Learn Hardcore Hausa: Idan yaro ya yi laifi, uwa tana koya masa ya nemi sulhu da ’yan’uwansa. - If a boy does wrong, mother teaches him to seek reconciliation with his siblings.

Idan yaro ya yi laifi, uwa tana koya masa ya nemi sulhu da ’yan’uwansa.

If a boy does wrong, mother teaches him to seek reconciliation with his siblings.

Breakdown of Idan yaro ya yi laifi, uwa tana koya masa ya nemi sulhu da ’yan’uwansa.

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Questions & Answers about Idan yaro ya yi laifi, uwa tana koya masa ya nemi sulhu da ’yan’uwansa.

In this sentence, what exactly does Idan mean—is it closer to if or when?

Idan is a conditional word that can usually be translated as either if or when(ever), depending on context.

Here, with a general statement and a habitual action, it has a generic meaning:

Idan yaro ya yi laifi…
→ If/When a child does something wrong… / Whenever a child does something wrong…

It does not by itself say whether the situation is real, likely, or just hypothetical. The context here suggests a general rule about what mothers do in that situation, so both if and when(ever) are reasonable translations in English.

Why do we say yaro ya yi laifi instead of something like yaro ya laifi?

In Hausa, many ideas that are expressed with one verb in English are expressed as “do/make + noun”.

yi = do / make
laifi = fault, offence, wrongdoing, sin

So:

ya yi laifi literally: he did/went into offence
idiomatically: he did something wrong / he committed an offence / he misbehaved

You cannot say ya laifi; you need the verb yi to form a proper predicate. This same pattern appears in many expressions:

ta yi magana – she spoke (literally: she did speech)
ya yi aure – he got married (literally: he did marriage)
suka yi fada – they quarrelled/fought (literally: they did a fight)

So yaro ya yi laifi is simply the normal, grammatical way to say the child does something wrong.

Does yaro here mean a child or the child? There is no article like a/the in the Hausa sentence.

Hausa does not use separate words for a and the the way English does. A bare noun like yaro can be:

a child, any child, children in general (generic sense), or
the child (definite, if context makes it clear which one)

In this sentence (Idan yaro ya yi laifi…), the meaning is clearly generic:

If/When a child does something wrong / Whenever a child does something wrong…

So yaro here is best understood as a child / any child, not one specific, previously mentioned child.

Can you break down ya yi laifi grammatically and explain its nuance?

Yes:

ya – 3rd person singular masculine subject marker in the perfective aspect
(roughly: he in a completed event)
yi – the verb do / make
laifi – offence, wrongdoing, fault, sin

Altogether: ya yi laifi = he has done wrong / he committed an offence / he misbehaved.

Nuance:

laifi can be quite strong, ranging from fault / wrongdoing up to crime / sin, depending on context.
For a lighter sense like a mere mistake, Hausa also has kuskure (mistake, error).
So:
- ya yi kuskure – he made a mistake (often less morally loaded)
- ya yi laifi – he did something wrong / committed an offence (more moral or serious)

What exactly does uwa tana koya masa mean, word by word?

Breakdown:

uwa – mother (also more broadly parent, but most commonly mother)
tana – she is / she does (habitually); 3rd person feminine, progressive/imperfective aspect
koya – teach / learn (here: teach)
masa – to him / for him
- ma = to/for
- -sa = him
  Together they form one clitic masa after the verb: koya masa = teach him

So uwa tana koya masa means:

the mother teaches him / is teaching him
(in context: the mother teaches him… as a general habit).

The verb koya sometimes seems to mean learn and sometimes teach. In uwa tana koya masa, which meaning is it and why?

koya in Hausa can mean learn or teach, depending on how it is used:

Without an indirect object it often means learn:
- Ina koya Hausa. – I am learning Hausa.
With an indirect object (like masa, mata, musu…) it usually means teach:
- Uwa tana koya masa. – The mother is teaching him.
- Malam yana koya mana Hausa. – The teacher is teaching us Hausa.

In uwa tana koya masa, the presence of masa (to him) clearly makes uwa the one who teaches, not the one who learns. So here koya = to teach.

Why is ya repeated in …uwa tana koya masa ya nemi sulhu…? What is this second ya doing?

The second ya introduces a new clause with its own subject:

uwa tana koya masa – the mother teaches him
(ya) nemi sulhu da ’yan’uwansa – (that) he should seek reconciliation with his siblings

In Hausa, a clause like “that he should do X” is often formed simply by:

subject marker (ya, ta, su, etc.)
followed by the verb in the appropriate form

There is no separate word for that in this construction. So:

tana koya masa ya nemi… ≈ she teaches him (that) he should seek…

The repeated ya is the subject marker he for the embedded action seek reconciliation.

