Learn Hardcore Hausa: A gida yau za mu dafa miya da nama da kifi. - At home today we will cook soup with meat and fish.

[Location] [Time] [Future marker + Subject] [Verb] [Object list]
→ A gida (at home) yau (today) za mu (we will) dafa (cook) miya da nama da kifi (soup and meat and fish / soup with meat and fish).

What is the role of a in a gida, and how is it different from other ways of saying at home in Hausa?

a is a very common preposition that can mean at, in, on, depending on context.

a gida – at home / in the house.
cikin gida – more explicitly inside the house.
a gidanmu – at our house (gidanmu = our house).

So a gida is a simple, general way to say at home.
You use a before many place words:

a kasuwa – at the market
a makaranta – at school
a ofis – at the office

Why does the sentence start with A gida yau instead of starting with Yau or Za mu?

Hausa word order is flexible for adverbs (time, place). Putting A gida yau at the start gives it emphasis:

A gida yau za mu dafa miya…
– At home today, we will cook soup… (emphasis on at home today).

You could also say:

Yau za mu dafa miya da nama da kifi a gida.
– Today we’ll cook soup… at home. (focus on today).
Za mu dafa miya da nama da kifi a gida yau.
– More neutral: We’ll cook soup… at home today.

All are grammatical; fronting A gida yau just highlights the setting.

What exactly is za, and why do we say za mu dafa instead of something like mu za dafa?

za is a future tense/aspect marker. It must come before the subject pronoun (or is written together with it):

za mu dafa – we will cook
zan dafa – I will cook (from za + ni → zan)
za ka dafa – you (m.sing.) will cook
za su dafa – they will cook

In normal order, it’s always:

za + subject pronoun + verb
za mu dafa, za su zo, za ta sayi littafi, etc.

You don’t say mu za dafa in neutral speech; mu in that position would sound like a focused/emphatic mu: mu za mu dafa… = we (as opposed to others) will cook…

I sometimes see zamu written as one word. Is za mu or zamu correct?

In careful / standard writing, it’s usually written as two words:

za mu dafa
za su tafi
za ka zo

But in informal writing (texts, social media, song lyrics), people often write it together:

zamu dafa
zasu tafi
zaka zo

Both represent the same pronunciation. For learning and formal purposes, keep it as za mu.

What is the grammatical role of miya da nama da kifi? Is dafa transitive here?

Yes, dafa is a transitive verb (it takes a direct object).

dafa miya da nama da kifi
– to cook soup and meat and fish / soup with meat and fish.

Here miya da nama da kifi is the direct object of dafa.
You can replace that phrase with other objects:

dafa shinkafa – cook rice
dafa wake – cook beans
dafa abinci – cook food / a meal

Does miya da nama da kifi mean soup and meat and fish or soup with meat and fish?

It can be understood either way, depending on context:

miya da nama da kifi
1. A list: soup, meat, and fish (three separate things you’re cooking).
2. A combination: soup with meat and fish in it.

In everyday speech, people often use da both to link separate dishes and to show ingredients inside one dish. Context (and culture: how people usually eat) tells you which is meant.

What does da do here, and is it the same da that can mean with in other sentences?

Yes, it’s the same da. It has two very common uses:

Coordinating conjunction (and):
- miya da nama da kifi – soup and meat and fish
- yara da manya – children and adults
Comitative / instrumental (with, using):
- na zo da aboki na – I came with my friend
- yanke burodi da wuƙa – cut bread with a knife

So in miya da nama da kifi, da is basically linking parts of the meal, and can also imply with (as ingredients).

Why is there no word for the in miya da nama da kifi? How would I say the soup or that soup in Hausa?

Hausa doesn’t have a separate word for “the” like English. Nouns are usually bare:

miya – soup / the soup (depending on context)
nama – meat / the meat

To make something clearly definite / specific, Hausa uses other strategies, for example:

miyar nan – this/that soup (here/there)
miyar da muka dafa jiya – the soup that we cooked yesterday
miyar gida – the home-made soup / the soup of the house

So in za mu dafa miya, whether you mean soup in general or the soup is inferred from the situation, not from a separate word like the.

How would the sentence change if the subject was I or they instead of we?

Just change the subject pronoun after za:

I will cook soup… at home today.
→ A gida yau zan dafa miya da nama da kifi.
(za + ni = zan)
They will cook soup… at home today.
→ A gida yau za su dafa miya da nama da kifi.

Other persons follow the same pattern:

Za ka dafa… – you (m.sing.) will cook…
Za ki dafa… – you (f.sing.) will cook…
Za ku dafa… – you (pl.) will cook…

How do I say we will not cook soup with meat and fish at home today in Hausa? How is the future tense negated?

Future negative uses ba … ba around the za + subject + verb part.

Your sentence:

Ba za mu dafa miya da nama da kifi a gida yau ba.
= We will not cook soup with meat and fish at home today.

Pattern:

Ba + za + subject + verb (+ rest of sentence) + ba

Examples:

Ba zan tafi ba. – I will not go.
Ba za su ci abinci a nan ba. – They will not eat food here.

How would I say Yesterday at home we cooked soup with meat and fish (past tense instead of future)?

Use the completive (perfect) form of the verb instead of za + mu.

A gida jiya mun dafa miya da nama da kifi.
– At home yesterday we cooked soup with meat and fish.

Here:

mun dafa – we cooked / we have cooked (completive of mu
- dafa).

Compare:

Za mu dafa… – we will cook…
Mun dafa… – we cooked / we have cooked…

Can I move yau and a gida to other positions, or is A gida yau… the only correct order?

You can move them; Hausa allows flexible placement of time and place adverbs. All of these are grammatical:

A gida yau za mu dafa miya da nama da kifi.
Yau a gida za mu dafa miya da nama da kifi.
Yau za mu dafa miya da nama da kifi a gida.
Za mu dafa miya da nama da kifi a gida yau.

The basic clause za mu dafa miya da nama da kifi stays together; yau (today) and a gida (at home) can be placed before or after it for different emphasis / style.

Is mu here just the normal we, or does it have some special emphasis?

In za mu dafa, mu is just the regular subject pronoun “we” attached to za for the future.

If you wanted to emphasize we (as opposed to someone else), you could say:

Mu za mu dafa miya da nama da kifi.
– We (rather than someone else) will cook…

So:

za mu dafa… – neutral we will cook…
mu za mu dafa… – focused / emphatic we are the ones who will cook…

What exactly is miya in Hausa food culture? Is it just any soup?

Miya is usually more like a sauce or stew than a thin Western-style soup. It’s typically eaten with a solid staple such as tuwo (a thick swallow made from grains or yam).

Common types:

miyar taushe – pumpkin/vegetable stew
miyar kuka – baobab leaf soup
miyar agushi – melon seed stew

So dafa miya da nama da kifi often suggests making a rich stew/sauce containing meat and fish, not just a light broth.