Breakdown of Shekara da ta gabata ban yi aiki da yawa ba, amma shekara mai zuwa zan fi yin aiki a gari.
Questions & Answers about Shekara da ta gabata ban yi aiki da yawa ba, amma shekara mai zuwa zan fi yin aiki a gari.
Shekara da ta gabata is usually translated as “last year”, but literally it means “the year that passed”.
- shekara = year
- da = that / which (a kind of relative marker here)
- ta = she/it (3rd person singular, feminine – agreeing with shekara)
- gabata = passed / went by
So you can think of it as: “the year that (she) passed” → “the year that has passed” → “last year.”
In Hausa, nouns have grammatical gender (masculine or feminine), and pronouns and some verbs agree with that gender.
- shekara (year) is grammatically feminine.
- The 3rd‑person feminine subject pronoun is ta (she/it).
- The 3rd‑person masculine is ya (he/it).
Because shekara is feminine, the verb phrase uses ta:
- shekara da ta gabata = “the year that she (it, feminine) passed”
If the noun were masculine, you’d see ya instead.
Here da functions like a relative marker, similar to English “that / which” in phrases like “the year that passed”.
- shekara da ta gabata = “the year that passed”
You can hear shekara ta gabata in speech, and it will still be understood as “last year”, but:
- shekara da ta gabata sounds more clearly like a relative construction (“the year that passed”) and is common and natural.
- Omitting da is more like saying “the year passed” as a descriptive phrase, and context then makes it mean “last year”.
For a learner, it’s safer and more standard to keep the da in this set phrase.
The pattern for past‑tense negation with “I” is:
ba + ni + verb (past form) + … + ba
In fast/normal speech ba + ni contracts to ban.
So:
- ba
- ni → ban (I – in a negative construction)
- yi = did
- aiki da yawa = a lot of work / much work
- final ba closes the negation
So ban yi aiki da yawa ba literally is:
- “I did not do much work (not).”
Grammatically:
- opening ba‑ marks the start of negation,
- closing ba marks the end.
Other persons work the same way:
- ba ka yi aiki da yawa ba = you (m.sg.) didn’t work much
- ba ta yi aiki da yawa ba = she didn’t work much
In speech, the final ba is sometimes dropped, but for learning and writing, use both parts.
In Hausa, yi is a very common “light” verb meaning “do/make”, and it is used with many nouns to form natural expressions:
- yi aiki = to do work / to work
- yi magana = to speak / talk
- yi hira = to chat
- yi wasa = to play
So yi aiki is the most common and neutral way to say “to work”.
- aikata exists (it’s more like “to commit” an act, often used with crimes, e.g. aikata laifi = commit a crime), but it isn’t what you want for normal “work” in this sentence.
So ban yi aiki da yawa ba is exactly “I did not do work much” → “I didn’t work much.”
da yawa literally means “with much / with many”, but as a unit it means “a lot / much / many.”
- aiki da yawa = a lot of work / much work
- kuɗi da yawa = a lot of money
- mutane da yawa = many people
sosai means “very / really / intensively”.
- na yi aiki sosai = I worked very hard / I really worked
- ban yi aiki da yawa ba = I didn’t work much (in quantity or amount of work)
You can say:
- ban yi aiki sosai ba = I didn’t work very hard
It’s slightly different in nuance:
- da yawa → amount / quantity of work
- sosai → intensity / degree of effort
Both are grammatical; they just focus on different aspects.
shekara mai zuwa is usually translated “next year”, but literally it’s “the year that is coming”.
- shekara = year
- mai = (here) something like “that has / that is characterised by / that is about to”
- zuwa = coming / arrival → in this phrase: zuwa is often pronounced/spelled zuwa or zuwa/zo; in this fixed expression it appears as zuwa/zuwa or shortened zuwa/zu; the conventional form is zuwa but shekara mai zuwa is the set phrase.
So the structure is:
- shekara mai zuwa = “the year that is (one of) coming” → “the coming year” → “next year”.
You can also sometimes see a shekara mai zuwa (“in the coming year”), but shekara mai zuwa at the start of a sentence is very common and natural.
zan is the contracted form of:
- za (future marker) + ni (I) → zan (“I will …”)
So:
- zan fi yin aiki a gari = I will work more in town (literally: I will exceed in doing work in town).
Other persons work similarly:
- za ka → za ka = you (m.sg.) will …
- za ki = you (f.sg.) will …
- za ya → zai = he will …
- za ta = she will …
- za mu → zamu (often written together) = we will …
- za ku = you (pl.) will …
- za su = they will …
The usual pattern: za + pronoun + bare verb
Examples:
- zan je = I will go
- za mu ci = we will eat
- zai yi aiki = he will work
fi is a verb meaning “to surpass / to be more than / to be better than”, so it’s used for comparatives (“more”, “better”, etc.).
In zan fi yin aiki a gari, the sense is:
- fi yin aiki = to do more work (to surpass the previous level of working)
Literally:
- zan fi yin aiki a gari = “I will surpass (in) doing work in town” → “I will work more in town.”
The comparison is usually understood from context:
- Previously: ban yi aiki da yawa ba (I didn’t work much).
- Now: zan fi yin aiki (I will work more than before).
You could say shekara mai zuwa zan yi aiki da yawa a gari = “Next year I will work a lot in town.”
But zan fi yin aiki emphasizes increase/greater amount compared to before, not just “a lot” in absolute terms.
This is about a common Hausa pattern:
- After fi (in this “more/most” sense), it’s very common and natural to use the verbal noun (the -ing form) of the verb:
- fi yin aiki = to be more in doing work
- fi cin abinci = to eat more food (to be more in eating food)
- fi zuwa = to come more / to come earlier, etc.
So yi (do) → verbal noun yin (doing), and:
- fi yin aiki = “to be more in doing work” → to work more.
In ordinary speech you may hear fi yi, but fi yin (with the verbal noun) is the more careful and commonly taught form for learners.
a gari means “in town”.
- gari = town / city / place
- a = a preposition often meaning in / at / on (location)
So:
- a gari = in town
- a gida = at home
- a kasuwa = in the market
- a makaranta = at school
You could also say a cikin gari = “inside the town”, which can sound a little more explicit or specific, but for a simple sentence like this, a gari is completely natural and common.