Yau duk yara suna gida.

to be

Breakdown of Yau duk yara suna gida.

• gida: the home
• yau: today
• yaro: the child

Questions & Answers about Yau duk yara suna gida.

What does each word in Yau duk yara suna gida literally mean?

Word by word:

• yau – today
• duk – all
• yara – children (plural of yaro “child”)
• suna – they are (3rd person plural, present/continuous)
• gida – home, house

So the structure is literally: “Today all children they-are home.”

Where is the word “they” in this sentence?

The idea of “they” is inside the word suna.

Hausa doesn’t say “they are” as two separate words. Instead it fuses them:

• su = they
• na = marker for present / ongoing state or action
• su + na → suna = “they are (doing/being)”

So suna already includes the subject “they” plus the idea of “are (now)”. There is no need for a separate “they” before it.

So is suna a verb “to be”?