Learn Hardcore Hausa: Wata ɗaliba tana karatu da dare saboda tana aiki da rana. - A certain female student studies at night because she works during the day.

Ongoing right now: Yanzu tana karatu da dare. = “Right now she is studying at night.”
Habitual / regular: Kullum tana karatu da dare. = “She studies at night every day.”

It’s not just the neutral article “a”; it often suggests “a certain / some (unspecified)”.
It is feminine; the masculine form is wani.
If you said ɗaliba alone, it would sound more like “the student” or “the student (in general)”.
Adding wata makes it clearly indefinite: some student, not a specific known one.

So wata is like “a (certain)” for a feminine noun.

What’s the difference between ɗaliba and ɗalibi?

Both come from the same root meaning “student”, but they differ in gender:

So wata ɗaliba is specifically “a female student”.

If you wanted to talk about a male student, you’d say wani ɗalibi.

What is tana? Is it like “she is”?