Learn Hardcore Hausa: Yara suna wasa a waje, amma uwa tana so su dawo cikin gida. - The children are playing outside, but mother wants them to come back inside.

In your sentence, Yara suna wasa a waje…, context suggests we’re talking about specific children (the ones the mother is thinking about), so we translate it as “The children are playing outside…” even though there’s no separate word for the.

What is the structure of suna wasa? Is wasa a verb or a noun here?

In suna wasa:

suna = “they are” (3rd person plural continuous/progressive marker)
wasa = “play, playing” (originally a noun, but it functions verbally in this common pattern)

So suna wasa literally feels like “they are at play”, but is best translated as “they are playing.”

This pattern is very common:

Ina wasa – I am playing
Muna aiki – We are working
Yana magana – He is talking

In all of these, the “verb” is often originally a noun (wasa = play, aiki = work, magana = speech/talking), but Hausa uses it with the progressive marker to express an ongoing action.

Could I say “Yara suna yin wasa” instead of “Yara suna wasa”? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can say both:

Yara suna wasa.
Yara suna yin wasa.

They both mean “The children are playing.”

The form yin wasa comes from:

yi = to do/make
yin = the doing of (yi + linking -n)
yin wasa = doing play / playing

Nuance:

suna wasa – very common, simple, everyday phrase.
suna yin wasa – slightly more explicit (literally “they are doing play”), but in practice, the meaning and usage are almost the same in this context.

For a learner, you can treat them as interchangeable here, with suna wasa being a bit shorter and more colloquial.

What does a waje literally mean, and why do we need the a?

waje = outside, outside area, or sometimes place.
a = preposition meaning “in/at/on” (location).

So a waje literally means “at outside / in the outside”, i.e. “outside.”

You normally use a to introduce a location:

a gida – at home / in the house
a kasuwa – at the market
a ofis – at the office

Similarly:

suna wasa a waje – they are playing outside.

Without a, waje on its own can sometimes mean “place”, or be part of other expressions, but for a clear location meaning “outside,” a waje is the safest and most natural form.

How is amma used? Is it exactly like English “but”?

amma is the most common word for “but” in Hausa, and in this sentence it works very much like English:

Yara suna wasa a waje, amma uwa tana so su dawo cikin gida.
The children are playing outside, but the mother wants them to come back inside.

It connects two contrasting clauses, just like “but”.

Other notes:

It can appear at the start of the second clause, with or without a pause/comma in writing:
… a waje amma uwa … or … a waje, amma uwa …
There are other “but/however” words (e.g. sai dai, amma dai), but amma is the basic, standard one to learn first.

Why is it just uwa and not something like uwar su (“their mother”)? How specific is uwa?

uwa by itself means “mother” in a general or context-dependent way.
It can refer to:
- a specific mother already known from context (here, the children’s mother), or
- “a mother” in general.

If you want to be explicit about whose mother:

uwar su – their mother
uwar yara – the children’s mother
uwa ta – her mother
uwar gida – wife of the house / lady of the house (a set phrase)

In your sentence, uwa is understood as the children’s mother because of context: children are playing, and a mother wants them to come back. Hausa often relies on context like this instead of adding “the” or possessives everywhere.

What’s the difference between suna and tana in this sentence?

They are both subject pronoun + aspect markers, but they agree with different subjects:

suna = “they are” (3rd person plural, continuous/progressive)
tana = “she is” (3rd person singular feminine, continuous/progressive)

So:

Yara suna wasa…
yara (children) → plural → suna
… amma uwa tana so…
uwa (mother) → feminine singular → tana

More examples:

Yaro yana wasa. – The boy is playing. (3sg masculine: yanaa)
Ya’ya suna wasa. – The children are playing. (3pl: suna)
Mama tana girki. – Mum is cooking. (3sg feminine: tana)

What exactly does so mean in tana so su dawo? Is it “want” or “like”?

so is a very common verb that covers meanings like:

to love
to like
to want

The exact English translation depends on context:

Ina son ki. – I love you / I like you.
Ina son shayi. – I like tea.
Ina so in tafi. – I want to go.

In your sentence:

uwa tana so su dawo cikin gida
The mother wants them to come back inside.

Here “wants” is the most natural translation, because it’s about desire for an action (their returning), not just liking them in a general sense.

What is the role of su in tana so su dawo? Why is it there?

In tana so su dawo:

tana so = she wants
su = they (3rd person plural subject pronoun)
dawo = return / come back

So su dawo = “that they (should) come back.”

Functionally, su is the subject of the verb dawo in a kind of subordinate / complement clause:

tana so [su dawo] – she wants [them to return]

This pattern is very regular in Hausa:

Ina so ka zo. – I want you (m.) to come.
Ina so ki zo. – I want you (f.) to come.
Muna so su tafi. – We want them to go.

So you must include su to show who is supposed to return.

Why is it dawo and not something like komawa? Do both mean “come back”?

Both verbs can express the idea of going/coming back, but they’re used slightly differently:

dawo – to return, to come back (to where the speaker or a reference point is)
- Ku dawo gida. – Come back home.
komawa – to go back, to return (more generally “go back to somewhere”)
- Na koma aiki. – I went back to work.

In this sentence, tana so su dawo cikin gida emphasizes “come back (into the house)”, which fits well with children currently outside being called back in. komawa would not be wrong in all contexts, but dawo is the more natural, direct choice here.

What does cikin gida literally mean? How is it different from just gida?

Breakdown:

ciki = inside, interior
cikin = “inside of / in the inside of” (ciki + linking -n)
gida = house, home

So:

cikin gida literally = “inside (the) house” or “inside the home.”

Difference in nuance:

gida – house/home as a place in general:
- Ina gida. – I’m at home.
cikin gida – emphasizes being physically inside the house, not just “at home” in a broad sense.

In your sentence:

… su dawo cikin gida.
The mother wants them to come back into the house, i.e. not stay in the yard, compound, or outside area.

Why is the word order “tana so su dawo cikin gida” and not something more like English, e.g. “she wants them come back”?

Hausa uses a fairly consistent pattern:

Subject + aspect marker + main verb (so)
- uwa tana so… – the mother wants…
Then a clause showing the desired action, with its own subject pronoun:
- su dawo cikin gida – that they return inside the house

So the natural pattern is:

[uwa] [tana so] [su dawo cikin gida].
[subject] [wants] [they return inside].

Other examples with the same structure:

Ina so ka zo. – I want you (m.) to come.
Muna so mu tafi yanzu. – We want to leave now.
Yana so ta yi magana. – He wants her to speak.

English uses infinitives (“to come back”), but Hausa uses a subject pronoun + verb instead (su dawo).