Why is it ya nemi and not ya nema here?

The verb nema/nemi means to seek, to look for, to ask for. Hausa verbs typically have slightly different forms depending on aspect or mood.

Here, after koya masa, the sense is “that he should seek”, which uses a subjunctive/jussive-like form of the verb. For many verbs of this type:

perfective (completed) 3rd person masculine: ya nema – he sought
subjunctive / desired / should form: ya nemi – he should seek / for him to seek

So:

ya nema sulhu – he sought reconciliation (completed action)
ya nemi sulhu – (that) he should seek reconciliation / for him to seek reconciliation

In our sentence, we are talking about what the mother teaches him to do, not something he has already done, so the ya nemi form is appropriate.

What does sulhu mean here, and how is it used in Hausa?

sulhu (from Arabic ṣulḥ) means peace, reconciliation, settlement, especially after a conflict or disagreement.

In use:

With yi (do):
- suka yi sulhu – they made peace / reconciled
With nema/nemi (seek):
- ya nemi sulhu da shi – he sought reconciliation with him

In this sentence:

ya nemi sulhu da ’yan’uwansa
= that he should seek reconciliation / make peace with his siblings/relatives

So sulhu here is specifically about restoring good relations and ending conflict, not just saying sorry in a light way.

What is the role of da in sulhu da ’yan’uwansa?

da is a very common word in Hausa; here it functions like English with:

sulhu da ’yan’uwansa = reconciliation with his siblings

So the pattern is:

(yi/nemi) sulhu da [person] – make/seek peace with [person]

You generally cannot drop da here; it is needed to link sulhu to the people you are reconciling with.

Can you explain the structure and meaning of ’yan’uwansa?

Yes, it’s a compact form with several pieces:

’yan – a plural formative used with many human nouns; together with uwa it gives ’yan’uwa
’uwa – originally parent, but in the expression ’yan’uwa it contributes to the idea of people sharing the same parent(s)
’yan’uwa – a fixed expression meaning siblings, close relatives (same family)
-nsa – his (a possessive clitic)
- -n- is a linker consonant
- -sa is the 3rd person masculine possessive pronoun (his)

So:

’yan’uwa = siblings / close relatives
’yan’uwansa = his siblings / his close relatives

Is ’yan’uwa more like siblings or like relatives in English?

’yan’uwa most centrally means siblings—people who share at least one parent (brothers and sisters).

However, in many contexts it can be used more loosely for close family members / close relatives, especially those considered part of the same immediate family circle. Context tells you whether to translate it as:

siblings, or
relatives / family members

In this sentence, with his siblings is usually the most natural English equivalent.

Why is there no separate word for his before ’yan’uwansa? How is possession expressed here?

Hausa commonly expresses possession using suffixes (clitics) attached to the noun, rather than separate words like his / her.

For many nouns, the pattern is:

-na – my
-nka / -nki – your (m/f)
-nsa / -nta – his / her
-nmu – our
-nku – your (pl.)
-nsu – their

So:

’yan’uwana – my siblings
’yan’uwanka – your (m) siblings
’yan’uwansa – his siblings

That is why you don’t see a separate word for his; it is embedded in -nsa at the end of ’yan’uwansa.

Could we change the word order and put the Idan clause second, like in English: The mother teaches him to seek reconciliation with his siblings when the child does something wrong?

Yes, that is possible in Hausa as well. You can say:

Uwa tana koya masa ya nemi sulhu da ’yan’uwansa idan yaro ya yi laifi.

This has essentially the same meaning:

The mother teaches him to seek reconciliation with his siblings when the child does something wrong.

So both orders are fine:

Idan yaro ya yi laifi, uwa tana koya masa…
Uwa tana koya masa… idan yaro ya yi laifi.

The comma or pause in speech just marks where the conditional clause ends and the main clause begins.

What kind of time/aspect does tana koya express here? Is it is teaching (right now) or teaches (as a habit)?

tana koya is in the progressive/imperfective aspect. Depending on context, it can mean:

is teaching (currently, ongoing)
teaches (habitual, something she regularly does)

In combination with Idan and the perfective in the first clause (Idan yaro ya yi laifi…), the most natural reading is habitual:

Whenever a child does something wrong, the mother teaches him…

So in this sentence, tana koya is best understood as “teaches (as a regular practice)”, not just “is teaching right now.”