Learn Hardcore Hausa: Yarinya ba ta son mutane su ce ta yi laifi idan ba ta yi ba, domin tana jin fushi. - The girl does not like people to say she did wrong when she did not, because she feels angry.

So in “Yarinya ba ta son …”, ta is the 3rd person singular feminine subject pronoun, agreeing with yarinya (which is grammatically feminine). It’s similar to saying, very literally, “The girl, she doesn’t like …”.

You almost always need that pronoun; you don’t say ✗ Yarinya ba son mutane …

What exactly does “ba ta son …” mean, and how is it built?

Ba ta son … literally breaks down as:

ba … son … – negative of “like/want”
ta – “she” (3rd person feminine subject)

Positive pattern:

Ta na so mutane su ce … – She likes/wants people to say …

In the negative, Hausa often uses a different pattern:

Ba ta son … – She doesn’t like / she dislikes …

Here:

so = “to like / to want”
son is the “verbal noun” form (like “liking” or “wanting”), and it “owns” the following phrase:
- son mutane su ce … = “liking people to say …”

So “ba ta son mutane su ce …” = she does not like (for) people to say …

Why is ba repeated in “idan ba ta yi ba”? Why do we need ba twice?

The pattern ba … ba is the normal negation frame in Hausa. When you negate a verb clause, you usually:

Put ba before the subject pronoun (or at the very start of the clause),
Put ba again at the end of the clause.

So:

Ta yi. – She did (it).
Ba ta yi ba. – She did not do (it).

In the sentence:

idan ba ta yi ba = if she didn’t do (it)

Here:

idan – “if / when” (conditional)
ba ta yi ba – “she did not do (it)”

So the double ba is not emphasis; it’s just the standard negative shape of the clause.

What is the function of “mutane su ce”? Why is it su ce, not suna cewa?

Mutane su ce … is using the subjunctive (or “jussive”) form, which often appears:

after verbs of wanting/liking/disliking,
to mean “for people to do X”, “that people should do X”.

Compare:

Ba ta son mutane su ce … – She doesn’t like (for) people to say …
Ba ta son mutane suna cewa … – would suggest “She doesn’t like people (who are) saying …” in a more ongoing/habitual way; it sounds different and less natural here.

Breakdown:

mutane – people
su – 3rd person plural subject pronoun (they)
ce – “say” (a short form used with direct speech or with a following clause)

So mutane su ce … = people (should) say … / people to say …. The su is required to mark the subject “people” and put the clause into that “subjunctive” mood.

What is the difference between “ce” and “cewa”? Could we say “mutane su ce cewa ta yi laifi”?

ce is a finite verb meaning “to say”.
cewa is more like a complementizer, meaning “that” (introducing a clause).

In your sentence:

mutane su ce ta yi laifi – for people to say she did wrong / committed an offense.

You could say:

Ba ta son mutane su ce cewa ta yi laifi …

This is grammatically possible and still means “She doesn’t like people to say that she committed an offense …”, but in natural speech ce alone is very common and often preferred.

So:

su ce ta yi laifi – they say, “she did wrong” / they say she did wrong
su ce cewa ta yi laifi – they say that she did wrong

The meaning difference is minor; ce alone is shorter and perfectly normal here.

What tense/aspect is “ta yi laifi”? Does it mean “she did wrong” or “she has done wrong”?

Ta yi laifi uses the perfective aspect:

ta – she (3sg feminine subject)
yi – “do” (here: “commit”)
laifi – fault, offense, crime, wrong

This perfective can cover several English translations depending on context:

She did wrong.
She did something wrong.
She has done wrong.
She committed an offense.

Hausa doesn’t distinguish “did” vs “has done” the way English does; ta yi just says the action is completed. Context supplies whether it’s more like a simple past or a present perfect.

Why is it “idan ba ta yi ba” and not something like “idan ba ta yi shi ba” (“if she didn’t do it”)?

Hausa very often omits objects when they are clear from context. In this sentence, “do what?” is obvious: it refers back to ta yi laifi – “she did wrong / committed an offense”.

So:

Ta yi laifi idan ba ta yi ba …
– literally: she did wrong if she did not do (so)…
– understood as: … if she didn’t do it / if she didn’t do anything wrong.

If you really wanted to make it explicit, you could say:

idan ba ta yi wannan laifin ba – if she didn’t commit this offense,

but in normal speech idan ba ta yi ba is perfectly natural and understood.

What does “domin” mean here, and how is it different from “saboda”?

Domin is a conjunction meaning “because / for, in order to, for the reason that”. In this sentence:

… domin tana jin fushi. – … because she gets angry.

You could also say saboda tana jin fushi, which also means “because she gets angry”.

Nuances (which often overlap in everyday use):

domin can sound slightly more formal or explanatory (“for the reason that …”),
saboda is very common and often used for both “because” and “because of”.

In most everyday contexts, for this sentence, domin and saboda would both be acceptable.

What does “tana jin fushi” literally mean? Why use “jin” (to feel/hear) with “fushi”?

Literally:

tana jin fushi
- tana – she is (3sg feminine, progressive)
- jin – feeling / experiencing / sensing
- fushi – anger

So the literal idea is “she is feeling anger”, which corresponds to English “she is angry / she gets angry / she feels angry”.

In Hausa, many emotions and physical sensations are expressed with jin (“to feel, sense”):

Ina jin zafi. – I feel pain / I’m in pain.
Na ji tsoro. – I felt fear / I was afraid.
Tana jin dadi. – She feels pleasure / She is happy / comfortable.

So tana jin fushi is the natural way to say “she gets angry / she feels angry”.

How does Hausa show that “yarinya / ta / tana” are feminine? Is there a masculine version?

Yes, Hausa marks gender mainly in the 3rd person singular pronouns and often in nouns:

yarinya – girl (feminine noun)
ta – she (3sg feminine subject pronoun, perfective)
tana – she is (3sg feminine, progressive form)

Masculine equivalents:

yaro – boy
ya – he (3sg masculine subject pronoun, perfective)
yana – he is (3sg masculine, progressive)

So a parallel masculine sentence would be:

Yaro ba ya son mutane su ce ya yi laifi idan ba ya yi ba, domin yana jin fushi.
– The boy doesn’t like people to say he did wrong if he didn’t, because he gets angry.

Could we move the “idan …” clause earlier, like in English: “If she didn’t do it, the girl doesn’t like people to say she did wrong”?

Yes, Hausa allows conditional clauses with idan to come before or after the main clause, similar to English.

You could say, for example:

Idan ba ta yi ba, yarinya ba ta son mutane su ce ta yi laifi, domin tana jin fushi.

This still means:

If she didn’t do it, the girl doesn’t like people to say she did wrong, because she gets angry.

So the position of idan ba ta yi ba is flexible; both positions are grammatical, and context and style decide which sounds more natural.