Learn Hardcore Hausa: Gajiya tana da yawa idan muna aiki sosai. - There is a lot of tiredness when we work a lot.

In Hausa, most non‑human nouns (things, abstract concepts, animals, etc.) usually take feminine agreement. That’s why you see tana (she/it) and not yana (he/it).

ita – she / it (for most non‑human nouns)
tana – “she/it is (doing/being)…” (continuous/habitual)

Since gajiya (tiredness) is an abstract, non‑human noun, Hausa treats it grammatically as feminine:

Gajiya tana da yawa… – Tiredness (she/it) is a lot…
Motar tana nan. – The car is here. (car is non‑human → feminine agreement)

So tana is agreeing with gajiya.

What does the structure tana da … mean in this sentence?

The pattern [subject] + (ya/ta/yana/tana/…) + da [something] often expresses having / possessing or “there is a lot of X”.

Examples:

Aisha tana da kudi. – Aisha has money.
Gida yake da dakuna uku. – The house has three rooms.

In your sentence:

Gajiya tana da yawa.

Literally: Tiredness has much (of itself).
Functionally: There is a lot of tiredness / The tiredness is a lot.

So tana da here gives us the idea of “there being a lot of something”, not a simple “is” like English “to be”.

What exactly does da yawa mean, and how is it different from sosai?

Both relate to “a lot / very”, but they behave differently.

1. da yawa – “many / much / a lot (in quantity)”

Used mainly to talk about amounts:

mutane da yawa – many people
kudi da yawa – a lot of money
aiki da yawa – a lot of work
Gajiya tana da yawa. – There is a lot of tiredness.

2. sosai – “very, really, intensely” (degree/intensity)

Used as an intensifier, often after the verb or phrase:

Na gaji sosai. – I’m very tired.
Muna aiki sosai. – We work very hard / a lot.
Sanyi yake sosai. – It is very cold.

In your sentence:

da yawa is attached to gajiya (quantity of tiredness).
sosai intensifies muna aiki (how hard we work).

Is tana here basically the same as the English verb “to be”?

Not exactly. Hausa doesn’t have a single verb that works like English “to be” in all contexts.

Here tana is:

3rd person singular feminine subject pronoun + continuous/habitual marker
Roughly: “she/it is (being/doing)”

The “is” idea in tana da yawa actually comes from the whole phrase:

tana da yawa ≈ “it has a lot / there is a lot (of it)”

So:

It’s not a direct “X = Y” be (like “She is a teacher”).
It’s more like “X has a lot” or “there is much X”.

To say “X is Y” (identity), Hausa often uses ne/ce, a different structure:

Gajiya ce babbar matsalar. – Tiredness is the main problem.

What does idan mean here? Is it “if” or “when”?

Idan can mean either “if” or “when / whenever” depending on context.

In a general statement like this, it normally has a “whenever / when(ever)” meaning:

Gajiya tana da yawa idan muna aiki sosai.
→ “There is a lot of tiredness when(ever) we work hard.”

If you wanted a clearly hypothetical if (“if it ever happens that…”), idan can still do that, but the context will make it sound conditional:

Idan muka yi aiki sosai, za mu gaji.
– If we work hard, we will get tired.

Here, because it’s stating a regular pattern, an English speaker would most naturally translate idan as “when(ever)”.

Why do we use muna here, and what aspect/tense does muna aiki sosai express?

Muna is the 1st person plural continuous / incomplete form.

muna aiki – we are working / we work
muna cin abinci – we are eating / we eat
muna karatu – we are studying / we study

It typically covers:

Present continuous: We are working (right now).
Habits / general truths: We (tend to) work / we usually work.

In your sentence, it has a habitual / general truth sense:

idan muna aiki sosai
→ “when(ever) we work hard” (as a general rule)

You could also say, for a more perfective, event‑based feel:

idan mun yi aiki sosai – when/if we have worked hard (specific occasions)

Why is aiki (a noun) used where English has a verb “to work”?

Hausa often uses verbal nouns to express actions where English uses plain verbs.

Aiki is a noun meaning “work” (job, work, labour), but in combinations like:

yi aiki – to do work → to work
muna aiki – we are (in) work → we are working / we work

So:

muna aiki sosai literally: we are (in) work very much
Natural English: we work hard / we work a lot / we are working hard

You may also see the explicit yin (from yi) before the noun:

muna yin aiki sosai – we are doing work very much
(same meaning; yin is often optional in speech)

What does sosai add to muna aiki? Can it go somewhere else?

Sosai is an intensifier meaning “very (much), really, a lot, hard.”

In muna aiki sosai it modifies the degree of the working:

muna aiki – we work / we are working
muna aiki sosai – we work very hard / really a lot

Position:

The most natural place for sosai is after the verb phrase or object:
- Muna aiki sosai.
- Na gaji sosai.

You might occasionally hear it fronted for emphasis, but the neutral, learner‑friendly pattern is:

[verb phrase / clause] + sosai

Can I switch the order of the clauses, like: Idan muna aiki sosai, gajiya tana da yawa?

Yes. Both orders are correct and natural:

Gajiya tana da yawa idan muna aiki sosai.
Idan muna aiki sosai, gajiya tana da yawa.

As in English (“Tiredness is great when we work hard” vs. “When we work hard, tiredness is great”), the difference is mainly focus / style, not meaning.

Starting with Idan… can sound a bit more like you’re setting up a condition or a general rule.
Starting with Gajiya… emphasizes the state of tiredness first.

Can gajiya tana da yawa stand alone, and what would it mean?

Yes, Gajiya tana da yawa can stand on its own in the right context.

It would mean something like:

“There is a lot of tiredness.”
“People are very tired.”
“The tiredness is a lot / The fatigue is heavy.”

For example, after a long day of work, you might comment:

Yau gajiya tana da yawa. – Today, there’s a lot of tiredness.

Are there other common ways to express the same idea in Hausa?

Yes, speakers often use slightly different structures that are very natural. For example:

Using the verb gaji (“to be tired”):

Muna gaji sosai idan muna aiki sosai.
– We get very tired when we work hard.

Using gajiya but different structure:

Muna jin gajiya sosai idan muna aiki sosai.
– We feel very tired when we work hard.

Using perfective for specific occasions:

Idan mun yi aiki sosai, muna gaji sosai.
– When we have worked hard, we get very tired.

Your sentence:

Gajiya tana da yawa idan muna aiki sosai.

is clear and understandable, but it’s useful to recognize these alternative patterns, especially Na gaji / Muna gaji sosai, which you’ll hear all the time.