Learn Hardcore Hausa: Jiya na kwanta da wuri saboda na gaji da aiki. - Yesterday I went to bed early because I was tired from work.

kwanta – to lie down, to go to bed
- Na kwanta da wuri. – I went to bed early.
kwana – to spend the night (somewhere), to stay overnight
- Na kwana a gida. – I spent the night at home.
barci – sleep (a noun)
- Na yi barci da wuri. – I slept early / I went to sleep early. (literally “I did sleep early”)

In your sentence, kwanta is natural because you’re focusing on the act of going to bed, not just the fact of spending the night or the abstract thing “sleep.”

What does da wuri literally mean, and why does it translate as “early”?

Literally:

da – with / at
wuri – place, time, or “early” (in this fixed expression)

The phrase da wuri functions as an adverb meaning “early”. It’s a very common idiomatic expression:

Ka tashi da wuri. – You got up early.
Za mu tafi da wuri. – We will leave early.

You can think of da wuri as a fixed chunk that you just remember as “early.”

What does saboda do in this sentence?

Saboda is a conjunction meaning “because” or “because of.”

Here it introduces a reason clause:

saboda na gaji da aiki – because I was tired from work

Two main uses:

saboda + clause
- Na kwanta da wuri saboda na gaji.
  I went to bed early because I was tired.
saboda + noun phrase
- Na kwanta da wuri saboda aiki.
  I went to bed early because of work.

In your sentence it’s the first type: saboda + full clause with its own na and verb gaji.

Is gaji a verb or an adjective here? What about gajiya?

Gaji is a stative verb meaning “to be tired / to get tired.”

Na gaji. – I’m tired / I got tired.
Sun gaji. – They are tired.

Gajiya is a noun meaning “tiredness, fatigue.”

Ina jin gajiya. – I feel tiredness / I feel tired.

In your sentence, na gaji uses the verb form, so: I became tired / I was tired.

Why is it da aiki and not something like “from work” or another preposition?

In Hausa, da is very flexible. It can mean with, and, by, using, from (as a cause) depending on context.

Na zo da aboki na. – I came with my friend.
Ya bugeni da sanda. – He hit me with a stick.
Na gaji da aiki. – I’m tired from work / tired of work.

In na gaji da aiki, da indicates the cause or source of the tiredness. So although it literally looks like “tired with work,” the natural English is “tired from work” or “tired because of work.”

Is the word order fixed? Could I say Na kwanta da wuri jiya instead?

The normal, most natural word order is to put time expressions first:

Jiya na kwanta da wuri. – Yesterday I went to bed early.

You can say:

Na kwanta da wuri jiya.

This is still understood and acceptable, but starting with Jiya sounds more natural and more typical of everyday Hausa. The difference is mild: fronting Jiya just makes the time frame slightly more prominent.

Does na kwanta always mean past tense like “I went to bed,” or can it be present?

Na before a verb like this usually marks perfective aspect: a completed action. In most everyday contexts, that corresponds to past tense in English.

Na kwanta. – I have lain down / I lay down / I went to bed.
Na gaji. – I became tired / I got tired / I am (now) tired.

With an explicit past-time word like jiya (yesterday), it’s clearly past:
Jiya na kwanta da wuri. – Yesterday I went to bed early.

Without a time word, depending on context, na gaji might be translated as I’m tired now (a present state resulting from a completed process).

How would I say “Yesterday I didn’t go to bed early because I wasn’t tired from work”?

You need the negative form of the subject pronoun plus ba at the end of each negative clause:

Jiya ban kwanta da wuri ba saboda ban gaji da aiki ba.

Breakdown:

ban kwanta ba – I did not go to bed
ban gaji ba – I was not tired

The pattern is:

na kwanta → ban kwanta ba
na gaji → ban gaji ba

Can I drop the second na and say saboda gaji da aiki?

Not with the same meaning.

saboda na gaji da aiki – because I was tired from work (full clause, with subject and verb)
saboda gajiya da aiki – because of tiredness from work (noun phrase, using gajiya)

If you just say saboda gaji da aiki, it sounds incomplete or incorrect, because gaji is being treated like a bare verb without a subject marker. To keep the structure parallel and natural, you should keep na:

saboda na gaji da aiki – the normal, correct form.

Are there other common ways to say “I went to bed early because I was tired from work” in Hausa?

Yes, a few natural alternatives:

Jiya na yi barci da wuri saboda na gaji da aiki.
Yesterday I slept early because I was tired from work.
Jiya na kwanta da wuri saboda na yi gajiya da aiki.
Yesterday I went to bed early because I became tired from work.
Jiya na kwanta da wuri saboda na ji gajiya.
Yesterday I went to bed early because I felt tired.

Your original sentence is already perfectly natural and common; these are just variations you might also hear.