Learn Hardcore Hausa: Dare da ya gabata, ni na ji sanyi sosai.

Idiomatic English usually compresses this to last night, because that is how we naturally refer to the night that just passed. Depending on context, Dare da ya gabata can also mean the previous night (not always strictly yesterday night, but usually the most recent past night in the story or situation).

What is the role of da in Dare da ya gabata?

In this sentence, da is a relative linker. It connects a noun with a clause that describes it, somewhat like that or which in English:

dare da ya gabata ≈ the night that passed

So the structure is:

dare (night)
da (that / which)
ya gabata (it passed)

This pattern is very common in Hausa:

mutumin da ya zo = the man who came
motar da ta lalace = the car that broke down

Why is the pronoun ya used for dare? Isn’t night an inanimate thing?

Yes, dare (night) is inanimate, but Hausa often uses the 3rd person masculine singular pronoun ya for many inanimate nouns as well.

In ya gabata:

ya = he / it (masculine)
gabata = passed

Here ya refers back to dare. You can think of it as the night, it passed. Hausa doesn’t need a special it form for inanimates the way English does; ya commonly covers that job.

Could it also be Daren da ya gabata instead of Dare da ya gabata? Is there any difference?

Yes, you will hear both:

Dare da ya gabata
Daren da ya gabata

daren is dare plus the definite linker -n, roughly the night.

In practice:

Dare da ya gabata – very common, natural time expression: last night / the previous night.
Daren da ya gabata – feels a bit more explicitly the night that passed, sometimes slightly more formal or careful.

For everyday speech, Dare da ya gabata is perfectly fine and widely used.

Why does the second part say ni na ji? Why are there two different forms for “I”?

In ni na ji sanyi sosai, you have:

ni = independent pronoun I / me
na = subject agreement marker I on the verb ji

So literally: I, I-felt cold very.

This is a focus construction: by adding ni before the verb, you put emphasis on the subject:

Ni na ji sanyi sosai. = I felt very cold (as opposed to someone else, or contrary to expectation).

Without emphasis, you would just say:

Na ji sanyi sosai. = I felt very cold.

So both ni and na are “I”, but they play different grammatical roles: ni for emphasis/contrast, na is required as the normal subject marker on the verb.

Can I drop ni and just say Na ji sanyi sosai? Does it change the meaning?

Yes, you can absolutely say:

Na ji sanyi sosai.

This is the neutral, everyday way to say I felt very cold / I was very cold.

The difference:

Na ji sanyi sosai. – simple statement, no particular emphasis.
Ni na ji sanyi sosai. – adds contrast or emphasis on I (maybe others were not cold, or you are correcting someone).

So ni is optional in terms of basic meaning; it mainly affects focus and emphasis.

What is the tense/aspect of na ji? How is that different from ina jin sanyi?

na ji is perfective (completed) past:

Na ji sanyi sosai. = I felt very cold / I was very cold (at some specific time in the past).

ina jin sanyi uses the progressive/imperfective:

Ina jin sanyi. = I am feeling cold / I feel cold (now, or generally / habitually, depending on context).

So, in your sentence:

Dare da ya gabata, ni na ji sanyi sosai.
= Last night, I felt very cold (a completed experience during that night).

If you were talking about how you feel right now, you would use:

Yanzu ina jin sanyi sosai. = Right now I am feeling very cold.

What exactly does the verb ji mean here? Is ji sanyi a fixed expression?

The verb ji in Hausa mainly means:

to hear
to feel / experience (physically or emotionally)

In na ji sanyi, ji is used in the sense of to feel, and sanyi is cold / coldness. So:

ji sanyi = to feel cold
ji zafi = to feel hot / pain
ji kunya = to feel shy / embarrassed
ji daɗi = to feel happy / enjoy

So ji sanyi is a normal, productive pattern: ji + a noun for the physical or emotional state. It’s not an idiom in the narrow sense; it’s part of a broader, regular pattern.

Could I also say Na yi sanyi sosai instead of Na ji sanyi sosai? Is there a difference?

You may hear both ji sanyi and yi sanyi, but they are not completely identical in feel or usage:

Na ji sanyi sosai.
- Literally: I felt a lot of cold.
- Very common for feeling cold as an experience.
Na yi sanyi sosai.
- Literally: I did cold / I became cold.
- Often used more for getting cold (body temperature, environment, things cooling), or in some dialects just as another way to say you experienced cold.

In many everyday contexts people will understand both as I was very cold, but Na ji sanyi sosai is the safest, most directly “I felt cold” type expression, especially for a learner.

Is sanyi an adjective like cold, or a noun like coldness?

In Hausa, sanyi is basically a noun meaning cold, coldness.

So:

sanyi = cold (as a thing / state)
jin sanyi = to feel coldness → to feel cold
sanyi sosai = a lot of cold / very much cold

English uses an adjective (cold) in I felt cold, but Hausa usually uses a noun of state plus ji:

Na ji sanyi. = I felt cold.
Na ji zafi. = I felt hot / pain.

There are adjective-like forms too (e.g. sanyi ne in some contexts), but in this sentence sanyi is best understood as a noun.

What does sosai add to the meaning, and where does it usually go in the sentence?

sosai is an intensifier meaning very, really, a lot, greatly.

In na ji sanyi sosai:

sanyi sosai ≈ very cold / extremely cold

Placement:

It typically comes after the word or phrase it is intensifying:
- Na gaji sosai. = I am very tired.
- Ya yi kyau sosai. = It is very good / nice.
- Na ji sanyi sosai. = I felt very cold.

Other common intensifiers you might see are ƙwarai, matuka, but sosai is very common and safe.

Is the comma after Dare da ya gabata important? Can the time expression go elsewhere in the sentence?

The comma is just punctuation in written Hausa; it marks a pause. In speech, you would naturally pause a bit after Dare da ya gabata.

Time expressions in Hausa often appear at the beginning of the sentence for clarity and emphasis, just like:

Jiya, na je kasuwa. = Yesterday, I went to the market.

You could also say:

Na ji sanyi sosai dare da ya gabata.

This is grammatically fine, but Dare da ya gabata, na ji sanyi sosai. is more natural and clearer for storytelling: you set the time first, then describe what happened.

Is Dare da ya gabata exactly the same as Jiya da dare?

They are close, but not always identical:

Jiya da dare = last night in the strict sense of yesterday evening / yesterday night, from today’s point of view.
Dare da ya gabata = the night that passed / the previous night – usually also last night, but it can be more flexible in narrative: the previous night relative to some point in a story, not necessarily “yesterday” on the calendar.

If you are talking about yesterday’s night from today:

Both Jiya da dare, na ji sanyi sosai.
and Dare da ya gabata, na ji sanyi sosai.

would normally be understood as Last night, I felt very cold.