Learn Hardcore Hausa: Falo ɗinmu babba ne amma ɗakin girki ƙarami ne. - Our living room is big, but the kitchen is small.

In many contexts you can think of falo ɗinmu simply as “our living room”, with a slight nuance of referring to a specific, known living room (for example, the one in your house, not just any living room).

Could I just say falonmu instead of falo ɗinmu? Is there any difference?

Yes, falonmu is also correct and means “our living room”:

falo + -n + mu → falonmu = living-room-of-us = our living room

Compared with:

falo ɗinmu – feels a bit more like “that particular living room of ours”, often slightly more emphatic or specific.

In everyday conversation, both forms may appear. At your current level you can treat both as meaning “our living room”, with falo ɗinmu sounding a bit more “spelled out” and specific.

What is ne doing in babba ne and ƙarami ne? Is it like the verb “to be”?

Yes. ne is a copula, roughly filling the role of “is/are” in English when you’re stating what something is or what quality it has.

Falo ɗinmu babba ne
→ literally: Our living room big is
→ “Our living room is big.”
ɗakin girki ƙarami ne
→ literally: The kitchen small is
→ “The kitchen is small.”

So:

Subject (noun phrase)
- adjective
  - ne/ce → “X is (adj).”

You’ll see ne or ce instead of a separate verb “is” in many simple descriptive sentences.

When do I use ne and when do I use ce?

The choice between ne and ce mainly depends on gender and number of the noun phrase:

Masculine singular → usually ne
- falo babba ne – the living room is big.
- ɗaki ƙarami ne – the room is small.
Feminine singular → usually ce
- mota babbar ce – the car is big.
- ƙafa doguwa ce – the leg is long.
Plural (any gender) → more often ne in many dialects, but usage can vary.
- motoci manya ne – the cars are big.

In your sentence:

falo (living room) is grammatically masculine → babba ne.
ɗaki (in ɗakin girki) is also masculine → ƙarami ne.

Why does the adjective come after the noun, as in falo babba? In English we say “big living room,” not “living room big.”

In Hausa, the usual order is:

Noun + Adjective

Examples:

falo babba – big living room
ɗaki ƙarami – small room
mota babba – big car
littafi sabo – new book

So in sentences like yours:

Falo ɗinmu babba ne
→ literally: Our living room big is.

This is simply a basic word-order difference between Hausa and English. When you think “big living room”, you should automatically convert it to “living room big” in Hausa.

Why is it babba and not babbar or some other form?

Hausa adjectives agree in gender (and sometimes number) with the noun.

The adjective babba (“big”) has forms like:

babba – masculine singular
babbar – feminine singular
manyan – common plural form (manyan can pair with various nouns as “big/important” in plural)

Because falo (living room) is a masculine noun, you use the masculine form:

falo babba ne – the living room is big.

If the noun were feminine, you’d see babbar instead:

mota babbar ce – the car is big.

So here babba matches the masculine noun falo.

What exactly is ɗakin girki? How is that phrase built?

ɗakin girki is a genitive/possessive construction:

ɗaki – room
-n – genitive/“of” linker
girki – cooking

So:

ɗaki-n girki → room-of cooking → kitchen

This pattern (called izafi) is extremely common in Hausa:

littafin yara – book of children → children’s book
ɗakin yara – room of children → children’s room
rabin gari – half of the town → half the town

In your sentence:

ɗakin girki ƙarami ne = The room-of-cooking is small → “The kitchen is small.”

Why is there no separate word for “is” before babba and ƙarami? Why not something like Falo ɗinmu *ya babba*?

For simple descriptions with adjectives, Hausa normally uses:

Noun phrase + adjective + ne/ce

not a separate verb like English “is”.

So:

Falo ɗinmu babba ne – Our living room is big.
ɗakin girki ƙarami ne – The kitchen is small.

You can use other structures (with yana da, ya zama, etc.) for different nuances, but for a basic, neutral “X is (adjective)”, the adjective + ne/ce pattern is the default.

ya is a subject pronoun (“he/it” for masculine), used for other types of predicates, not in this simple stative-adjective structure.

Can I drop ne and just say Falo ɗinmu babba, amma ɗakin girki ƙarami?

In careful, standard Hausa, you normally keep ne/ce in sentences like this. It makes the sentence complete and clear:

Falo ɗinmu babba ne, amma ɗakin girki ƙarami ne.

In fast casual speech, some speakers may drop ne/ce, especially when the meaning is obvious or when intonation carries the contrast, but as a learner you should keep ne/ce. It’s the regular way to say “is” in these descriptive sentences.

What does amma mean, and are there alternatives for “but”?

amma means “but” and connects two contrasting clauses:

Falo ɗinmu babba ne amma ɗakin girki ƙarami ne.
→ Our living room is big, but the kitchen is small.

You’ll also hear related forms and alternatives, for example:

amma kuma – but also / but then
sai dai – but / except that (often a stronger or more restrictive “but”)
amma dai – but (adding a bit of emphasis or insistence)

For your sentence, plain amma is exactly right.

How do I pronounce ɗ and ƙ in falo ɗinmu and ƙarami?

Hausa has some consonants that don’t exist in English:

ɗ – an implosive d
- Put your tongue like English d, but pull air slightly inward as you voice it.
- It’s different from plain d. Compare:
  - ɗaki (room) vs daki (would sound foreign/wrong).
ƙ – an ejective k
- Similar to k, but with a “popping” quality; air is built up and released more sharply, often with no aspiration.
- Compare:
  - ƙarami (small) vs karami (foreign-sounding / incorrect).

Learners often approximate at first, but it’s good to train your ear to notice the difference, because ɗ / d and ƙ / k can distinguish words.

Why is it ɗakin girki ƙarami ne, not ɗakin girki ne ƙarami?

The most neutral word order for “X is (adjective)” is:

Subject (noun phrase) + adjective + ne/ce

So:

ɗakin girki ƙarami ne – The kitchen is small.

If you say ɗakin girki ne ƙarami, it’s possible in certain contexts but it sounds focused, more like:

“It’s the kitchen that is small (as opposed to something else).”

So:

Neutral description: ɗakin girki ƙarami ne.
Focusing on the subject (“it’s the kitchen (in particular) that’s small”): ɗakin girki ne ƙarami.

For now, stick to the neutral Noun + adjective + ne/ce pattern unless you’re deliberately trying to emphasize one element.

Do Hausa sentences like this usually mark tone with accents? I don’t see any marks here.

In everyday Hausa writing, tone is not marked. You almost never see accents in normal books, newspapers, text messages, etc.

Hausa does have tones, and they are important for correct pronunciation and for distinguishing some words, but the standard orthography usually leaves them unmarked. Learners’ materials or dictionaries sometimes add tone marks to help you, but ordinary texts look like your example:

Falo ɗinmu babba ne amma ɗakin girki ƙarami ne.

So you’re expected to learn the tones through listening and practice rather than relying on written accents.