Learn Hardcore Hausa: A wannan shiri, akwai lokaci na darasi, aiki, da aikin gida ga yaro da yarinya. - In this plan, there is time for lessons, work, and homework for the boy and the girl.

A wannan shiri = “In this program / In this plan / In this course”
It does not change for masculine/feminine/plural; it’s always a.
You could also hear a cikin wannan shiri (literally “in the inside of this program”), which just makes the location a bit more explicit, but a wannan shiri is already fine and natural.

So a is a general “in/at” preposition marking where something is happening.

What does wannan shiri mean exactly, and why is wannan before shiri?

wannan = “this” (near the speaker, or something just mentioned in context)
shiri = “program, plan, arrangement; TV/radio show; organized scheme”

So wannan shiri = “this program / this plan / this course (we’re talking about).”

In Hausa, the demonstrative wannan typically comes before the noun:

wannan littafi – this book
wannan shiri – this program

There is also another demonstrative pattern used after the noun, e.g. shirin nan (“this program (right here)”), but in your sentence the pre-noun form wannan shiri is used.

What does akwai mean, and does it change for plural or tense?

akwai is an existential verb meaning “there is / there are”.

A wannan shiri, akwai lokaci…
= “In this program, there is time…”

Key points:

It does not change for singular vs plural:
- akwai yaro – there is a boy
- akwai yara – there are children
For past or future, you usually add time expressions or change the surrounding wording; akwai itself doesn’t get tense endings.
A common negative is babu:
- babu lokaci – there is no time
- babu yara – there are no children

So you can think of akwai ≈ invariant “there is/are”.

What does lokaci mean, and how is lokaci na darasi functioning?

lokaci = “time” (clock time, period, opportunity, etc.)
darasi = “lesson, class, study session”

lokaci na darasi literally means “time of lesson”, i.e. “lesson time” or “class time”.

The na here is a linker/genitive marker, roughly like English of:

lokaci na darasi – time of lesson = lesson time
lokaci na aiki – time of work = work time

So grammatically, na is joining two nouns into a “X of Y” relationship.

Why is the linker na used in lokaci na darasi, and why specifically na (not ta, ya, etc.)?

Hausa uses a linker between a head noun and what follows it (often another noun or a possessive). The form of the linker agrees with the class/gender of the head noun.

Head noun: lokaci (masculine noun)
Linker for masculine singular: na
Second noun: darasi

So:

lokaci na darasi – time of lesson

Other examples:

littafi na yaro – book of the boy (the boy’s book)
gida na malam – house of the teacher (the teacher’s house)

If the head noun were feminine, the linker would most often be ta, e.g.:

hanya ta gari – the road of the town (the town’s road)

In your sentence, lokaci is masculine, so the correct linker is na.

Why only lokaci na darasi has na, but aiki and aikin gida don’t? Are we listing three “times”?

The Hausa structure is:

lokaci na darasi – lesson time
aiki – work
aikin gida – homework

So the list is three things that exist in the program:

lesson time,
work,
homework.

We are not saying “time of lesson, time of work, and time of homework.” If that was intended, you would expect something like:

lokaci na darasi, lokaci na aiki, da lokaci na aikin gida

Instead, the sentence simply lists different components the program has: one of them is explicitly “lesson time,” and the others are “work” and “homework.”

What’s the difference between aiki and aikin gida?

aiki by itself means “work, job, task, activity, duty.”
aikin gida literally = “work of the house / home’s work.”
Idiomatically, this is used for homework (schoolwork done at home).

Grammar:

aiki (work) + -n (linker for masculine head noun) + gida (house/home)
→ aiki
- n
  - gida = aikin gida

So in the sentence:

aiki refers to general work or activities done during the program.
aikin gida refers specifically to homework to be done at home.

Why is it aikin gida instead of aiki na gida?

Both patterns are possible in Hausa, but aikin gida is the typical compound form used for this concept.

Two ways to form “X of Y”:

Suffix linker:
- For masculine singular nouns ending in a vowel, the linker is often -n attached:
  - aiki + n + gida → aikin gida This creates a fairly tight compound (“home-work”).
Separate linker word:
- aiki na gida – “work of the house”

In practice, set expressions like “homework” have settled on the fused form:

aikin gida = homework (very common, idiomatic)

aiki na gida is grammatically okay but would sound more like “work belonging to the house,” not the standard label for school homework.

What does ga mean in ga yaro da yarinya, and how is it different from other “for/to” words like don or ma?

In this sentence, ga marks the recipient / beneficiary, and is best translated as “for”:

…ga yaro da yarinya.
= “…for the boy and (the) girl.”

Common uses of ga:

to indicate “to/for (someone)” as the target:
Na ba su abinci ga yara. – I gave food to the children.
to draw attention:
Ga shi nan. – Here it is.

Comparison:

ga – often used with nouns/pronouns as “to/for (someone)”.
don – also “for/because of,” with a more purposive feel:
lokaci don darasi – time for lessons (with a sense of purpose).
ma – a clitic meaning “for/also (to someone)”, often attached to pronouns:
Na ba musu. – I gave (it) to them.

In ga yaro da yarinya, using ga is a straightforward way to say the program’s components are for the boy and girl.

Why does the sentence say yaro da yarinya instead of just a plural like yara (“children”)?

yaro = boy (male child)
yarinya = girl (female child)
yara = children (plural of yaro), usually mixed or generic children

Using yaro da yarinya explicitly mentions both genders:

“…for the boy and (the) girl.”

This can suggest:

the program is designed with both a boy and a girl in mind,
or it is emphasising that it is for boys and for girls (both sexes).

Saying ga yara would mean simply “for children” in general, without explicitly naming boy and girl separately.

How are yaro and yarinya related, and what are their plurals?

They are related forms referring to a child, distinguished by gender:

yaro – boy (male child)
- plural: yara – children (often used for children generally, not only boys)
yarinya – girl (female child)
- common plural: ’yan mata – girls / young women
  (literally something like “children of women / young women”)

So:

ga yaro da yarinya – for the boy and girl (one of each)
ga yara – for (the) children
ga ’yan mata – for (the) girls / young women

What is the basic word order in this sentence? It doesn’t look like a simple subject–verb–object pattern.

The structure is based on an existential construction with akwai (“there is/are”), not a normal verb with a subject and object.

Breakdown:

A wannan shiri, – “In this program,” (prepositional phrase, setting the location)
akwai – there is / there are
lokaci na darasi, aiki, da aikin gida – time, work, and homework
ga yaro da yarinya. – for the boy and girl.

So in rough functional order:

[Location] + akwai
- [list of existing things] + [beneficiary phrase]

Hausa does use SVO in many normal sentences (e.g. Yaro ya yi aiki. – The boy did work), but akwai behaves more like English “there is/are” and doesn’t take a normal subject pronoun.

How do you pronounce some of the key words like akwai, shiri, and yarinya?

Approximate pronunciations (ignoring tones):

akwai – a-kway
- a as in father
- kwai like English why with a k in front (k-why)
shiri – SHEE-ree
- shi like she
- ri like ree
yarinya – yah-REEN-yah
- ya as in yard (but short)
- rin like reen in green (without the g)
- ya again at the end

Remember that Hausa is a tonal language (high vs low tones), but tone is not shown in normal spelling, and learners usually pick it up from listening.