Learn Hardcore Hausa: Dalibai masu ƙoƙari suna da sakamako mai kyau.

dalibai – students (plural of dalibi “student”)
masu – plural form of mai, here meaning those who / people who have / people who do
ƙoƙari – effort, trying, here giving the idea hard‑working
suna – they are / they (progressive or habitual marker)
da – with, but in this structure suna da = they have
sakamako – result, outcome, grade, score
mai – having / that has
kyau – goodness, beauty, so mai kyau = good (literally “having goodness”)

So a very literal gloss would be:
Students those‑who make‑effort they-have result having-goodness.
Natural English: Hard‑working students have good results.

Why is it dalibai and not dalibi?

Dalibi is singular: one student.
Dalibai is plural: students.

In this sentence, the verb and meaning are both plural (“students have good results”), so Hausa uses the plural noun dalibai, and the plural subject pronoun suna:

Dalibi mai ƙoƙari yana da sakamako mai kyau.
A hard‑working student has good results.
Dalibai masu ƙoƙari suna da sakamako mai kyau.
Hard‑working students have good results.

Note how:

singular: dalibi … mai … yana
plural: dalibai … masu … suna

What exactly does masu do in this sentence?

Masu is the plural form of mai, and one of its key uses is to form phrases meaning “people who do X / people who have X”.

Here:

ƙoƙari = effort
masu ƙoƙari = those who make effort → hard‑working (people)

So:

dalibi mai ƙoƙari – a hard‑working student (literally, “a student who has/makes effort”)
dalibai masu ƙoƙari – hard‑working students (“students who make effort”)

Masu connects the noun dalibai with the verbal noun ƙoƙari to describe what kind of students they are.

Why does masu ƙoƙari come after dalibai instead of before, like in English “hard‑working students”?

In Hausa, descriptive elements (adjectives and many descriptive phrases) normally follow the noun they modify.

So the order is:

dalibai (students) + masu ƙoƙari (who are hard‑working)

Compare:

mutum mai ilimi – a knowledgeable person (literally “person having knowledge”)
motoci masu sauri – fast cars (literally “cars having speed”)

English: hard‑working students
Hausa: dalibai masu ƙoƙari (students [who are] hard‑working)

What does ƙoƙari mean here, and is it a verb or a noun?

Ƙoƙari is a noun, usually translated as effort, attempt, trying.

In the construction mai/masu + verbal noun, it often gives an adjectival meaning:

ƙoƙari – effort
mai ƙoƙari – (someone) who makes effort → hard‑working (singular)
masu ƙoƙari – (people) who make effort → hard‑working (plural)

So ƙoƙari itself is not a conjugated verb like to try; it’s a verbal noun being used in a descriptive phrase.

How does suna da mean “have”? Literally it looks like “they are with”.

You’re right about the literal pieces:

suna – they are / 3rd person plural continuous/habitual marker
da – with

In Hausa, one common way to express possession (to have) is:

[subject pronoun] + na/ne/ce/suna + da + thing

So:

Ina da littafi. – I have a book.
Kana da mota. – You (m.sg.) have a car.
Suna da sakamako mai kyau. – They have good results.

Literally, you can think of it as “they are with good results,” which corresponds to English “they have good results.”

Where is the idea of “get” or “achieve” in this sentence? It just says “have results”, right?

Yes, suna da sakamako mai kyau literally means “they have good results”.

In many contexts (especially talking about school), “having good results” naturally implies “getting/achieving good results or grades”, so English often translates it as:

Hard‑working students *get good results.*

If you want to be more explicit in Hausa about the action of obtaining the results, you can say:

Dalibai masu ƙoƙari suna samun sakamako mai kyau.
Hard‑working students get/are getting good results.

Here samun (from samu, to get/obtain) makes the “get” idea completely explicit.

What does sakamako mean exactly? Is it “results”, “grades”, or something else?

Sakamako is a general word meaning:

result, outcome, consequence
grade/score (in a school or exam context)

So depending on context, it can be translated as:

result/outcome (e.g. of an action or decision)
exam result, test score, grade

In a school sentence like this one, sakamako is naturally understood as academic results or grades.

How does mai kyau mean “good”? Why don’t we just have a simple adjective?

Hausa often forms “adjectives” using mai/masu + a noun, meaning “having X”.

Here:

kyau – beauty, goodness
mai kyau – having goodness/beauty → good, beautiful, nice

So:

sakamako mai kyau – good result(s)
mota mai kyau – a nice/good car
gida mai kyau – a nice house

For plural nouns, you often see masu kyau:

motoci masu kyau – good/nice cars

In your sentence, sakamako is treated as a singular mass noun with mai kyau.

Why is it mai kyau and not just kyau after sakamako? Can I say sakamako kyau?

You cannot say sakamako kyau. That’s not grammatical.

When kyau is used to modify a noun in this way, Hausa normally uses one of these patterns:

mai kyau (singular “having goodness”)
masu kyau (plural “having goodness”)

So:

sakamako mai kyau – good result(s)
motoci masu kyau – good cars

Kyau by itself can appear in other constructions (for example as a noun or in certain idioms), but as a straightforward modifier after a noun, you need mai/masu kyau, not bare kyau.

Does suna da sakamako mai kyau talk about something happening right now, or a general truth?

Suna da can express:

a present situation – they currently have…
a general / habitual fact – they (typically) have…

In this sentence, it’s most naturally read as a general truth about a group:

Hard‑working students (generally) have good results.

If you wanted to emphasize a specific, current situation (for example, this term’s results), context or extra time expressions (like yanzu “now”, or a wannan zangon karatu “this term”) would make it clear.

How does suna agree with dalibai? Could we ever use yana here?

Agreement works like this:

dalibi (one student) → yana (he is / it is)
dalibai (students) → suna (they are)

So:

Dalibi mai ƙoƙari yana da sakamako mai kyau.
A hard‑working student has good results.
Dalibai masu ƙoƙari suna da sakamako mai kyau.
Hard‑working students have good results.

Using yana with dalibai would be incorrect, because yana is singular (3rd person masculine singular), while dalibai is plural and needs suna (3rd person plural).

How is ƙ in ƙoƙari pronounced, and how is it different from k?

Hausa distinguishes between:

k – a regular unaspirated “k” sound, like the k in English skill
ƙ – an ejective “k”, made with a kind of popping sound produced by closing the glottis and releasing the consonant with extra force

In practice:

k (as in kasa) is closer to a plain k
ƙ (as in ƙoƙari) has a tighter, sharper quality—if you over‑do it, it almost sounds like you’re “popping” the consonant.

For learners, pronouncing ƙoƙari with a strong, clean k sound is usually acceptable at first, but native speakers do hear a difference between k and ƙ, and it can distinguish words.