A gida muna da kujeru biyar a falo.

At home we have five chairs in the living room.

Breakdown of A gida muna da kujeru biyar a falo.

• da: to have
• gida: the home
• a: at
• a: in
• kujera: the chair
• falo: the living room
• biyar: five

Questions & Answers about A gida muna da kujeru biyar a falo.

What is the basic word-by-word breakdown of A gida muna da kujeru biyar a falo?

Here is a simple breakdown:

• A – in / at (locative preposition)
• gida – home / house
• muna – we are (progressive/continuous form of mu we
  • na aspect marker)
• da – with, but with muna it means have (literally we are with…)
• kujeru – chairs (plural of kujera chair)
• biyar – five
• a – in / at again
• falo – living room / sitting room

Natural English: At home we have five chairs in the living room.

Why is muna da used to mean we have? Literally it looks like we are with.

In Hausa, possession is often expressed with a structure that literally means to be with:

• muna da kujeru biyar – literally we are with five chairs → idiomatically we have five chairs.

Pattern with other persons:

• ina da – I have
• kana da (m.) / kina da (f.) – you have
• yana da (m.) / tana da (f.) – he/she has
• muna da – we have
• kuna da – you (pl.) have
• suna da – they have

So muna da is the standard, everyday way to say we have.

Why does kujeru biyar come as chairs five instead of five chairs like in English?

In Hausa, numbers normally come after the noun they count:

• kujeru biyar – chairs five → five chairs
• motoci uku – cars three → three cars
• yara goma – children ten → ten children

So noun + number is the regular order. Putting the number first (biyar kujeru) would sound wrong in this context.

What is the difference between kujera and kujeru?

• kujera – singular: a chair
• kujeru – plural: chairs

Many Hausa nouns form the plural by changing the ending:

• mota → motoci (car → cars)
• yarinya → ‘yan mata (girl → girls / young women)
• kujera → kujeru (chair → chairs)

So in kujeru biyar, both the plural form kujeru and the number biyar show that there is more than one chair.

What exactly does the a in a gida and a falo mean? Is it in or at?

The preposition a is a general locative preposition. It can correspond to in, at, or even on, depending on context:

• a gida – at home / in the house
• a falo – in the living room
• a kasuwa – at the market
• a kan tebur – on the table

English forces you to choose among in / at / on, but Hausa a is more flexible. Here, a gida and a falo are best translated as at home and in the living room.

Could I say cikin falo instead of a falo? What’s the difference between a and cikin?

You can say both, but there is a nuance:

• a falo – in/at the living room (general location)
• cikin falo – literally inside the living room, focuses more on the interior.

Often a falo is enough and very natural. cikin falo emphasizes being inside the room’s space, but in everyday talk both can translate as in the living room.

Is gida here definite, like the house / our house, or indefinite, like a house?

Bare gida (without a determiner) is somewhat neutral, but in context it is usually understood as home / our home, not just any random house.

To be more explicit:

• a gida – at home
• a gidanmu – at our house (more clearly “our”)
• a gidansu – at their house

In everyday speech, a gida is normally understood as at home (our place).

Could the sentence be reordered, for example: Muna da kujeru biyar a falo a gida? Does the word order of the location phrases matter?

Hausa allows some flexibility with location phrases, but there is a natural order.

• A gida muna da kujeru biyar a falo. – very natural
• Muna da kujeru biyar a falo a gida. – understandable, but sounds heavier / less neat.

Usually you either:

1. Put the general place at the start:

   • A gida muna da kujeru biyar a falo. – At home, we have five chairs in the living room.

2. Or keep both place phrases after the verb, but still go from general to specific:

   • Muna da kujeru biyar a gida, a falo.

So yes, you can move them, but the given order is more natural.

Why is it A gida muna da… and not something like Mu muna da…? Where is the subject we?

The subject we is built into the form muna:

• mu – we
• na – progressive/aspect element
  → muna – we are…

In modern spelling, these are normally written together (muna, suna, kuna, etc.). So:

• muna da kujeru biyar – we have five chairs

The mu is therefore implicit inside muna; you don’t need a separate mu in front. Writing Mu muna da… is possible for emphasis (We, we have…), but not necessary here.

Is falo the only way to say living room in Hausa?

No; there are several ways, depending on region and style. Common ones:

• falo – living room / parlour (very common in speech)
• ɗakin zama – literally room of sitting, also living room / sitting room
• parlo / palo – variants influenced by English parlour (less standard)

In this sentence, a falo is a natural, everyday way to say in the living room.

Is the tense in muna da like English present simple (we have) or present continuous (we are having)?

Formally, muna is a progressive / continuous form (we are …-ing), but with da it behaves as a neutral present of possession:

• muna da kujeru biyar – we have five chairs (a general, current fact)

So you do not normally translate it as we are having five chairs in English. In practice, muna da just functions as we have.