Learn Hardcore Hausa: A Lahadi iyali na suna hutawa, ba sa zuwa ofis ko makaranta. - On Sunday my family rests; they don’t go to the office or school.

A Lahadi = On Sunday
You also use a with other time expressions and many place expressions:
- a safiya – in the morning
- a gida – at home

With days of the week, a is the normal way to say on [day]:

a Litinin – on Monday
a Asabar – on Saturday

You could also move it:

A Lahadi iyali na suna hutawa …
Iyali na suna hutawa a Lahadi …

Both are grammatical; putting A Lahadi first just emphasizes the time.

Why does iyali na take suna (they are) and ba sa (they don’t) if “family” is singular in English?

In Hausa, iyali (family) behaves like a plural / collective noun. It refers to several people (your household), so it usually takes plural verb forms.

That’s why you see:

iyali na suna hutawa – my family are resting (literally: my family they-are resting)
ba sa zuwa … – they don’t go … (referring back to the family)

In English you might say “my family is resting” (singular verb), but Hausa grammar focuses on the fact that it’s a group of people, so it uses plural agreement.

What exactly is the structure iyali na? Could it also be written as iyalina?

Both are possible, and both are used in real life.

iyali na – family my
iyalina – my family (possessive suffix attached)

Details:

iyali = family
na = my (independent possessive pronoun)

You can:

keep them separate: iyali na
or join them: iyalina

In everyday speech and writing, you will see both. Writing it as one word (iyalina) is slightly more compact and often preferred in more careful or standardized writing, but iyali na is completely normal and clear.

What is suna doing here? Is it just the verb “to be”?

suna is the 3rd person plural incompletive form, built from:

su – they
na – incompletive/progressive marker

So suna roughly means “they are (doing)” or “they do / they usually do”, depending on context.

In this sentence:

suna hutawa = they are resting / they rest (habitually on Sundays)

Hausa doesn’t use a separate verb “to be” before verbs like English does. Instead, these incompletive forms (like ina, kana, yana, suna, etc.) combine with a main verb or verbal noun to show ongoing or habitual actions.

Why is it hutawa and not just huta? What’s the difference?

huta is the basic verb “to rest”.
hutawa is the verbal noun: “resting / rest”.

With many verbs, Hausa likes to use the verbal noun after ina / suna / muna, especially for ongoing or habitual actions:

suna hutawa – they are resting / they usually rest
ina tafiya – I am going / I travel
muna cin abinci – we are eating (here cin is a verbal noun from ci, to eat)

You can sometimes hear suna huta, but suna hutawa sounds very natural and clearly expresses an ongoing or regular action of resting.

How does negation work in ba sa zuwa? Why don’t we see another ba at the end?

For present/habitual negation, Hausa uses a negative set of forms that correspond to ina, kana, suna etc.

Positive vs negative (3rd person plural):

Positive: suna zuwa – they go / are going
Negative: ba sa zuwa – they don’t go / are not going

Here:

ba … starts the negation
sa is the negative counterpart of suna for 3rd person plural incompletive
zuwa is the main verb element (coming from zuwa, “to go (to)” / “going to”)

Traditional full negation often has ba … ba:

Yara ba sa zuwa makaranta ba. – The children do not go to school.

In everyday usage, especially in simple sentences, the second ba at the end is often dropped in speech and informal writing, as in your sentence. So ba sa zuwa … is very natural.

What exactly does zuwa do in ba sa zuwa ofis ko makaranta? Could I just say ba sa ofis?

No, you need something like go or going in there.

zuwa here functions like “going (to)” / “to go to”.
zuwa ofis = to (the) office / going to the office

So:

ba sa zuwa ofis – they do not go to the office
ba sa zuwa makaranta – they do not go to school

If you just said ba sa ofis, it would be incomplete and ungrammatical: you’d be missing the verb element. zuwa supplies that sense of movement / going.

Why is there no word for “the” before ofis or makaranta?

Hausa does not have a separate word like English “the” or “a/an”.

Definiteness is usually understood from context, or sometimes shown by endings or demonstratives:

ofis – office / the office (depends on context)
ofis ɗin – the office (more explicitly definite)
wata makaranta – a (certain) school
waccan makarantar – that school

In your sentence, ofis and makaranta are understood as “the office” and “(the) school” because we are talking about the family’s normal routine (their usual office and school). Hausa doesn’t need an article word to show that.

What does ko mean here, and how does it work with a negative like ba sa zuwa?

ko is the normal word for “or”.

ofis ko makaranta – the office or school

In a negative sentence like ba sa zuwa ofis ko makaranta, the most natural interpretation in English is:

they don’t go to the office or to school (they go to neither)

So ko still means “or”, but because the whole clause is negated, we understand it as “nor / either … or … (but not any)” in English.

Could I change the word order and say Iyali na suna hutawa a Lahadi, ba sa zuwa ofis ko makaranta?

Yes, that is also grammatical.

A Lahadi iyali na suna hutawa … – On Sunday, my family rests … (time comes first, a bit more emphasis on when)
Iyali na suna hutawa a Lahadi … – My family rests on Sunday … (starts with the subject)

Both patterns are common. Placing A Lahadi at the beginning is a typical way to foreground the time frame in Hausa, but it’s not obligatory.

Is the comma after hutawa important in Hausa, or is it just like English punctuation?

The comma here is mostly a normal writing convention, similar to English. It marks a pause between two related clauses:

… suna hutawa, ba sa zuwa ofis ko makaranta.

In speech, you would naturally pause there. In writing, some people might omit the comma, but using it is clear and matches standard punctuation practices influenced by English and Arabic writing traditions. It does not change the grammar; it just helps readability.