Malami ya tura mana saƙo ta waya daga ofis.

The teacher sent us a message by phone from the office.

Breakdown of Malami ya tura mana saƙo ta waya daga ofis.

• malami: the teacher
• daga: from
• ofis: the office
• waya: the phone
• saƙo: the message
• tura: to send
• ta: by
• mu: us

Questions & Answers about Malami ya tura mana saƙo ta waya daga ofis.

Why do we need ya after Malami? Why not just say Malami tura mana saƙo…?

In Hausa, a full noun subject like Malami almost always needs a subject pronoun to carry tense/aspect.

• Malami = the teacher (a noun)
• ya = he (3rd person masculine) in the perfective aspect
• tura = send (verb)

The structure is:

[Noun subject] + [subject pronoun/aspect] + [verb]

So:

• Malami ya tura… = The teacher, he sent…

You cannot normally say:

• ✗ Malami tura mana saƙo… (ungrammatical in normal speech)

The verb is controlled by ya, not by Malami directly. Malami is like a topic, and ya is the real grammatical subject marker.

What exactly does ya tura mean? Is it simple past (“sent”) or present perfect (“has sent”)?

Ya tura is the perfective form of the verb tura for a masculine subject (“he/it”).

• ya tura ≈ “he sent” / “he has sent”
  • completed action, viewed as a whole

Compare with other common forms:

• yana tura = “he is sending / he sends (regularly)”
  (imperfective/progressive, ongoing or repeated)
• yakan tura = “he usually sends / he tends to send”
  (habitual)

In your sentence, Malami ya tura mana saƙo…, the idea is a finished event: the teacher already sent the message.

What does mana mean here, and how is it different from mu (“us”)?

Mana is a special indirect/benefactive pronoun, meaning “to us / for us”.

It comes from ma (to/for) + mu (we/us), fused into one clitic:

• mini = to/for me
• maka / maki = to/for you (m./f. sg.)
• masa / mata = to/for him/her
• mana = to/for us
• muku = to/for you (pl.)
• musu = to/for them

So:

• ya tura mana saƙo = he sent us a message / he sent a message to us
• mu by itself is a subject or direct object pronoun:
  • sun ga mu = they saw us
  • mu muka je = it was us who went

If you said ya tura mu, that would mean “he sent us” (as the direct object: he dispatched us somewhere), not “he sent a message to us”.
To express “to us / for us” with this nuance, mana is the natural choice.

Where does mana have to go in the sentence? Could I say Malami ya tura saƙo mana ta waya daga ofis?

With these ma‑ pronouns (mini, maka, masa, mana, etc.), the normal position is:

Verb + ma‑pronoun + direct object

So:

• Malami ya tura mana saƙo… = correct, natural
• ✗ Malami ya tura saƙo mana… = not the usual placement with mana

If you want “to us” expressed as a full phrase instead of a clitic, you can rephrase:

• Malami ya tura saƙo zuwa gare mu ta waya daga ofis.
  (“The teacher sent a message to us by phone from the office.”)

But if you use the short clitic mana, it should come right after the verb and before saƙo.

Is ta in ta waya the same ta that means “she”?

They look and sound the same, but they function differently.

1. ta as a pronoun/aspect marker:
   • 3rd person feminine perfective: ta tafi = “she went”
2. ta as a kind of preposition/instrument marker:
   • ta waya = “by phone / via phone”
   • ta mota = “by car”
   • ta intanet = “via the internet”

In ta waya, ta is understood as “by / through / via”, not as “she”.
Context tells you which ta is meant.

Why is it ta waya and not da waya for “by phone”?

Both ta and da can be used for means/instruments, but they’re not interchangeable in all expressions.

• ta waya is the standard idiomatic way to say:

  • by phone
  • on the phone
  • over the phone

• da waya literally means “with a phone / with wire”. It can be understood, but it more strongly suggests using a physical object as a tool:

  • ya yanke shi da wuka = he cut it with a knife
  • ya buga ƙofa da hannu = he knocked on the door with his hand

So for communication or travel, Hausa strongly prefers ta:

• ta waya = by phone
• ta mota = by car
• ta jirgi = by plane

Using ta waya here is the normal, idiomatic choice.

