Musa yana yi wa malami sallama idan ya shigo ɗaki.

to be

Breakdown of Musa yana yi wa malami sallama idan ya shigo ɗaki.

• Musa: Musa
• malami: the teacher
• yi: to do

Questions & Answers about Musa yana yi wa malami sallama idan ya shigo ɗaki.

What does yana yi mean here, and why do we need both words yana and yi?

Yana yi literally means “he is doing” or “he does”.

• yana = he is / he does (imperfective aspect marker for ya “he”)
• yi = do

In Hausa, many actions are expressed with a light verb yi (to do) plus another word (often a verbal noun). Here, the full chunk is:

• yana yi wa malami sallama
  = he habitually does greeting to the teacher
  = he greets the teacher (regularly)

So yana marks the tense/aspect, and yi is the main verb do that supports the noun sallama (“greeting, salutation”).

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What is the function of wa in yana yi wa malami sallama?

Wa here means “to / for” and marks the indirect object (the person who receives the action).

• yi wa X Y = to do Y to/for X

So:

• yi wa malami sallama
  = to do a greeting to the teacher
  = to greet the teacher

Without wa, malami could be taken as a direct object of yi (“do the teacher”), which doesn’t make sense. Wa makes it clear that the teacher is the recipient of the greeting.

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Why is it yi wa malami sallama and not just something like yana sallama wa malami?