Learn Hardcore Hausa: A lokacin taron iyali jiya, Baba ya yi amfani da allo ƙarami ya rubuta shirin mako na gaba. - During the family meeting yesterday, father used a small board to write the plan for the coming week.

You could say just a taron iyali (“at the family meeting”), but a lokacin taron iyali makes it a bit more explicit and can sound a little more careful or formal: during the time of the family meeting.

How is taron iyali built, and what does the -n in taron do?

taron iyali literally is “the meeting of (the) family” → “family meeting / family gathering”.

taro = meeting, gathering
taron = taro
- -n, the linker (also called construct or genitive linker)
iyali = family

Hausa often uses this linker -n/-r between two nouns to show a close relationship (possession, “of”, or “X of Y”):

taron iyali – meeting of family → family meeting
shirin mako – plan of week → weekly plan / plan for the week
motar Baba – car of Dad → Dad’s car

So taro + n + iyali behaves a bit like “meeting-of-family” in English.

Why is jiya (“yesterday”) at the end of A lokacin taron iyali jiya? Could it go somewhere else?

In A lokacin taron iyali jiya, jiya is a time adverb meaning “yesterday”. It’s modifying the whole phrase “the time of the family meeting”.

Literally: “At the time of the family meeting yesterday, …”

You will most often see jiya with no preposition:

Na je kasuwa jiya. – I went to the market yesterday.

In this sentence, the placement after the noun phrase (taron iyali) is natural. You could also say:

Jiya a lokacin taron iyali, Baba ya… – Yesterday, during the family meeting, Dad…

So jiya is fairly flexible, but you don’t normally say a jiya for “yesterday” the way you would say a yau (“today”).

Does Baba mean “Dad” as a name or just “father” in general? Why is it capitalized?

Baba in Hausa commonly means “father / dad”, and it can work in two ways:

As a kin term (ordinary noun):
- baba na – my father
- babanmu – our dad
As a sort of name/title for one’s father:
- In many families, people just call their father Baba (like “Dad” in English).
- In written English translations, we often capitalize it (Baba) to show it’s being used like a proper name, the way we capitalize Dad or Mum when used as a name.

In this sentence it’s natural to read Baba as “Dad” (the speaker’s father) rather than just “a father”.

Why do we say ya yi amfani da instead of just a single verb meaning “used”?

ya yi amfani da is a very common idiom in Hausa meaning “he used …” or “he made use of …”.

Breakdown:

ya = 3rd person masculine singular completive subject (“he” in a past/complete sense)
yi = do/make
amfani = use, benefit
da = with

Literally: “he did use with X” → he used X.

The whole expression yin amfani da [something] is treated as a single verbal expression:

Na yi amfani da alkalami. – I used a pen.
Za mu yi amfani da wannan shiri. – We will use this plan.

You can’t just drop it to ya yi allo ƙarami to mean “he used a small board”; that would lose the meaning “used”. The idiom yi amfani da is the standard way to say “use (something)” in a neutral way.

What exactly is allo, and what kind of object does it refer to?

allo most commonly refers to a writing slate or small board used for writing on, traditionally with chalk or ink. For example:

the wooden slates used by children or Qur’anic school students,
or a small board used for notes or quick writing.

Depending on context and region, it may be understood as a small board/slate rather than a big classroom blackboard. In this sentence, with allo ƙarami (“small board”), it clearly suggests something small and handy that Baba used to write the plan.

Why is it allo ƙarami (“board small”) instead of ƙaramin allo (“small board”)? Are both possible?

Hausa allows two main patterns with adjectives like “small” and “big”:

Noun + adjective (post‑nominal)
- yaro ƙarami – a small boy
- allo ƙarami – a small board
  This is straightforward: noun first, then adjective.
Adjective (with a linker) + noun (pre‑nominal)
- ƙaramin yaro – a little boy
- babban mutum – a big man

Both patterns are used in real language. The pre‑nominal form (ƙaramin allo) often feels a bit more specific or emphatic, whereas allo ƙarami is a more neutral “board that is small” description.

So:

allo ƙarami – a small board (descriptive)
ƙaramin allo – also “a small board”, often a bit more pointed/defined

In your sentence, allo ƙarami is perfectly natural: “a small board/slate”.

Why is ya repeated: Baba ya yi … ya rubuta …? Could the second ya be dropped?

In Hausa, each finite verb normally takes its own subject pronoun form, which also carries tense/aspect information. So you often get:

Baba ya zauna, ya ci abinci. – Dad sat down and ate.

In your sentence:

Baba ya yi amfani da allo ƙarami ya rubuta shirin mako na gaba.

The second ya is there before rubuta (in full: ya rubuta). If you wrote it without ya:

✗ Baba ya yi amfani da allo ƙarami rubuta shirin mako na gaba.

that would sound ungrammatical or at least very odd, because rubuta would lack its subject/tense marker.

So:

Baba ya yi amfani da allo ƙarami, ya rubuta shirin mako na gaba.
= Dad used a small board and wrote the plan for next week.

Each ya marks a completed action by “he”, and chaining them like this is the normal way to say “he did X and (then) he did Y”.

How is shirin mako na gaba built up, and what does each part contribute?

shirin mako na gaba literally layers several “of / next” relationships:

shiri = plan, programme, preparation
shirin = shiri
- -n (linker) → “plan of …”
shirin mako = “plan of (the) week” → weekly plan / the plan for the week
na gaba = “of ahead / of front” → next / coming

Now, na gaba attaches to mako:

mako na gaba = next week / the coming week

So the whole thing is:

shirin [mako na gaba] = “the plan of the coming week”
→ “the plan for next week”.

Another very common way to say “next week” is mako mai zuwa (“the week that is coming”), but mako na gaba is also standard. Here, na gaba is doing the job of “next”.

Does ya here mean “he” or does it mark past tense? How should I think about it?

ya in this sentence does both jobs at once:

It marks the subject: 3rd person singular masculine (he).
It also marks the aspect: completive / perfective (a completed action, often past).

So ya yi is best understood as a single unit meaning something like “he did / he has done”, and ya rubuta as “he wrote / he has written”.

Other forms in the same system:

yana rubuta – he is writing (progressive)
zai rubuta – he will write (future)
ya rubuta – he wrote / has written (completed)

For learning, it’s helpful to think of ya as the “he (completed)” form that always appears in front of the verb in such sentences.