Learn Hardcore Hausa: Abinci a kasuwa ya fi abinci a gida tsada. - Food at the market is more expensive than food at home.

Very literally: “Food at the market, it exceeds food at home in expensiveness.”
Idiomatic English: “Food at the market is more expensive than food at home.”

What does a mean in a kasuwa and a gida? Is it “in” or “at”?

a is a general preposition meaning “in / at / on”, depending on context. Here:

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

Hausa doesn’t always distinguish “in” vs. “at” the way English does. One preposition a covers both ideas, and context plus the noun tells you which English preposition fits best.

Why do we need ya after Abinci a kasuwa? Can we say Abinci a kasuwa fi abinci a gida tsada?

You normally must have a subject pronoun before a finite verb in Hausa, even when the subject noun phrase is already stated.

Abinci a kasuwa – Food at the market (subject noun phrase)
ya – “it / he” (referring back to abinci)
fi – the verb “exceed / be more than”

So the structure is:

[Abinci a kasuwa] ya fi [abinci a gida] tsada.
Food at the market, it is more (in expensiveness) than food at home.

Leaving out ya (Abinci a kasuwa fi …) is ungrammatical in standard Hausa. The pronoun is a normal part of the verb system, not optional like English “it.”

What exactly does fi do here? Is it the same as English “than”?

fi is actually a verb, not a preposition. Its basic meaning is “to exceed, to be more than.” In comparatives, Hausa uses this verb instead of using a separate word like English “than.”

Pattern:

X ya fi Y Adj
“X is more Adj than Y.”

In your sentence:

X = Abinci a kasuwa – food at the market
Y = abinci a gida – food at home
Adj = tsada – expensive

So literally: “Food at the market exceeds food at home in expensiveness.”
The idea covered by English “than” is built into fi and the whole structure X ya fi Y Adj.

Why is tsada at the end? Could we say Abinci a kasuwa ya fi tsada abinci a gida?

In this comparative structure, the normal order is:

Subject – (pronoun) – fi – thing compared with – adjective
Abinci a kasuwa ya fi abinci a gida tsada.

So:

Abinci a kasuwa – subject
ya fi – “is more than”
abinci a gida – what it is being compared with
tsada – the quality (expensive) that is being compared

Putting tsada earlier, like ya fi tsada abinci a gida, is not natural; it sounds wrong to native speakers. The adjective normally comes after the comparison phrase (fi + Y) in this kind of sentence.

Is tsada an adjective or a noun? How does it work here?

tsada is often described as a noun meaning “expensiveness”, but in practice it behaves very much like an adjective meaning “expensive.”

Two common uses:

As a predicate (like in your sentence):
> Abinci a kasuwa ya fi abinci a gida tsada.
> Food at the market is more expensive than food at home.
Here tsada functions like an adjective describing abinci a kasuwa.
Inside a noun phrase with mai (literally “owner of” → “having”):
> abinci mai tsada – expensive food (lit. food having expensiveness)
> mota mai tsada – an expensive car

So even though tsada is historically a noun, you can think of it as “expensive” here, used in a predicate position.

Why is abinci repeated? Can I avoid repeating it?

The full sentence repeats abinci:

Abinci a kasuwa ya fi abinci a gida tsada.

That’s perfectly correct and clear. However, Hausa often avoids repetition using na (“of”) to stand for the repeated noun:

Abincin kasuwa ya fi na gida tsada.

Here:

Abincin kasuwa – the food of the market (market food)
na gida – the one of the home (i.e. food at home)

Both sentences mean essentially the same thing:

Abinci a kasuwa ya fi abinci a gida tsada.
Abincin kasuwa ya fi na gida tsada.

The second is a bit more compact and very natural.

What’s the difference between Abinci a kasuwa and Abincin kasuwa?

Subtle nuance:

Abinci a kasuwa – literally “food at the market”
- Focuses on the location: the food that happens to be at the market.
Abincin kasuwa – literally “the market’s food / food of the market”
- Feels more like “market food,” a bit more tightly linked to the market as its characteristic or source.

In many everyday contexts, they overlap strongly and speakers might use either, but:

Abinci a kasuwa sounds more like you’re talking about where the food is now.
Abincin kasuwa sounds a bit more like “the kind of food you buy at the market” in general.

In your sentence, either pattern can be used with slightly different style:

Abinci a kasuwa ya fi abinci a gida tsada.
Abincin kasuwa ya fi na gida tsada.

How would I say “the food at the market is the most expensive” using mafi?

mafi is used for superlatives (“the most …”). Basic pattern:

X shi ne mafi Adj – X is the most Adj.

So for your idea:

Abinci a kasuwa shi ne mafi tsada.
Food at the market is the most expensive.

Or, with the other style:

Abincin kasuwa shi ne mafi tsada.

You can also specify “the most expensive of all foods,” of all places, etc., if you add more context, but the core structure is:

mafi + adjective → “the most + adjective”

Does ya always look like this, or does it change with different subjects (like feminine nouns)?

The subject pronoun does change with gender and number. In your sentence:

Abinci is grammatically masculine, so you use ya.

For a feminine subject, you use ta. Compare:

Abinci a kasuwa ya fi abinci a gida tsada.
Food (masc.) at the market is more expensive than food at home.
Mota a kasuwa ta fi mota a gida tsada.
The car (fem.) at the market is more expensive than the car at home.

Rough pattern (in this tense/aspect):

ya – he/it (masc. singular)
ta – she/it (fem. singular)
suna – they (plural)

So the pronoun must agree with the grammatical gender/number of the subject noun.

Can I drop “than food at home” in Hausa, like saying “Food at the market is more expensive” with no comparison mentioned?

Yes, if the comparison is clear from context, Hausa can leave out the Y part after fi and just say something like:

Abinci a kasuwa ya fi tsada.

This means roughly “Food at the market is more expensive (than what we have in mind).”

However:

If you want the sentence to be complete and clear on its own, it’s better to include the comparison explicitly: > Abinci a kasuwa ya fi abinci a gida tsada.

Leaving it out is common in conversation when both speakers already know what is being compared (for example, earlier in the conversation you mentioned “at home” or “at restaurants,” etc.).

How do you pronounce Abinci a kasuwa ya fi abinci a gida tsada?

An approximate pronunciation in simple English spelling:

Abinci – “ah-BEEN-chee”
a – short “ah”
kasuwa – “kah-SOO-wah”
ya – “yah”
fi – “fee”
abinci – “ah-BEEN-chee”
a – “ah”
gida – “GEE-dah”
tsada – “TSAH-dah” (the ts like in “cats”, but at the start of the syllable)

So the whole sentence:

ah-BEEN-chee ah kah-SOO-wah yah FEE ah-BEEN-chee ah GEE-dah TSAH-dah.

Real spoken Hausa also has tones, but they aren’t usually written, and most beginner materials don’t mark them.