

ya – he (subject pronoun)
na – part of the continuous/progressive aspect marker

In speech and writing they fuse as yana.

With a verbal noun like dawowa, this pattern expresses an ongoing or habitual action:

yana dawowa – he is returning / he (usually) returns

Other persons work the same way:

ina dawowa – I am returning / I (usually) return
kana dawowa – you (m.sg.) are returning
kina dawowa – you (f.sg.) are returning
muna dawowa – we are returning
suna dawowa – they are returning

So yana here carries both “he” and the idea of present/ongoing or habitual aspect.

What part of speech is dawowa, and how is it related to dawo?

Dawowa is a verbal noun (also called a gerund or “-ing form”) formed from the verb dawo (“to return, to come back”).

Base verb: dawo – to return / to come back
Verbal noun: dawowa – returning / coming back

Hausa very often uses:

subject‑aspect marker (e.g. yana) + verbal noun

to express progressive or habitual meaning:

yana dawowa – he is returning / he returns
muna aiki – we are working (aiki = work/working)
suna karatu – they are studying / reading

So dawowa is not a finite verb by itself here; it is the verbal noun that combines with yana to form the verbal phrase.

Why is there no word for “to” before gida? Why don’t we say something like zuwa gida?

With many verbs of motion (go, come, return, enter, etc.), Hausa can use the bare noun as the destination, without a preposition like “to”:

zan tafi gida – I will go (to) home
ya dawo gida – he returned (to) home
muna zuwa kasuwa – we are going (to) the market

You can say zuwa gida in some contexts, but with common destinations like gida (home) it’s very natural and fully correct to omit zuwa. So in:

yana dawowa gida

the “to” meaning is built into the combination of dawowa (returning) + gida (home).

What does da mean in da yamma? I thought da meant “and” or “with”.

Da is a very flexible word in Hausa. Its most basic meanings are “and” and “with”, but in certain fixed time expressions it functions more like “in the … / at …”.

Common time phrases:

da safe – in the morning
da rana – in the daytime / at noon
da yamma – in the evening / late afternoon
da dare – at night

So in da yamma, da is part of a set phrase meaning “in the evening”, not literally “with the evening.”

Is there any difference between yamma by itself and da yamma?

Yes, there is a nuance:

yamma – “evening” as a bare noun (can be used in various constructions)
da yamma – the usual adverbial expression “in the evening”

In practice:

Ya dawo da yamma. – He came back in the evening.
Yamma ta yi. – Evening has come / It has become evening.

So when you want to say “in the evening” as a time adverb, da yamma is the normal, idiomatic choice. Using just yamma without da in this sentence would sound incomplete or odd.

Does this sentence describe a habit (“he usually comes home”) or something happening now (“he is coming home”)?

Both readings are possible, and context decides:

Habitual / regular action
- Baba na yana dawowa gida da yamma daga aiki.
  → My father (usually) comes home from work in the evening.
  The presence of da yamma (and typically no specific “today/now”) makes the habitual interpretation very natural.
Ongoing / current action
- In a context like: “Where is your dad now?” – “He’s on the way; he’s coming home this evening from work.”
- The same Hausa sentence can be understood as:
  - My father is coming home from work (this) evening.

So yana dawowa can be progressive (“is returning”) or habitual (“returns”), and the time expression and wider context tell you which one is meant.

How would I say “My father came home from work in the evening” (past) and “My father will come home from work in the evening” (future)?

You normally switch from the progressive form (yana dawowa) to a simple perfective or future form of the verb dawo:

Past (he came / he returned):

Baba na ya dawo gida da yamma daga aiki.
– My father came home from work in the evening.

Here, ya dawo is the simple past/perfective: “he returned / he came back.”

Future (he will come):

Baba na zai dawo gida da yamma daga aiki.
– My father will come home from work in the evening.

Here, zai dawo = “he will return / he will come back.”
(zai is the future marker for 3rd person singular masculine.)

Can the time phrase da yamma or the phrase daga aiki move to other positions in the sentence?

Yes, Hausa word order for adverbials (time, place, source) is somewhat flexible.

Your sentence is:

Baba na yana dawowa gida da yamma daga aiki.

Other natural possibilities include, for example:

Da yamma Baba na yana dawowa gida daga aiki.
– In the evening, my father comes home from work.
Baba na yana dawowa gida daga aiki da yamma.
– My father comes home from work in the evening.

The core order—subject, verbal part, main complements—stays the same, but time expressions like da yamma and source phrases like daga aiki can be placed before or after the verb phrase for emphasis or style. Native speakers often put a time phrase like da yamma at the very beginning to set the time frame.

Why do we say daga aiki (“from work”) and not something like “from his work” or “from the office”?

In Hausa, aiki by itself often means “(one’s) work / job” in a general way. It’s usually clear from context whose work is meant.

So:

daga aiki – from work (i.e., from his/her job, from the place of work)

If you wanted to be more specific, you could say, for example:

daga wurin aiki – from the place of work
daga ofis – from (the) office
daga aikinsa – from his work (literally “from his work”)

But in everyday speech, daga aiki is perfectly natural and means exactly what “from work” means in English when you say “He’s coming home from work.”

Is Baba the normal everyday word for “father” in Hausa, or is there a more formal term?

Baba is the common, everyday word for “father / dad”, and it can be affectionate or neutral, depending on context.

There is also uba, which is more formal/literary and often appears in set expressions or in more formal writing:

ubana – my father (more formal)

In ordinary conversation, people overwhelmingly say Baba, especially when referring to their own father:

Baba na / Babana – my father / my dad

So in this sentence, Baba na is the most natural, conversational way to say “my father.”

How would I make this sentence negative, as in “My father does not come home from work in the evening”?

To negate the yana + verbal noun form, you use ba … ya … with the verbal noun:

Baba na ba ya dawowa gida da yamma daga aiki.
– My father does not come home from work in the evening.

Structure:

Baba na – my father
ba ya – he does not (3rd person singular negative of yana)
dawowa – returning / coming back
rest of the complements as before

You will also hear a contracted pronunciation close to baya dawowa, but for learners it’s clearer to remember the two‑word pattern ba ya dawowa.