Malami yana son ya koya mana Hausa cikin sauƙi, ba cikin wahala ba.

The teacher wants to teach us Hausa in an easy way, not in a difficult way.

Breakdown of Malami yana son ya koya mana Hausa cikin sauƙi, ba cikin wahala ba.

• ne: to be
• so: to want
• ba … ba: not
• malami: the teacher
• mu: us
• Hausa: Hausa
• koya: to teach
• cikin sauƙi: easily
• cikin wahala: with difficulty

Questions & Answers about Malami yana son ya koya mana Hausa cikin sauƙi, ba cikin wahala ba.

What is the role of yàna son in this sentence? Why not just say Malami ya koya mana Hausa…?

Yana son literally means “he is wanting / he wants.”

• Malami ya koya mana Hausa… = The teacher taught us Hausa… or The teacher should teach us Hausa… (depending on context), focusing on the teaching action itself.
• Malami yana son ya koya mana Hausa… = The teacher wants to teach us Hausa… – it focuses on his desire or intention, not on the actual teaching happening now.

So yàna son is needed to express “wants to…”, just as in English you need “wants” in “The teacher wants to teach us Hausa.”

Why do we need ya before koya: yàna son ya koya mana Hausa…? What does ya do here?

Ya here is the 3rd person singular pronoun (“he”) in the subjunctive / dependent form.

In Hausa, after verbs like so (to want), the next verb usually takes this kind of subjunctive pronoun:

• Malami yana son ya koya mana Hausa…
  = The teacher wants *that he teach us Hausa…* (literally)

So structurally you have:

• Malami – the teacher
• yàna son – wants
• ya koya mana Hausa – that he teach us Hausa

That ya marks the start of the clause that depends on “wants” (the “to teach us Hausa” part). It also shows that the same subject (“he”) continues into the second clause.

Does koya here mean “to teach” or “to learn”? I’ve seen both.

Koya can be involved in both “teach” and “learn,” but the construction tells you which:

• koya wa / koya ma + someone + something usually means “to teach someone something.”
  
  • koya mana Hausa = teach us Hausa (literally, teach Hausa to us).

For “learn,” Hausa often uses:

• koyo (verbal noun) and related forms:
  
  • Ina son in koyi Hausa. – I want to learn Hausa.

So in ya koya mana Hausa, because we have mana (“to us”) after koya, the meaning is clearly “teach us Hausa,” not “learn Hausa for us.”

What exactly does mana mean in koya mana Hausa?

Mana is an enclitic pronoun meaning “to us / for us.”

It corresponds to “us” as an indirect object:

• koya mana Hausa
  = teach us Hausa / teach Hausa to us

Here’s the structure:

• koya – teach
• ma – to / for (dative marker)
• mu – us
• ma + mu contract to mana

Other similar forms:

• mini – to me
• masa – to him
• muku – to you (plural)

So mana tells you who the teaching is for: us.

Why is the word order koya mana Hausa instead of koya Hausa mana?

In Hausa, a very common order is:

Verb + indirect object (person) + direct object (thing)

So:

• koya mana Hausa
  = Verb (koya, teach)
  
  • Indirect object (mana, to us)
  • Direct object (Hausa, the language)

You can sometimes move things around for emphasis, but koya mana Hausa is the most natural, neutral order for “teach us Hausa.”

What does cikin sauƙi literally mean, and why does it mean “easily”?

Literally, cikin sauƙi is:

• cikin – “in / inside”
• sauƙi – “ease, relief, simplicity”

So cikin sauƙi = “in ease” → idiomatically, “in an easy way / easily.”

That’s why:

• …ya koya mana Hausa cikin sauƙi…
  = …he should teach us Hausa *in an easy way, easily…*

It’s similar to English expressions like “in peace,” “in comfort,” “in a simple way.”

What is going on with ba cikin wahala ba? Why are there two ba’s?

The ba … ba pattern is the standard Hausa negation (a kind of “negative sandwich”).

Here:

• cikin wahala – in difficulty / in hardship
• ba cikin wahala ba – not in difficulty / not in a hard way

So the structure is:

• ba
  • phrase + ba

You could loosely compare it to saying “not … at all” in English for emphasis. In this sentence, it contrasts with cikin sauƙi:

• cikin sauƙi, ba cikin wahala ba
  = in an easy way, not in a difficult way.

Could I just say ba cikin wahala without the last ba?

In spoken Hausa, sometimes the final ba is dropped, depending on region and style, especially in fast or casual speech.

However:

• In careful speech and standard writing, the full form ba … ba is preferred.
• In this example sentence (which sounds fairly careful and balanced), ba cikin wahala ba is the more standard and clearly correct form.

So as a learner, it’s safer to include both ba’s until you’re very comfortable with when it can be omitted.

Is Malami “a teacher” or “the teacher”? There’s no “the” in Hausa.

Hausa doesn’t use a separate word like English “the” or “a”.

A bare noun like Malami can mean:

• “a teacher” (indefinite)
• or “the teacher” (definite), depending on context.

If the teacher is already known in the conversation (e.g. you’ve been talking about your teacher), Malami will naturally be understood as “the teacher.” If it’s new information, it can be understood as “a teacher.”

How would I say “The teacher wants us to learn Hausa easily, not in a difficult way” (rather than “wants to teach us”)?

To say that we are the ones doing the learning, you’d change the clause after son:

• Malami yana son mu koyi Hausa cikin sauƙi, ba cikin wahala ba.

Breakdown:

• Malami yana son – The teacher wants
• mu koyi Hausa – that we learn Hausa
• cikin sauƙi, ba cikin wahala ba – easily, not in a difficult way

Contrast:

• yàna son ya koya mana Hausa… – wants to teach us Hausa…
• yàna son mu koyi Hausa… – wants us to learn Hausa…