What does daga mean in daga ofis? Could we use a ofis instead?

Daga and a are different prepositions:

• daga = from (origin or starting point)

  • daga gida = from home
  • daga ofis = from (the) office

• a = in / at / on (location)

  • a gida = at home / in the house
  • a ofis = in the office / at the office

So:

• ya tura mana saƙo daga ofis
  = he sent us a message from the office (that is the place he was in when he sent it)

If you say:

• ya tura mana saƙo a ofis

it would suggest “he sent us a message in/at the office” (describing the location of the action, not the source). For the idea of “from the office”, daga is the right choice.

Why is it ofis? Is there a more “Hausa” form like ofishi or ofishin?

Ofis is a borrowed word from English “office”, widely used in modern Hausa.

You may also see:

• ofishi – another borrowed form, a bit closer to Hausa noun patterns
• ofishin – ofishi
  • the linker/definite suffix ‑n:
    • daga ofishin su = from their office
    • a ofishin direkta = in the director’s office

In your sentence:

• daga ofis is very common and natural.
• daga ofishi is also possible in many dialects.

So ofis is not “wrong Hausa”; it is the normal everyday loanword.

Can I say Malamin ya tura mana saƙo… instead of Malami ya tura…? What’s the difference?

Both are possible; the nuance is mainly about definiteness and linking.

• malami = a teacher / the teacher (context-dependent, bare form)
• malamin = “the teacher” with the definite/linking suffix ‑n

Uses of malamin:

• malamin makaranta = the school teacher
• malaminmu = our teacher
• Sometimes malamin by itself implies “that specific teacher we both know/just mentioned”.

So:

• Malami ya tura mana saƙo…
  • neutral; could be “a teacher” or “the teacher”, depending on context.
• Malamin ya tura mana saƙo…
  • more clearly “the teacher”, some specific, identifiable teacher.

Both are grammatically fine; choice depends on whether you are talking about a particular, known teacher.

How do we know to use ya and not ta with Malami?

Hausa verbs agree with the gender (and number) of the subject via the subject pronoun/aspect marker.

• Masculine: ya tura = he sent
• Feminine: ta tura = she sent

Malami (“teacher”) is grammatically masculine, so:

• Malami ya tura mana saƙo…

If the subject were Malama (“female teacher”), you would say:

• Malama ta tura mana saƙo ta waya daga ofis.
  = The (female) teacher sent us a message by phone from the office.

Does saƙo only mean “message”, or can it mean “errand” too? Does that affect the meaning of tura saƙo?

Saƙo is flexible; it can mean:

1. message / information
2. errand / mission / assignment

Examples:

• ya ba ni saƙo
  = he gave me a message / he sent me on an errand
• na kai masa saƙo
  = I delivered a message / I carried out an errand for him

In your sentence, because you have ta waya (“by phone”), the natural reading of saƙo is “message”:

• ya tura mana saƙo ta waya
  = he sent us a message by phone

If there were no ta waya, context would decide whether you understand saƙo as a “message” or an “errand”.

Is there a difference between tura and aika for “send” in this sentence?

Both tura and aika can mean “to send”, but they have slightly different common uses and collocations.

• tura:

  • very common with things like saƙo (message), kuɗi (money)
  • often for sending through some medium:
    • ya tura saƙo ta waya = he sent a message by phone
    • ya tura kuɗi ta banki = he sent money through the bank

• aika:

  • also “send”, but often used with:
    • sending someone or something on a mission/errand:
      • sun aika ni da saƙo = they sent me with a message / on an errand
    • or sending items, sometimes with a sense of dispatch:
      • ya aika musu kaya = he sent them goods

In your exact sentence, you could say:

• Malami ya tura mana saƙo ta waya daga ofis. ✅
• Malami ya aika mana saƙo ta waya daga ofis. ✅ (also acceptable)

But tura saƙo ta waya is the more typical and idiomatic collocation for “send a message by phone”.