Learn Hardcore Hausa: Kashegari zan tafi kasuwa in saya ƙarin nama. - The next day I will go to the market to buy more meat.

In narratives, kashegari is very common:
- Jiya muka yi biki, kashegari kuma muka huta.
  We had a party yesterday, and the next day we rested.
In everyday conversation about the immediate next day, people also say:
- gobe = tomorrow (very common)
- kashegari = the next day / tomorrow (the day after today)

If you say Kashegari zan tafi kasuwa..., it’s perfectly fine as Tomorrow I’ll go to the market..., and in a story it can sound a bit like “the next day I went to the market...” depending on context.

Is Kashegari one word or two? Can I write kashe gari?

In modern standard Hausa spelling, Kashegari is treated as one word, not kashe gari.

You might occasionally see variant spellings or spacing in informal writing, but for learning purposes you should treat kashegari as a single fixed time expression meaning the next day / tomorrow.

Can I move Kashegari to another position in the sentence?

Yes. Time expressions are quite flexible in Hausa.

Your sentence:
- Kashegari zan tafi kasuwa in saya ƙarin nama.
  Tomorrow I’ll go to the market to buy more meat.
Also possible:
- Zan tafi kasuwa kashegari in saya ƙarin nama.
- Zan tafi kasuwa in saya ƙarin nama kashegari. (less common, but possible)

Putting Kashegari at the beginning (as in your sentence) is very natural and a common way to set the time frame right away, similar to English “Tomorrow, I will go...”

What exactly does zan tafi mean? How is the future formed here?

Zan tafi literally breaks down as:

za = future particle (will / going to)
ni = I
za + ni → zan (contracted form)
tafi = go / leave

So zan tafi = I will go / I’m going to go.

Other persons use the same za + pronoun pattern:

za ka tafi – you (m.sg.) will go
za ki tafi – you (f.sg.) will go
za mu tafi – we will go
za ku tafi – you (pl.) will go
za su tafi – they will go

In normal speech, many of these also contract (e.g. za mu → zamu in fast speech), but zan is by far the most common one you’ll see as a fixed form.

What’s the difference between tafi and je for to go? Could I say Kashegari zan je kasuwa instead?

Both tafi and je can translate as to go, and in this sentence you can say:

Kashegari zan je kasuwa in saya ƙarin nama.

Nuance:

je focuses slightly more on going to a place (destination).
tafi emphasizes a bit more the act of leaving / going away.

In many everyday sentences, they are more or less interchangeable:

Zan tafi kasuwa / Zan je kasuwa – I will go to the market.

Learners commonly use either; native speakers switch between them depending on style, rhythm, and subtle nuance.

Why is there no preposition like to before kasuwa? Why is it zan tafi kasuwa and not something like zan tafi zuwa kasuwa?

With verbs of motion such as tafi (go/leave) and je (go), Hausa normally does not need a preposition before the destination:

Zan tafi gida. – I will go home.
Zan je ɗaki. – I will go to the room.
Zan tafi kasuwa. – I will go (to) the market.

You can add zuwa (to/towards) for extra clarity or emphasis in some contexts:

Zan tafi zuwa kasuwa.

But in your sentence it’s more natural and common without the preposition: zan tafi kasuwa.

What does the in in in saya mean? Is it the same as if?

The particle in has several uses in Hausa. One of them is “if/when”, but that is not the use here.

In your sentence:

Kashegari zan tafi kasuwa in saya ƙarin nama.

in is a linking/subjunctive particle that introduces a second action with the same subject and often translates as “to …” or “and (then) …” in English:

... zan tafi kasuwa in saya ƙarin nama.
... I will go to the market to buy more meat.
(literally: I will go to the market (and) buy more meat.)

Here in saya ≈ (in order to) buy / to buy.

When in really means if, you normally see a pronoun after it:

In na saya nama, za mu ci dare. – If I buy meat, we’ll eat dinner.

Why is it in saya and not in na saya? Where did the I go in the second part?

In this same-subject sequence pattern:

[Subject] + future … in + bare verb

the subject is understood to be the same as the one in the main clause, so no pronoun is used after in:

Kashegari zan tafi kasuwa in saya ƙarin nama.
Tomorrow I will go to the market to buy more meat.
(literally: Tomorrow I will go to the market (and) buy more meat.)

If you say in na saya, you change the structure to a conditional:

Kashegari zan tafi kasuwa in na saya ƙarin nama...
sounds like: Tomorrow I’ll go to the market; if I buy more meat, ...

So:

in saya = to buy / and (then) buy (same subject as before)
in na saya = if I buy (real conditional)

Why is saya in a bare form, without something like zan saya?

Because the future marker (zan) is already used once, and in introduces a subordinate verb that shares the same subject and time frame.

Kashegari zan tafi kasuwa in saya ƙarin nama.
Literally: Tomorrow I will go to the market (and) buy more meat.

You could explicitly make two full future clauses with a coordinator:

Kashegari zan tafi kasuwa kuma zan saya ƙarin nama.
Tomorrow I’ll go to the market and I’ll buy more meat.

But in natural Hausa, when the subject stays the same and the second action is closely linked in time or purpose, the pattern future clause + in + bare verb is very common and smoother than repeating zan.

What does ƙarin nama mean exactly? Is it more meat or extra meat?

ƙarin nama literally means “added meat / additional meat”, and in normal English it’s more meat or extra meat.

ƙari = addition / extra / increase
ƙarin + noun = more / additional + that noun

Examples:

ƙarin ruwa – more water / extra water
ƙarin kuɗi – more money / extra money
ƙarin lokaci – more time / additional time

So ƙarin nama is the natural way to say more meat (e.g. because you don’t have enough yet or you want an extra portion).

Could I put ƙari after nama, like nama ƙari, to mean “more meat”?

For the meaning “more meat / extra meat”, the normal pattern is:

ƙarin nama (modifier before the noun)

nama ƙari is not the standard way to say more meat. You might see ƙari after a noun in other, more idiomatic phrases, but for a learner, stick to:

ƙarin X = more X / extra X

So: ƙarin nama, ƙarin ruwa, ƙarin kuɗi, etc.

How is the letter ƙ in ƙarin pronounced, and how is it different from k?

Hausa distinguishes:

k – a regular voiceless k (like English k in kite)
ƙ – an ejective k, made with a kind of “popping” release in the throat

Rough description of ƙ:

You close the back of your tongue against the soft palate (like for k),
Build up a bit of pressure in the throat,
Release it sharply without the little puff of air that English k usually has.

To English ears, ƙ can sound tighter / harder than k. The difference is important in Hausa because it changes meaning (e.g. kasa vs ƙasa, koko vs ƙoko, etc.).

Does nama always mean “meat”? What kinds of meat does it include?

nama is the general word for meat / flesh, and in everyday usage it most often refers to red meat such as beef, goat, sheep.

Other common words:

kifi – fish
kaza – chicken
tsiran nama – sausage (literally strips/segments of meat)

Depending on context, nama can sometimes be understood broadly as meat in general, but if you specifically mean fish or chicken, you would normally use kifi or kaza.