Learn Hardcore Hausa: Malam ya ce ya kamata mu kula da yadda muke magana, kuma mu ji shawara na juna. - The teacher said we should take care about how we speak, and also hear one another’s advice.

In this sentence it most naturally means “the teacher” (or “our teacher”), because in Hausa job titles and roles are often used without an article:

Malam ya ce… = The teacher said…

But Malam can also be a respectful form of address for an educated man or a religious scholar, roughly like “sir” or “sheikh/ustaz” in some contexts. The exact English word you choose depends on who the person is in the situation.

How does ya ce work grammatically? Why not just ce?

Ya ce is “he said” in the perfective (past) aspect.

ya = 3rd person singular masculine subject pronoun (he / it)
ce = verb “to say”

In Hausa, you normally need a subject pronoun before the verb:

Malam ya ce… = The teacher said…
Sun ce… = They said…
Na ce… = I said…

So ce doesn’t stand alone as “said”; you say ya ce, na ce, sun ce, etc.

Why do we have ya twice: Malam ya ce ya kamata…? Are those the same ya?

Both ya forms are the same pronoun shape, but they function slightly differently:

Malam ya ce…
- ya = he (refers directly to Malam)
- → “The teacher said…”
…ya kamata mu kula…
- ya kamata is a fixed expression meaning “it is proper / it is fitting / one ought to / should”.
- The ya here doesn’t really mean he; it behaves more like the dummy subject “it” in English:
  - Ya kamata mu tafi. = We should go / It’s appropriate that we go.

So structurally it’s:

The teacher said
- it is proper that we pay attention…

Even though both are pronounced ya, the second one is best understood as part of the modal phrase ya kamata.

What exactly does ya kamata mean, and how do I use it?

Ya kamata is a very common Hausa modal expression meaning roughly:

“should”, “ought to”, “it is proper / appropriate that”

It’s followed by another clause, usually with a subject pronoun:

Ya kamata mu tafi. = We should go.
Ya kamata ka yi hakuri. = You should be patient.
Ya kamata su karanta littafi. = They should read a book.

Negation:

Ba ya kamata mu yi haka ba. = We shouldn’t do that.

So in the sentence:

ya ce ya kamata mu kula da yadda muke magana
= he said we should pay attention to how we speak.

What does mu do in ya kamata mu kula… and kuma mu ji…?

Mu is the 1st person plural subject pronoun = “we”.

In this sentence you see it with two different verb forms:

ya kamata mu kula…
- mu kula = that we pay attention / take care
- After ya kamata, the verb usually appears with a subjunctive/jussive-type subject (mu, ka, su, etc.).
kuma mu ji shawara na juna
- mu ji = that we hear/listen (to)
- Here mu again marks “we”, and the bare verb ji works like an instruction or recommendation: let us listen / that we should listen.

So mu is just the subject “we” in both parts.

What does kula da mean in mu kula da yadda muke magana?

Kula da is a phrasal verb meaning mainly:

“take care of”, “look after”, or
“pay attention to / be careful about”

Examples:

Ina kula da yara. = I look after the children.
Ka kula da lafiyarka. = Take care of your health.
Ya kamata mu kula da yadda muke magana.
= We should pay attention to / be careful about how we speak.

So here kula da has the sense: “pay attention to / be careful about.”

What does yadda mean, and how does yadda muke magana work?

Yadda roughly means:

“how”, “the way (that)”, “the manner in which”

It introduces a clause of manner, like “how we speak”:

yadda muke magana
- mu = we
- -ke = imperfective/continuous marker
- magana = speech / speaking
  → “how we speak / the way we speak”

Other examples:

Na ga yadda ka yi shi. = I saw how you did it.
Ka tuna yadda muka hadu. = Remember how we met.

So mu kula da yadda muke magana = “we should pay attention to how we speak.”

What is the tense/aspect of muke in yadda muke magana? Why not mun yi magana?

Muke is the 1st person plural imperfective form:

mu (we) + -ke (imperfective marker)

Imperfective in Hausa often covers:

ongoing actions (we are speaking), and
habits / general behaviour (we speak / the way we (usually) speak).

So:

yadda muke magana
= how we (generally) speak / our way of speaking.

If you said mun yi magana (we spoke), that would refer to a completed action in the past, not a general way of speaking. Here the teacher is talking about our usual manner of speaking, so muke (imperfective) is appropriate.

What does kuma mean in …, kuma mu ji shawara na juna? Is it just “and”?

Kuma is a conjunction that often means:

“and”, “and also”, “as well”
Sometimes it can also mean “but / however” in other contexts, but here it’s additive.

In this sentence:

…, kuma mu ji shawara na juna.
= …and (also) let us listen to each other’s advice.

So kuma is joining two recommendations that come from what the teacher said:

pay attention to how we speak
also listen to each other’s advice

You could think of it as “and also” here.

What does ji mean in mu ji shawara na juna? Is it “hear” or “listen”?

Ji is a very flexible verb in Hausa, with meanings like:

hear,
feel,
sense,
sometimes understand.

In contexts with things like shawara (advice), labari (news), muryar wani (someone’s voice), ji often has the meaning “listen to / pay attention to”, not just physically hear.

So:

mu ji shawara na juna
literally: let’s hear the advice of each other
natural English: “let us listen to each other’s advice.”

If you wanted to be more explicit about “listen,” you could also use saurare (to listen to):
mu saurari shawarar juna, but mu ji shawara na juna is idiomatic and good.

What does shawara mean, and is it singular or plural here?

Shawara means “advice, counsel, consultation, suggestion”.

It can refer to advice in general, not necessarily countable as “one advice, two advices” in the English sense.
The plural form is often shawarwari (irregular plural).

In mu ji shawara na juna, it’s best understood as “advice” in general, so the phrase means “let’s listen to each other’s advice.”

How does na juna turn into “each other’s” in English?

Na juna is made of:

na – the genitive linker (“of”)
juna – reciprocal pronoun meaning “each other / one another”

So:

shawara na juna
literally: advice of each other
natural English: “each other’s advice.”

More examples:

Soyayya ta juna. = Love of each other / mutual love.
Girmamawa na juna. = Mutual respect.

So na juna is a common way to express mutual / each other’s in Hausa.

Does kuma mu ji shawara na juna also depend on ya ce ya kamata, or is it a separate idea?

Semantically, it’s still part of what the teacher is recommending. The full meaning is:

Malam ya ce [ya kamata mu kula da yadda muke magana], kuma [mu ji shawara na juna].

Literally:

The teacher said that we should pay attention to how we speak, and (that we should) listen to each other’s advice.

In Hausa, the second “ya ce (ya kamata)” is simply left out because it’s understood from context. That kind of ellipsis is very normal.

So both actions—paying attention to how we speak, and listening to each other’s advice—are based on what Malam ya ce.