Learn Hardcore Hausa: ɗalibai waɗanda suke aiki da ƙoƙari suna samun sakamako mai kyau.

ɗalibai – students (plural of ɗalibi “student”)
waɗanda – who / that (plural relative pronoun)
suke – “they are” (3rd person plural, used before a verb or verbal noun)
aiki – work (noun); with suke, it functions like “are working”
da – with
ƙoƙari – effort
suna – “they are” (3rd person plural, again)
samun – getting / obtaining (verbal noun from samu, “to get”)
sakamako – result
mai – having / possessing (used to form “adjectives” like “good”)
kyau – goodness, beauty; in this idiom it means “goodness,” so mai kyau = “good”

So the structure is roughly: students who are working with effort are (in the process of) getting result that-has-goodness → “Students who work hard get good results.”

Why is waɗanda used instead of wanda?

wanda and waɗanda are both relative pronouns meaning “who/that,” but:

wanda = singular, masculine/human: “who/that (man/person)”
waɗanda = plural, human: “who/that (people)”

Since ɗalibai is plural (“students”), you need the plural relative pronoun:

ɗalibai wanda … ❌ (wrong: singular pronoun for plural noun)
ɗalibai waɗanda … ✅ (correct: plural pronoun for plural noun)

What is the role of suke in waɗanda suke aiki da ƙoƙari?

suke is a 3rd‑person plural form of the verb kasancewa (“to be”) used as an auxiliary in the so‑called progressive/imperfective construction.

Pattern:

suke + [verb / verbal noun] ≈ “they are [verb‑ing]”

In suke aiki, aiki is “work,” functioning like “working.” So:

waɗanda suke aiki da ƙoƙari ≈ “who are working with effort” / “who work hard.”

The su- part shows plural subject, matching ɗalibai, and -ke marks the progressive/imperfective aspect.

Why does the sentence have both suke and suna? Aren’t they the same?

Both suke and suna are 3rd‑person plural progressive markers, but they attach to different subject pronoun slots:

suke = su (they) + ke
suna = su (they) + na

In modern spoken Hausa, both ke and na function as imperfective/progressive markers, but they appear in slightly different environments and styles.

In this sentence:

waɗanda suke aiki da ƙoƙari – “who are working hard”
suna samun sakamako mai kyau – “(they) are getting good results”

So we have:

A relative clause: waɗanda suke aiki da ƙoƙari
A main clause: [su]na samun sakamako mai kyau

You could think of it as:

“Students who are working hard are getting good results.”

Each clause has its own progressive auxiliary: suke for aiki, suna for samun.

Could I remove one of the auxiliaries and say ɗalibai waɗanda aiki da ƙoƙari suna samun sakamako mai kyau?

No, that would be ungrammatical. Hausa normally needs an auxiliary (like ke/na) or a tense/aspect marker between the subject and the verb/verbal noun.

In the relative clause waɗanda suke aiki da ƙoƙari, suke is required to link the subject waɗanda to the action aiki.

Similarly, in suna samun sakamako…, suna links the (understood) subject su (“they”) to samun (“getting”).

You can rephrase using a slightly different pattern, for example:

ɗalibai waɗanda ke aiki da ƙoƙari na samun sakamako mai kyau.

Here ke and na are used, but you still have an auxiliary in each clause. Simply dropping them leaves the sentence ungrammatical.

Why is it samun and not samu in suna samun sakamako mai kyau?

samu is the basic verb “to get/receive,” but in the progressive construction with suna, Hausa usually uses the verbal noun form, which is samun.

Pattern:

suna + [verbal noun]
- suna cin abinci – they are eating food (cin from ci, “eat”)
- suna ganin shi – they are seeing him (ganin from gani, “see”)
- suna samun sakamako – they are getting results (samun from samu, “get”)

So samun is “the getting / obtaining,” used after suna to express an ongoing or habitual action.

What does da ƙoƙari literally mean, and why not just say something like “aiki ƙoƙari”?

