Learn Hardcore Hausa: Likita yana da magani don ciwo da zazzabi. - The doctor has medicine for sickness and fever.

So the structure is literally:
Doctor he-is with medicine for pain and fever.
This is how Hausa normally expresses “The doctor has medicine for pain and fever.”

How does yana da mean “has”? Is there a separate verb “to have” in Hausa?

Hausa doesn’t use a single verb that means “to have” the way English does. Instead, it uses a structure that literally means “to be with”:

(subject pronoun / noun) + (continuous form of “to be”) + da + thing possessed

Examples:

Yana da magani. – He has medicine. (literally “He-is with medicine.”)
Ina da kudi. – I have money. (“I-am with money.”)
Suna da mota. – They have a car. (“They-are with car.”)

So in your sentence, Likita yana da magani is the normal way to say “The doctor has medicine.”
You don’t normally use a separate verb for possession; you use this X + yana/ina/suna + da + Y pattern.

Why is there no word for “the” before Likita? How do you say “the doctor” and “a doctor”?

Hausa does not have separate words for “the” and “a/an” like English. The bare noun likita can correspond to:

the doctor (when context makes it specific)
a doctor (when it’s not specific)
doctors in general (generic: “doctors…”)

So Likita yana da magani don ciwo da zazzabi is usually understood as “The doctor has medicine…” if you are clearly talking about some particular doctor.

If you want to make “a certain / some doctor” clearer, you can say:

Wani likita yana da magani… – A (certain) doctor has medicine…

If you want to make “this doctor” explicit:

Wannan likita yana da magani… – This doctor has medicine…

What exactly does magani mean here? Is it “medicine,” “drug,” or “cure”? Is it singular or plural?

Magani is a general word for:

medicine
remedy
treatment / cure

In this sentence it’s best understood as “medicine” or “a remedy.”

Grammatically:

magani – singular: a medicine / remedy
magunguna – plural: medicines / remedies

So:

Likita yana da magani don ciwo da zazzabi.
– The doctor has (some) medicine for pain and fever.
Likita yana da magunguna don ciwo da zazzabi.
– The doctor has medicines / several remedies for pain and fever.

Hausa doesn’t force you to mark the article (“the” vs “a”), so magani can be “medicine,” “a medicine,” or “the medicine,” depending on context.

What’s the difference between ciwo and zazzabi?

They’re related but not the same:

ciwo
- basic meaning: pain, ache, sore, wound
- can also mean an illness or sickness in a general sense (especially when you add more information, e.g. ciwon kai – headache, ciwon ciki – stomach ache)
zazzabi
- specific: fever, high temperature
- in everyday speech it is very often used for malaria, because fever is such a common symptom

So don ciwo da zazzabi = for pain and fever (or loosely “for sickness and fever / malaria” depending on context).

The sentence has da twice: in yana da magani and in ciwo da zazzabi. Is it the same word? What does da mean here?

Yes, it’s the same word da, but it has two related functions:

In “yana da magani”
- da = “with,” forming the possessive structure
- yane/ina/suna + da + noun is the standard way to say “have + noun.”
- Likita yana da magani = The doctor has medicine (literally “is with medicine”).
In “ciwo da zazzabi”
- da = “and,” linking two nouns
- ciwo da zazzabi = pain and fever.

Hausa da is very multifunctional; the two most important meanings you’re seeing here are:

with (in possession: yanaa da kudi – he has money)
and (coordinating conjunction: ciwo da zazzabi – pain and fever)

What does don mean in this sentence, and how is it different from other words that mean “for” or “to” like ga or saboda?

In this sentence, don expresses purpose and means “for” / “for the purpose of” / “in order to.”

don ciwo da zazzabi = for (the treatment of) pain and fever

A bit more detail on similar words:

don (short for domin) – “for (the purpose of), in order to”
- magani don ciwo – medicine for pain
- kudi don sayen abinci – money for buying food
ga – “to, toward, for (someone)”
- Ba da magani ga marasa lafiya. – Give medicine to the patients.
- Wannan kyauta ce gare ka. – This gift is for you.
saboda – “because of, due to”
- Ya sha magani saboda ciwo. – He took medicine because of the pain.

So don in your sentence introduces the reason/purpose why the doctor has the medicine: it’s for treating pain and fever.

Can I put don ciwo da zazzabi somewhere else in the sentence, or does it have to come at the end?

It doesn’t have to stay at the end, but that is the most neutral place. You can move it for emphasis or style:

Likita yana da magani don ciwo da zazzabi.
– Normal word order (very natural).
Don ciwo da zazzabi, likita yana da magani.
– “For pain and fever, the doctor has medicine.”
This puts more emphasis on the purpose.

Inside the verb phrase, you generally keep the pattern:

[Subject] + [yana da magani] + [don ciwo da zazzabi].

You wouldn’t normally insert other things between magani and don ciwo da zazzabi unless you’re adding more description to magani itself (like an adjective or extra phrase).

How would I make this sentence negative: “The doctor does not have medicine for pain and fever”?

To negate possession in Hausa, you use ba … da with a pronoun that refers back to the subject. For “he doesn’t have,” the pattern is:

Ba shi da … – He does not have …

With a noun subject like likita, you usually include a pronoun referring back to it:

Likita ba shi da magani don ciwo da zazzabi.
– The doctor does not have medicine for pain and fever.

Literally: “As for the doctor, he is-not-with medicine for pain and fever.”

Some points:

ba is the negation marker.
shi is “he/him,” referring to likita here.
da in ba shi da magani still carries the possession meaning (“with”).
Word order: [Subject] + ba + pronoun + da + thing.

Could you show the plural forms in a similar sentence, e.g. “Doctors have medicines for pains and fevers”?

Yes. Here are the key plurals:

likita (doctor) → likitoci (doctors)
magani (medicine) → magunguna (medicines)
ciwo can stay singular as a general noun, but you can also use it in compounds (e.g. ciwuka exists but is less common in basic beginner sentences)
zazzabi (fever) – usually treated as a mass/uncountable noun in ordinary speech

A good, natural plural sentence would be:

Likitoci suna da magunguna don ciwo da zazzabi.
– Doctors have medicines for pain and fever.

Breakdown:

Likitoci – doctors
suna da – they have (they-are with)
magunguna – medicines
don ciwo da zazzabi – for pain and fever

How is Likita yana da magani don ciwo da zazzabi pronounced, especially ciwo and zazzabi?

Approximate pronunciation (using English-like spelling):

Likita – lee-KEE-tah
yana – YAH-nah
da – dah
magani – mah-GAH-nee
don – dohn (short, like “don” in “Don Corleone,” but without lengthening)
ciwo – CHEE-woh (Hausa c is like English ch in “church”)
zazzabi – zah-ZAH-bee (double zz is just a stronger /z/; stress often on the second syllable)

So, roughly:

Lee-KEE-tah YAH-nah dah mah-GAH-nee dohn CHEE-woh dah zah-ZAH-bee.

Hausa is not tonal in the same way as many other African languages; pitch does matter, but at a beginner level, this approximation is usually good enough to be understood.

Does this sentence mean the medicine causes pain and fever, or that it is for treating pain and fever?

In this structure, it clearly means “for treating” pain and fever.

magani don ciwo da zazzabi = medicine for (the purpose of dealing with) pain and fever

If you wanted to say the medicine causes pain and fever, you would use a different structure, for example:

Maganin yana sa ciwo da zazzabi.
– The medicine causes pain and fever.
(literally “The medicine puts/causes pain and fever.”)

So don here is a purpose marker (“for treating”), not “because of” or “resulting in.”