Learn Hardcore Hausa: Yanzu akwai yara a cikin gida. - Now there are children inside the house.

Yanzu means now, at this moment, or these days, depending on context.
In this sentence, Yanzu akwai yara a cikin gida means Now there are children in the house.

Placement:

At the start (as in the sentence):
Yanzu akwai yara a cikin gida. – Now there are children in the house.
It can also go later:
Akwai yara a cikin gida yanzu. – same meaning, but yanzu feels a bit more like an afterthought, similar to English “… in the house now.”

Both are acceptable; putting yanzu at the beginning makes the time frame very prominent.

What exactly does akwai mean and how is it used?

Akwai is an existential verb, roughly meaning there is / there are.

In this sentence:

Akwai yara a cikin gida. = There are children in the house.

Key points:

Akwai does not change form for singular vs plural.
- Akwai yaro. – There is a boy.
- Akwai yara. – There are children.
It usually introduces that something exists or is present somewhere:
- Akwai ruwa? – Is there water?
- Akwai matsala. – There is a problem.

So akwai encodes “existence/presence,” not number.

Is akwai a verb like English “is/are”, and does it change for tense?

Akwai behaves like a verb of existence, but it is invariable: it does not change its form for person, number, or tense.

Tense is usually shown by time words or context, not by changing akwai itself:

Present / general:
- Yanzu akwai yara a cikin gida. – Now there are children in the house.
Past (with a past time word):
- Jiya akwai yara a cikin gida. – Yesterday there were children in the house.
Future (with a future time word or context):
- Gobe akwai taro. – Tomorrow there will be a meeting.

So you leave akwai as akwai, and add time expressions to locate it in time.

What is the role of yara in the sentence, and why isn’t there a separate word for “the” or “some”?

Yara means children (plural of yaro, boy/child). In this sentence it is the thing that exists or is present:

(Yanzu) akwai YARA a cikin gida. – (Now) there are CHILDREN in the house.

Hausa generally does not have separate words like English “a / an / the”.
Whether yara is understood as children, some children, or the children depends on context and emphasis:

Neutral / new information:
- Yanzu akwai yara a cikin gida.
  Likely: Now there are (some) children in the house.
If you want to clearly mean these/the children, you can add a demonstrative:
- Yanzu akwai yaran nan a cikin gida. – Now those children are in the house.
- Yanzu akwai yaran a cikin gida. – Now the children (previously mentioned) are in the house.

So the bare noun yara is context-dependent for definiteness.

How does yaro become yara? Is that a regular plural?

Yaro (child/boy) → yara (children) is an irregular plural pattern in Hausa.

Singular: yaro – child, boy
Plural: yara – children, boys

Many Hausa nouns form plurals with various patterns (not just adding a single ending), for example:

mutum → mutane – person → people
gida → gidaje – house → houses

So yaro → yara is something you need to memorize as a common irregular pair.

What does a cikin gida literally mean? Why both a and cikin?

A cikin gida can be broken down like this:

a – a general preposition meaning in / at / on (location marker)
cikin – from ciki, meaning inside / interior / the inside of
gida – house / home

Literally: in the inside-of the house → naturally translated as in the house or inside the house.

In practice:

a gidan – in/at the house (neutral)
a cikin gida – inside the house (with a bit more emphasis on inside as opposed to outside)

Using a cikin together is very common to express inside (something).

Could the sentence be Yanzu akwai yara cikin gida without a?

The most natural and standard version is Yanzu akwai yara a cikin gida.

You can sometimes hear forms without a in fast or informal speech, but a cikin is the normal, clear structure:

a + cikin + gida → in(side) the house

Dropping a here is not recommended for a learner; it can sound incomplete or colloquial.
Stick with a cikin to be safe and grammatical:
Yanzu akwai yara a cikin gida.

What is the difference between a cikin gida and just a gida?

Both can be correct, but they differ slightly in nuance:

a gida – at home / at the house
- More general; can mean at that place (home/house), not stressing interior.
a cikin gida – inside the house
- Emphasizes being inside rather than just at the house.

Compare:

Yanzu akwai yara a gida. – Now there are children at home.
Yanzu akwai yara a cikin gida. – Now there are children inside the house (as opposed to outside).

Context often makes them interchangeable, but a cikin gida is more explicitly “inside.”

Can I say Yanzu yara suna cikin gida instead? What is the difference from Yanzu akwai yara a cikin gida?

Yes, you can, and there is a subtle difference:

Yanzu akwai yara a cikin gida.
- Uses akwai (existential “there is/are”).
- Focus: the existence or presence of children in the house.
- Feels like you are telling someone “There are (some) children in the house now.” (maybe new information).
Yanzu yara suna cikin gida.
- Uses suna (3rd person plural subject pronoun + continuous aspect marker) + cikin.
- Literal: Now the children are (located) inside the house.
- Focus: where the children are, as if we already know which children and are just stating their current location.

So:

akwai sentence: introduces that such children exist/present there.
suna cikin sentence: locates a known group of children.

Both are grammatical; you choose based on what you want to highlight.

Is the word order fixed, or can I move elements around, like putting yara earlier?

The core order with akwai is:

[Time word] + akwai + [thing that exists] + [location]

So:

Yanzu akwai yara a cikin gida.

You have some flexibility:

Akwai yara a cikin gida yanzu. – Moves yanzu to the end.
Yanzu akwai yara a gidanmu. – Changes the location noun.

However, you generally do not move yara in front of akwai in this construction, because akwai is what introduces the existence:

✗ *Yanzu yara akwai a cikin gida. – ungrammatical.

Keep akwai before the noun whose existence you are stating.

How would I make this sentence negative, like “Now there are no children in the house”?

To negate akwai, you use babu (or ba a/ba a nan in some contexts). The simplest here is babu:

Yanzu babu yara a cikin gida.
– Now there are no children in the house. / There aren’t any children in the house now.

Pattern:

Akwai X… → Babu X…
- Akwai ruwa. – There is water.
- Babu ruwa. – There is no water. / There isn’t any water.

So the negative counterpart of the original sentence is Yanzu babu yara a cikin gida.