Breakdown of Yara suna son su ji labari da dare.
Questions & Answers about Yara suna son su ji labari da dare.
- Yara – children (plural of yaro “child”).
- suna – 3rd person plural durative form (“they are / they (habitually) do”).
- son – verbal noun of so (“liking, loving, wanting”).
- su – independent pronoun they, here the subject of the next verb.
- ji – “hear, feel, sense”; here “to hear”.
- labari – “story, news, information, gossip”.
- da – “with/and/at”; here “at”.
- dare – “night”.
Literally: Children (they‑are) liking they hear story at night → “Children like to hear a story/stories at night.”
suna is the 3rd person plural durative/aspect pronoun:
- ni → ina
- kai/ke → kana/kina
- shi/ita → yana/tana
- mu → muna
- ku → kuna
- su → suna
This form usually covers:
- present progressive: “they are doing”
- habitual/general present: “they (usually) do / they like”
In Yara suna son…, it means “Children like / love … (in general)”, not a one‑time event. In English we use simple present “Children like …”, but Hausa uses this suna + verbal noun construction.
so is the basic verb “to like, love, want”, but with the durative pronouns (like ina, suna, muna) it usually appears as its verbal noun:
- so (bare verb, perfective pattern)
- son (verbal noun “liking/love/desire”)
So:
- Sun so labari – “They liked / they wanted a story (on some particular occasion).”
- Suna son labari – literally “They are in a state of liking story” → “They like stories.”
For stative/feeling verbs such as so, Hausa often prefers:
[durative pronoun] + [verbal noun]
suna son …, ina son …, muna kaunar … etc.
So suna son is the normal way to say “they like / they love”.
It looks redundant from an English point of view, but in Hausa this is normal and required in this structure.
Pattern:
[subject] [durative pronoun] son [independent pronoun] [subjunctive verb] …
Yara suna son su ji labari…
Here:
- Yara / suna – main subject and its durative marker
- son – “liking/desire”
- su ji – “that they (should) hear”
So su is the subject of the verb ji. The phrase su ji is like an English clause “that they hear / to hear.”
Standard patterns:
- Ina son in tafi. – “I want to go.”
- Muna son mu ji labari. – “We want to hear a story.”
- Yara suna son su ji labari. – “The children like/want to hear a story.”
You usually can’t drop su in this kind of “want to do / like to do” clause when you are using the finite verb (subjunctive) ji.
Both are possible but they are built differently:
suna son su ji labari
- su ji = “that they hear / to hear” (finite verb in subjunctive).
- Structure: “they like (that) they hear a story.”
- Very common when so takes a whole clause.
suna son jin labari
- jin = verbal noun of ji (“hearing”).
- Structure: “they like the hearing of story / they like hearing stories.”
In everyday speech, the meaning is almost the same: “they like to hear stories.”
Nuance (often quite subtle):
- su ji can feel a bit more event‑like: they like to actually hear (each time).
- jin labari can feel more activity‑like: they enjoy the activity of hearing stories.
Both are correct and natural.
In su ji, su is functioning as a subject pronoun = “they”:
- su ji – “that they hear”
Hausa uses su for both “they” and “them”; the form is the same. You know its role from position and verb agreement:
- Before a finite verb (like ji) in a clause → normally subject.
- After verbs or prepositions in certain constructions → could be object.
Here, because su comes before ji in a subordinate clause created by son, it is the subject of ji.
ji is a very broad verb of perception and feeling. Its meanings include:
- hear – ji magana “hear speech / hear someone talking”
- feel (emotion) – na ji tsoro “I felt fear / I was afraid”
- feel (physical) – na ji zafi “I felt pain / It was hot”
- sense, perceive, experience
In ji labari, the most natural interpretation is “hear a story / hear news.”
Its verbal noun is jin: jin magana (hearing speech), jin daɗi (feeling pleasure).
Hausa often uses a singular noun to talk about something in general or as a kind, especially with mass‑like things or activities:
- labari – “story, news, tale, information, gossip”
- labaru – plural “stories, pieces of news”
In context, suna son su ji labari da dare is about the general activity of story‑hearing at night, so English naturally makes that “stories”:
- literally: “they like to hear story at night”
- idiomatic English: “they like to hear stories at night”
You could say labaru if you specifically wanted to stress more than one story, but labari is perfectly normal and sounds more generic.
You’re right that da commonly means “and” / “with”:
- Ali da Musa – “Ali and Musa”
- ya zo da abokinsa – “he came with his friend”
But with time‑of‑day nouns, da often works more like “at / in (the)”:
- da safe – in the morning
- da rana – in the afternoon / during the day
- da dare – at night
So labari da dare here is “story at night”, i.e. “stories at night.”
You can move this time phrase:
- Da dare, yara suna son su ji labari. – “At night, children like to hear stories.”
Hausa does not have articles like English “a/an” and “the”. Definiteness and specificity are shown in other ways (context, demonstratives, possessives, suffixes), for example:
- yara – “children / some children / children in general”
- yaran nan – “these children / the children here”
- labari – “a story / story in general”
- labarin nan – “this (particular) story”
So Yara suna son su ji labari da dare can be:
- “Children like to hear stories at night.” (generic)
- Or, if context is clear, “The children like to hear a story at night.”
English forces you to choose a/the/Ø; Hausa usually leaves that to context.
Yes, you can. The difference is in definiteness:
- Yara – “children” (indefinite or generic)
- Yaran – “the children” (definite group, already known in the context)
So:
Yara suna son su ji labari da dare.
– “Children like to hear stories at night.” (children in general)Yaran suna son su ji labari da dare.
– “The children like to hear stories at night.” (some particular children you’ve been talking about)
Grammatically both are fine; you choose based on whether you mean children in general or a specific group.
so / son can mean both “like/love” and “want/desire”, with context deciding:
- Ina son ki. – “I love you.”
- Ina son in tafi. – “I want to go.”
- Suna son labari. – “They like stories.” (or “love”)
In Yara suna son su ji labari da dare, the most natural reading is:
- “Children like / love to hear stories at night.”
You could also feel a nuance of “they want to hear stories at night”, especially if you imagine them actively asking for stories, but in many contexts it simply expresses a strong liking or enjoyment, somewhere between English “like” and “love.”