Learn Hardcore Hausa: A wani ɗaki akwai ɗaliba uku suna karatu. - In another room there are three female students studying.

A ɗaki – “in a room / indoors / in the room (in general)”
A wani ɗaki – “in a certain room / in some particular room (not specified which)”

Wani highlights that it’s one specific but unnamed room, which is important if, for example, you are contrasting it with other rooms.

Why is the phrase A wani ɗaki put at the beginning of the sentence? Could it go somewhere else?

Putting A wani ɗaki first is a way of setting the scene: “In a certain room, …”.

You can also say:

Akwai ɗaliba uku suna karatu a wani ɗaki.
“There are three female students studying in a certain room.”

Both word orders are possible. Hausa often puts time or place expressions at the beginning when it wants to emphasize them, but it’s not obligatory.

How does akwai work? Does it change for singular and plural like “there is / there are”?

Akwai is an existential verb meaning “there is / there are”. It:

does not change for singular vs. plural:
- akwai ɗalibi – there is a student
- akwai ɗalibai – there are students
usually comes before the thing that exists:
- akwai ɗaliba uku – there are three female students

The common negative counterpart is babu:

A wani ɗaki babu ɗaliba. – “In a certain room there are no students.”

Is there a separate word for “they” before suna? Why don’t we see something like su suna karatu?

The “they” is already built into suna.

Independent pronoun: su = “they”
Continuous/habitual subject form: suna = “they (are) …-ing / they usually …”

So suna already carries the idea “they are …”.
Saying su suna karatu would normally be redundant and not standard in this context.

What does suna karatu literally mean, and how is it formed?

Suna karatu literally means “they are in the act of reading/studying” or “they are doing study”.

Breakdown:

su- (in suna) – “they”
-na (in suna) – a marker of continuous / habitual aspect
karatu – verbal noun “reading, study, studies, education”

So suna karatu is roughly “they-are in a state of study” → “they are studying / they are reading.”

Does karatu mean “reading” or “studying”? The English meanings seem different.

Karatu covers several related ideas, and context decides the best English translation:

reading (the physical act of reading text)
studying / doing schoolwork
education / schooling in a general sense

In suna karatu, where the subject is students, the most natural translation is “they are studying / they are doing their studies.”

Why is it ɗaliba uku and not plural ɗalibai uku? Isn’t it “three students”?

A few points are involved:

Gender
- ɗalibi – male student
- ɗaliba – female student
- ɗalibai – students (plural, mixed or unspecified gender)
ɗaliba tells us we’re talking about female students.
Numbers and noun form
In many varieties of Hausa, when a noun is directly followed by a number, speakers often use a “counting form” of the noun, which may look like the singular. The number itself already shows that it’s plural, so a plural ending is not strictly required.
That’s why you can encounter:
- ɗaliba uku – three (female) students
  and also hear forms with an overt plural:
- ɗalibai uku – three students

So ɗaliba uku here is understood as “three female students”, even though the noun looks singular.

Where do numbers go in Hausa? Why is it ɗaliba uku and not uku ɗaliba?

In Hausa, cardinal numbers (one, two, three, …) normally come after the noun they count:

ɗalibi ɗaya – one student
ɗaliba biyu – two (female) students
ɗaliba uku – three (female) students

So the pattern is usually:

NOUN + NUMBER

Putting the number before the noun (uku ɗaliba) would be ungrammatical in standard Hausa.

Does ɗaliba always mean “female students”? Could it ever be generic?

In standard usage:

ɗalibi = male student
ɗaliba = female student
ɗalibai = students (plural, often mixed or generic)

So ɗaliba uku is normally understood as “three female students.”
If you want to be clearly generic or mixed-gender in a textbook-style sentence, ɗalibai uku would be the neutral form to learn.

What is the sound ɗ in ɗaki and ɗaliba, and how is it different from normal d?

ɗ represents an implosive “d”, a sound that doesn’t exist in English.

d – a regular voiced alveolar stop, similar to English d in dog.
ɗ – an implosive; you make a d-like sound while slightly inward-drawing air at the same time.

For many learners, a realistic target is:

Aim for a clear d sound, but remember that ɗ and d can distinguish words in Hausa (they’re different letters), so in listening you’ll eventually need to notice the difference.

Could I say Akwai ɗaliba uku suna karatu a wani ɗaki instead? Is that still correct?

Yes, that is also correct and natural.

A wani ɗaki akwai ɗaliba uku suna karatu.
Focuses first on place (“In a certain room, …”).
Akwai ɗaliba uku suna karatu a wani ɗaki.
Starts with the existence of the students (“There are three students studying in a certain room”).

Both are grammatical; the difference is mainly information flow / emphasis.

Should there be a word like da (“who/that”) between ɗaliba uku and suna karatu? For example: akwai ɗaliba uku da suke karatu?

You can use da to make an explicit relative clause:

A wani ɗaki akwai ɗaliba uku da suke karatu.
“In a certain room there are three students who are studying.”

But it’s also common in Hausa to simply put the descriptive clause right after the noun without da, as in your original sentence:

…akwai ɗaliba uku suna karatu.

Here suna karatu is understood as describing those three students, even without da. Both structures are acceptable; the version with da is a bit more explicit/“bookish,” while the original is more streamlined.