Literally:

da – with
ƙoƙari – effort

So da ƙoƙari = “with effort.” In context, suke aiki da ƙoƙari means “they work with effort” → “they work hard / diligently.”

You can’t just say aiki ƙoƙari: Hausa typically links a manner noun like ƙoƙari with da to show “with X (quality/effort/energy).”

Other similar expressions:

yin magana da sauri – speaking quickly (lit. “doing speech with speed”)
aiki da hankali – working carefully (lit. “work with sense/mind”)

Is suna samun sakamako mai kyau present progressive (right now) or general/habitual (“they usually get good results”)?

The Hausa imperfective/progressive construction (suna + verbal noun) can cover both:

Ongoing action right now:
- “They are getting good results (at the moment).”
Habitual/generic statement:
- “They (typically) get good results.”

Context decides which meaning is intended. In a sentence like this, describing “students who work hard,” the natural reading is often habitual/generic: students who work hard tend to get good results.

What is the function of mai in sakamako mai kyau?

mai is a particle that means something like “having/possessing,” and it’s commonly used to form adjective‑like expressions.

Pattern:

mai + [good quality noun] ≈ “good / having X”

Examples:

mutum mai hankali – a sensible person (person having sense)
gida mai kyau – a nice house (house having goodness/beauty)
sakamako mai kyau – a good result (result having goodness)

So mai kyau is the usual way to say “good” in many contexts.

Why is it mai kyau and not something plural like masu kyau, since sakamako could be plural?

In this exact sentence, sakamako is singular (“result”), so mai kyau (singular) is appropriate:

sakamako mai kyau – “a good result.”

If you clearly wanted to talk about plural “results,” you could say:

sakamako masu kyau – good results (literally “results that have goodness”).

So:

Singular: sakamako mai kyau
Plural: sakamako masu kyau

However, in many real contexts, Hausa can leave number a bit vague, and sakamako mai kyau might be interpreted more generically as “good results,” depending on context.

Why does the adjective phrase mai kyau come after sakamako, instead of before it like in English (“good result”)?

Hausa adjectives (and adjective‑like phrases such as mai kyau) normally follow the noun they describe.

Pattern:

[noun] + [adjective / adjective phrase]

Examples:

mutum mai kyau – a good/nice person
littafi ja – a red book
gida babba – a big house
sakamako mai kyau – a good result

So the Hausa order is “result good,” even though the English translation flips it to “good result.”

Can I say ɗalibai masu aiki da ƙoƙari suna samun sakamako mai kyau instead of ɗalibai waɗanda suke aiki da ƙoƙari…?

You can say ɗalibai masu aiki da ƙoƙari, but it slightly changes the structure and nuance:

waɗanda suke aiki da ƙoƙari – literally “who are working with effort,” a full relative clause with its own verb phrase.
masu aiki da ƙoƙari – literally “those having/doing work with effort,” more like an attributive phrase without the explicit progressive auxiliary.

ɗalibai masu aiki da ƙoƙari sounds closer to “hard‑working students” as a descriptive label, whereas ɗalibai waɗanda suke aiki da ƙoƙari feels like a full clause “students who work hard.”

Both are grammatical and natural; the original is just a bit more explicitly clausal.

What is the difference in meaning between ɗalibi and ɗalibai?

ɗalibi – one student (singular)
ɗalibai – students (plural)

Some more noun pairs:

malami – teacher; malamai – teachers
yaro – boy/child; yara – boys/children

So in the sentence, ɗalibai makes it clear we’re talking about students in general, not just one student.

How is the letter ɗ in ɗalibai pronounced, and is it the same as English d?

ɗ is not the same as plain d. It’s an “implosive d,” pronounced with a bit of an inward movement of air:

d – like English d in “dog.”
ɗ – articulated in a similar tongue position, but with a slight inward gulp of air; it sounds “heavier” than d.

English doesn’t have ɗ, so many learners approximate it with a very firm /d/ sound. Native speakers will usually still understand you, but it’s useful to recognize that d and ɗ contrast in Hausa and can distinguish words (e.g., daki vs ɗaki).