Learn Hardcore Hausa: Idan rana ta faɗi da wuri, muna dawowa gida kafin dare ya yi. - If the sun sets early, we come back home before it becomes night.

It describes a general, repeated situation (a habit), something like:
- Whenever the sun sets early, we (tend to) come home before it gets dark.
English often uses when(ever) for this kind of general conditional:
- When the sun sets early, we come home early.
You could also translate with if in a generic sense:
- If the sun sets early, we return home early.

So Idan here introduces a conditional/temporal clause that talks about a typical pattern, not just a single event.

Why do we have rana ta faɗi instead of just rana faɗi? What is ta doing?

In rana ta faɗi, the ta is a subject pronoun/agreeing marker, not a separate word meaning she like in English.

rana = the sun / daytime (a feminine noun in Hausa)
ta- = 3rd person singular feminine subject marker
faɗi = to fall, to go down, to set (for the sun)

In Hausa, verbs normally need a subject marker in front of them:

rana ta faɗi = the sun it-fell / the sun set
yaro ya faɗi = the boy he-fell
mace ta zo = the woman she-came

So ta here is basically the verb agreement for rana, which is grammatically feminine. You cannot just say rana faɗi.

Does faɗi literally mean to set, or is it more like to fall? Why is it used for the sun?

faɗi literally means to fall, to drop, or to go down.

Common uses:

yaro ya faɗi – the boy fell
kofin ya faɗi – the cup fell down
rana ta faɗi – the sun fell / the sun went down → the sun set

Just like in English you can say the sun goes down, Hausa uses faɗi (to fall/go down) for sunset. So:

rana ta faɗi = the sun fell → the sun set.

What does da wuri mean literally, and why is it two words?

da wuri is a common expression meaning early or soon.

Literally:

da – with / at / having (a very flexible preposition/particle)
wuri – place, spot; by extension, time/occasion in some idioms

In practice, da wuri is best treated as a fixed phrase meaning:

early, early on, soon

So:

rana ta faɗi da wuri – the sun sets early
ka tashi da wuri – you woke up early
mu gama da wuri – let’s finish early

You almost always say da wuri (two words), not a single word for early.

Why is it muna dawowa gida and not something like mu dawowa gida? Where is the word we?

Hausa usually shows the subject (I/you/we/they) as a prefix on the verb, not as a separate pronoun like English.

mu by itself is we, but in normal verb sentences, it becomes mu- / muna / mun / za mu, etc.

In muna dawowa gida:

mu- = we
-na = continuous/progressive aspect
muna = we are (doing) → we (habitually) do / we usually do
dawowa = returning (verbal noun)
gida = home

So muna already encodes we:

muna dawowa gida – we are returning home / we (usually) return home

You don’t add a separate mu in front; muna itself is the subject + aspect.

What is dawowa exactly – is it a verb or a noun? How is it formed?

dawowa is a verbal noun (sometimes called a masdar in Hausa grammar).

Base verb: dawo – to return / to come back
Verbal noun: dawowa – returning / coming back

This form is used after aspectual forms like muna:

muna dawowa – we are returning / we (tend to) return
ina dawowa – I am returning / I (usually) return

So structurally:

muna (progressive/habitual helper) + dawowa (verbal noun)
≈ English we are (in) returning → we are returning / we return.

Why does muna dawowa here sound like a habitual action (we usually return) rather than we are returning right now?

muna + verbal noun can describe both:

An ongoing action right now
- muna cin abinci – we are eating (right now)
A regular/habitual action
- muna zuwa makaranta kowace rana – we go to school every day

In the sentence:

Idan rana ta faɗi da wuri, muna dawowa gida…

The Idan clause (if/when the sun sets early) describes a repeated condition.
That strongly suggests a general habit, not a single moment:
- Whenever the sun sets early, we (typically) come home before it gets dark.

So the context makes muna dawowa read as habitual, even though grammatically it could also be used for present continuous.

What does kafin mean, and how does it work with kafin dare ya yi?

kafin means before (in time).

kafin
- a noun/verb clause = before [that noun/event]

In kafin dare ya yi:

kafin – before
dare – night
ya yi – it does / it happens / it becomes

Literally:
kafin dare ya yi ≈ before night happens / before it becomes night
Natural English: before it gets dark / before night falls.

You can use kafin with:

a verb clause:
- kafin mu tafi – before we go
- kafin rana ta faɗi – before the sun sets
or a noun(-like) expression:
- kafin dare – before night (simpler, but kafin dare ya yi is more explicit).

Why is it dare ya yi and not something like ya yi dare? What does ya yi really mean here?

Both dare ya yi and ya yi dare are found in Hausa, but here we have:

dare – night
ya – 3rd person singular subject marker (commonly used as “it/he”)
yi – to do / to make / to be (in some idioms)

Together, dare ya yi is an idiomatic way to say:

it has become night, night has come, it is night now.

So kafin dare ya yi ≈ before night has come / before it is night.

About word order:

dare ya yi – “night it-has-done/happened” → night has come
ya yi dare – more like “it has become night / it is late at night”

In this sentence, focusing on night falling as an event, dare ya yi fits well.

Could I also say Muna dawowa gida idan rana ta faɗi da wuri? Is it okay to move the Idan clause?

Yes. Hausa is flexible about the position of the Idan (if/when) clause.

Both:

Idan rana ta faɗi da wuri, muna dawowa gida kafin dare ya yi.
Muna dawowa gida kafin dare ya yi idan rana ta faɗi da wuri.

are grammatical and mean essentially the same thing:

When/If the sun sets early, we return home before it gets dark.

Placing the Idan clause at the beginning (version 1) is very common and feels natural, especially in careful or written style, but putting it later is also fine in normal speech.

Why does rana take ta (feminine) and dare take ya (masculine)? Are sun and night different genders in Hausa?

Yes. Hausa has grammatical gender, and nouns are either masculine or feminine. The verb’s subject marker agrees with that gender.

rana (sun/day) is feminine → takes ta:
- rana ta faɗi – the sun set
- rana ta fito – the sun rose
dare (night) is masculine → takes ya:
- dare ya yi – night has come / it is night
- dare ya yi tsawo – the night is long

So:

rana ta faɗi – the sun she-fell (grammatically feminine)
dare ya yi – night he-did/became (grammatically masculine)

This is just part of Hausa noun class/gender behavior; it doesn’t necessarily match how English thinks about gender.