Learn Hardcore Hausa: A kowace Juma’a iyali na suna zama tare su tattauna shawara a ƙaramin taro ɗaya. - Every Friday my family sits together to discuss decisions in one small meeting.

A kowace Juma’a iyali na suna zama tare su tattauna shawara a ƙaramin taro ɗaya.

Every Friday my family sits together to discuss decisions in one small meeting.

Breakdown of A kowace Juma’a iyali na suna zama tare su tattauna shawara a ƙaramin taro ɗaya.

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Questions & Answers about A kowace Juma’a iyali na suna zama tare su tattauna shawara a ƙaramin taro ɗaya.

What does A at the beginning mean, and why is it needed before kowace Juma’a?

A here is the basic preposition meaning “in / on / at”.

In this sentence, A kowace Juma’a literally means “On every Friday” or “Every Friday (on Fridays)”.

A = on / at / in
kowace = every (feminine form)
Juma’a = Friday

You normally use a before days, times, or places:

a safiya – in the morning
a Juma’a – on Friday
a gida – at home

So A kowace Juma’a is a natural way to express “Every Friday” as a time expression.

Why is it kowace Juma’a and not kowane Juma’a?

In Hausa, the word for “every / each” agrees in gender with the noun:

kowane – masculine
kowace – feminine

The word Juma’a (Friday) is treated as feminine in Hausa grammar, so you must use the feminine form:

kowace Juma’a – every Friday (correct)
kowane Juma’a – grammatically incorrect

Other examples:

kowane yaro – every boy (masc.)
kowace yarinya – every girl (fem.)

What exactly does iyali na mean here? Is it “my family” or “the family”? Why not iyalina?

iyali na means “my family”.

In Hausa, possession can be written as one word or separately:

iyalina = my family
iyali na = my family (literally “family-of-me”)

Both forms are correct and common. Writing them separately (iyali na) often feels a bit more explicit or careful, but in everyday speech you’ll hear both.

It does not normally mean “the family” in a general sense; that would just be iyali or iyalinmu (our family), depending on context. Here, iyali na is best understood as “my family”.

If iyali is grammatically singular (one family), why do we use suna (“they are”) instead of yana (“it is”)?

Hausa often treats collective nouns like iyali (family) as a group of people, so you commonly see plural agreement with them in the verb:

iyali na suna zama… – my family (they) sit / stay…

Even though iyali is one unit, it refers to several people. Speakers can choose:

iyali na yana zama… – my family (as a single unit) is…
iyali na suna zama… – my family (seen as people) are…

In practice, suna is very natural here because the next verb phrase zama tare (sit together) clearly involves several individuals.

What nuance does suna zama have here? Does it mean “are sitting,” “sit,” or “live”?

The verb zama is quite flexible, and suna zama can mean different things depending on context:

Sit / stay (at that time)
- suna zama = they are sitting / they sit / they stay
Live / reside (in other contexts)
- suna zama a Kano – they live in Kano

In this sentence (with kowace Juma’a and tare), suna zama has a habitual sense:

“Every Friday, my family sit / get together…”

So here it’s about regularly sitting / gathering, not about where they live.

Why do we have both na and suna next to each other: iyali na suna zama? What’s the difference between them?

They do completely different jobs:

na (attached to iyali) is a possessive pronoun:
- iyali na = my family
suna is the 3rd person plural subject pronoun with aspect:
- suna ≈ “they are / they (habitually) do”

So iyali na suna zama literally breaks down as:

iyali na – my family
suna zama – they (habitually) sit / are sitting

You could roughly gloss it as:
“My family – they sit / are in the habit of sitting …”

What role does tare play in suna zama tare? Is it like “together”?

Yes, tare means “together”.

zama = to sit / stay
zama tare = to sit together / stay together

So suna zama tare means “they sit together / they gather together.”

You’ll often see tare da when specifying who you’re with:

Ina tare da kai. – I am with you.
Suna zama tare da iyayensu. – They live together with their parents.

Here, just tare is enough because the subject (iyali na) is already known.

Why do we have su tattauna shawara after suna zama tare? What is that su doing there?

The su before tattauna is another 3rd person plural pronoun referring back to the same subject (iyali na).

In Hausa, it’s common to use su + verb to express purpose or a next action after another verb:

suna zama tare su tattauna shawara
≈ “they sit together (then) they discuss matters”
≈ “they sit together to discuss matters”

So:

su tattauna = (so that) they discuss, and they discuss

This “repeating” of the pronoun is very natural in Hausa for chaining actions:

Ya tashi ya wanke mota. – He got up and washed the car.
Sun zo su ga kai. – They came to see you.

Here, su tattauna shawara is the purpose/result of suna zama tare.

What does tattauna shawara mean literally, and is shawara singular or plural?

Literally:

tattauna = to discuss / to deliberate
shawara = advice, counsel, matter for consultation

So tattauna shawara literally means “discuss counsel / discuss issues”.
In practice it’s like “to discuss things / to discuss matters / to have a discussion.”

shawara is grammatically singular, but in this fixed phrase it has a general / collective sense:

tattauna shawara ≈ talk about issues / talk things over

If you needed explicit plural, you could say shawarwari (plural of shawara), but it’s not necessary here.

What does a ƙaramin taro ɗaya add? Could we just say a ƙaramin taro?

Breakdown:

a = in / at
ƙaramin = small (masc. singular, from ƙarami)
taro = meeting / gathering
ɗaya = one

So a ƙaramin taro ɗaya literally = “in one small meeting” → “in a small meeting.”

You could say just a ƙaramin taro, which already means “in a small meeting.”

Adding ɗaya:

often makes it feel more like English “a single small meeting” / “one small meeting”, emphasizing it as one particular session.
in many contexts, ɗaya just functions as an indefinite article (“a / one”), not strongly emphasized.

So:

a ƙaramin taro – in a small meeting
a ƙaramin taro ɗaya – in one small meeting (slightly more explicit; in many contexts, same practical meaning as “in a small meeting”)

Why is it ƙaramin (with ƙ) and not karamin? Is there a pronunciation difference?

Yes, there is a real sound difference between k and ƙ in Hausa:

k is a regular voiceless velar stop (like English k in “car”).
ƙ is an implosive / glottalized k, produced with a kind of inward gulping motion; it’s a separate phoneme.

The correct form of the adjective “small” in Hausa is:

ƙarami (masc. sg.)
ƙaramar (fem. sg.)
ƙanana (plural)

So before taro (which is masculine singular), we use:

ƙaramin taro – a small meeting

Writing karamin without the dot under the ƙ is either:

a spelling mistake, or
non-standard / simplified writing that ignores the phonetic distinction (but in good Hausa orthography, ƙ and k are distinct letters).

How is the tense/aspect expressed in this sentence? Is it present, habitual, or something else?

The key marker here is suna:

suna + verb often indicates present continuous (they are doing)
But with a time phrase like A kowace Juma’a, it naturally gets a habitual meaning:
- “Every Friday, my family (usually, regularly) sit together…”

So aspectually, this is a habitual present:

A regular activity that happens on every Friday, not just right now.

If I wanted to say “Every Friday the family meet and talk” in a simpler way, what is a slightly simpler but still natural version of this sentence?

A slightly simpler, still natural version could be:

A kowace Juma’a, iyali na suna zama tare su yi magana.

Changes:

tattauna shawara (discuss matters) → yi magana (speak / talk), which is simpler vocabulary.
Kept the same structure: A kowace Juma’a, [subject] suna zama tare su [next action].

Meaning-wise, it’s very close:

“Every Friday, my family sit together and talk.”