Learn Hardcore Hausa: Gadon ɗakina yana kusa da taga. - My bed in my room is near the window.

When you see gadon, the final -n is a linking consonant (often called a genitive linker) that joins one noun to another noun that follows it.

gado = bed
gadon ɗaki = bed-of room → “the bed of the room”

So in Gadon ɗakina…, gadon means “the bed of …”, and it is linked to the next word ɗakina (“my room”).

What exactly does ɗakina mean?

ɗaki means “room.”
The suffix -na on a noun usually means “my.”

So:

ɗaki = room
ɗakina = room-my → “my room”

Other similar forms:

ɗakinka = your (m.sg.) room
ɗakinki = your (f.sg.) room
ɗakinsa = his room
ɗakinta = her room
ɗakinsu = their room

In the sentence, gadon ɗakina literally means “the bed of my room.”

Why is it gadon ɗakina and not just gadona for “my bed”?

Both are possible, but they do slightly different jobs:

gadona = my bed (the bed that belongs to me, in general)
gadon ɗakina = the bed of my room (the particular bed that is in / associated with my room)

gadona doesn’t say which bed or where; it’s simply “my bed.”

gadon ɗakina is more specific: it tells you which bed—the one in your room (as opposed to a bed in another room, a guest bed, etc.).

So:

Gadona yana kusa da taga. = My bed is near the window.
Gadon ɗakina yana kusa da taga. = The bed in my room is near the window.

Does ɗakina itself mean “in my room”?

Literally, ɗakina means “my room,” not “in my room.”

However, Hausa often uses the “X of Y” structure where English would say “X in Y.” So:

gadon ɗakina = “the bed of my room” → naturally understood as
“the bed in my room.”

To say “in my room” explicitly, you could use a (“in/at”):

a ɗakina = in my room

But in this sentence, the idea of “the bed in my room” comes from the possessive/genitive structure gadon ɗakina, not from a separate word for “in.”

What role does yana play here? Is it like the English “is”?

Yes. In this sentence, yana functions like “(it) is”, especially for location or ongoing state.

Technically:

ya = “he/it” (3rd person singular, masculine)
na = progressive/continuous marker

Together yana often works as “he is / it is (being/located)”.

In practice, when you describe where something is (or what state it is in), Hausa commonly uses:

yana (for masculine nouns)
tana (for feminine nouns)
suna (for plural nouns)

So:

Gadon ɗakina yana kusa da taga.
= The bed in my room is near the window.

Why is it yana (masculine) when “bed” is a thing, not a person?

Hausa nouns are grammatically masculine or feminine, even when they are not people.

Gado (bed) is treated as masculine, so you use the masculine form yana.

Some examples:

Littafi yana kan tebur.
The book is on the table. (book = masculine → yana)
Kofiya tana kan tebur.
The cap is on the table. (cap = feminine → tana)

In your sentence, gadon ɗakina is a masculine noun phrase, so yana is required.

What does kusa da mean, and can you drop the da?

kusa da together means “near, close to.”

kusa = nearness / closeness
da = a preposition here, linking “nearness” with what it is near

So:

kusa da taga = “near (to) the window”

You cannot drop the da in this structure; kusa taga is wrong.
You always say kusa da + noun:

kusa da gari = near the town
kusa da ƙofa = near the door

What does taga mean in this sentence?

Taga means “window.”

taga = window
plural: tagogi = windows

In the sentence, kusa da taga = “near the window.”

Why isn’t there a word for “the” in “the bed” or “the window”?

Hausa has no separate word that works exactly like English “the.”
Definiteness is shown in other ways, for example:

Possession: gadon ɗakina (“the bed of my room”) is clearly a specific bed.
Context: taga in kusa da taga is understood as “the window” from the situation.

So although we translate:

Gadon ɗakina → the bed in my room
taga → the window

Hausa does not need a separate article like “the.”

Why is it gadon ɗaki but tagar ɗaki (with -r) in other examples?

The linker that joins two nouns can appear as -n or -r depending on the word.

gado → gadon ɗaki (bed-of room)
taga → tagar ɗaki (window-of room)

Both -n and -r are just different forms of the same linking consonant.
Which form you use depends on the final sound/vowel pattern of the first noun. Learners mostly have to memorize how common nouns behave:

taga → tagar…
littafi → littafin…
mota → motar…
ƙofa → ƙofar…

In your sentence, only gadon appears; taga is not followed by another noun, so it stays just taga (no linker).

Could I say “Gado na yana kusa da taga” instead? Would that still be correct?

Yes, Gado na yana kusa da taga is grammatically correct, and it means “My bed is near the window.”

Differences:

Gado na (two words) is “my bed” using the separate possessive na.
Gadon ɗakina is “the bed of my room,” specifying which bed.

So:

Gado na yana kusa da taga.
= My bed is near the window. (general, just “my bed”)
Gadon ɗakina yana kusa da taga.
= The bed in my room is near the window. (identifies the bed via its room)

Both are fine; the original sentence is simply more specific.

What is the overall word order in this sentence, compared to English?

Hausa sentence:

Gadon ɗakina – the subject (“the bed of my room”)
yana – verb-like element (“is”)
kusa da taga – locative phrase (“near the window”)

This matches normal Hausa S – V – (place) order and is close to English:

The bed in my room (subject)
is (verb)
near the window (place phrase)

The main structural differences are inside the noun phrase:

Hausa: gadon ɗakina = bed-of my-room
English: the bed in my room / my room’s bed

So Hausa keeps the possessed item first (gado) and the owner/location (ɗakina) after it, linked by -n.