Tsabta tana da muhimmanci kamar lafiya.

Cleanliness is as important as health.

Breakdown of Tsabta tana da muhimmanci kamar lafiya.

• ne: to be
• da: with
• muhimmanci: the importance
• lafiya: the health
• tsabta: the cleanliness
• kamar: as

Questions & Answers about Tsabta tana da muhimmanci kamar lafiya.

What does each word in Tsabta tana da muhimmanci kamar lafiya literally mean?

Word-by-word:

• tsabta – cleanliness (a noun; an abstract quality)
• tana – she/it (feminine) + continuous aspect; here roughly “is/has”
• da – with / has (in this structure it works like “has”)
• muhimmanci – importance (a noun)
• kamar – like / as
• lafiya – health, well‑being

So the literal structure is something like:
“Cleanliness, it has importance like health.” → “Cleanliness is as important as health.”

Why do we need tana after tsabta? Why not just say Tsabta da muhimmanci?

In Hausa, even when you have a full noun as the subject (tsabta), you normally still use a subject pronoun before the verb or verbal element. This is called a resumptive pronoun.

• Tsabta tana da muhimmanci.
  
  • tsabta = subject noun
  • tana = subject pronoun (3rd person feminine singular, continuous)
  • da muhimmanci = “has importance”

You cannot usually drop tana here;
✗ Tsabta da muhimmanci is ungrammatical as a full sentence.

Think of Hausa as generally needing: > Noun subject + (matching) subject pronoun + verbal part

So:

• Ali yana aiki. – Ali is working.
• Tsabta tana da muhimmanci. – Cleanliness is important / has importance.

Why is it tana and not yana in this sentence?

Hausa verbs agree with grammatical gender of the subject. Most abstract nouns, including tsabta “cleanliness”, are treated as feminine, so they take t- forms:

• tana = 3rd person feminine singular, continuous
• yana = 3rd person masculine singular, continuous

Examples:

• Tsabta tana da muhimmanci. – Cleanliness is important. (feminine)
• Littafi yana da muhimmanci. – A book is important. (masculine)

So we use tana because tsabta is grammatically feminine.

What is the function of da in tana da muhimmanci?

Da literally means “with”, but in this common structure X yana/tana da Y, it is used to express possession or existence and often translates as “have/has” or “there is/are”.

Pattern:

• X (subject) + (ya/ta)na da + noun → “X has (noun)” / “X is (noun)‑having”

So:

• Tsabta tana da muhimmanci.
  Literally: “Cleanliness has importance.”
  Natural English: “Cleanliness is important.”

Other examples:

• Garin nan yana da yawa mutane. – This town has many people.
• Abinci yana da ɗaci. – The food is bitter (lit. has bitterness).

In your sentence, da is essential to make muhimmanci something that cleanliness “has”.

What kind of word is muhimmanci, and how is it different from muhimmi?

• muhimmanci is a noun meaning “importance”.
• muhimmi is an adjective meaning “important”.

Your sentence uses the noun with the “have” structure:

• tana da muhimmanci – “has importance” → “is important”

You can also describe something with the adjective:

• abu muhimmi – an important thing
• labari muhimmi – an important story/news

Alternate ways to express a similar idea:

• Tsabta tana da muhimmanci kamar lafiya. – Cleanliness has importance like health.
• Tsabta muhimmi ce kamar lafiya. – Cleanliness is important like health.

Both are acceptable; the original sentence uses the very common “have importance” pattern.

Could I say Tsabta tana muhimmanci without da?

No, that would be wrong in standard Hausa.

To use muhimmanci (a noun) in this type of clause, you need da:

• ✓ Tsabta tana da muhimmanci. – Correct.
• ✗ Tsabta tana muhimmanci. – Ungrammatical.

If you want to drop da, then you normally switch to the adjective form and a copula (ce/ne):

• Tsabta muhimmi ce. – Cleanliness is important.

So you have two main patterns:

1. X yana/tana da + noun
   → Tsabta tana da muhimmanci.

2. X + adjective + ce/ne
   → Tsabta muhimmi ce.

What does kamar do in this sentence, and how else can it be used?

Kamar means “like, as, as if” and is used for comparison or similarity.

In your sentence:

• kamar lafiya – “like health / as health”
• tana da muhimmanci kamar lafiya – “it has importance like health” → “as important as health”

Other uses:

• Yana gudu kamar zakki. – He runs like a gazelle.
• Ta yi mini magana kamar mahaifiyata. – She spoke to me like my mother.
• Kamar zai yi ruwa. – It looks like it’s going to rain.

So here kamar introduces what cleanliness is being compared to (lafiya, health).

Are tsabta and lafiya both feminine nouns?

Yes, both tsabta (“cleanliness”) and lafiya (“health, well‑being”) are grammatically feminine in Hausa.

In this sentence, only tsabta is the subject, so only it triggers agreement:

• Tsabta tana da muhimmanci kamar lafiya.
  (Subject: tsabta → feminine → tana)

If lafiya were the subject of a similar sentence, it would also take feminine agreement:

• Lafiya tana da muhimmanci. – Health is important.

Many abstract nouns and “state” nouns (like health, peace, cleanliness, happiness) are feminine in Hausa.

Is there another natural way to say “Cleanliness is as important as health” in Hausa?

Yes, a few options with slightly different flavours:

1. Using the adjective muhimmi:

   • Tsabta muhimmi ce kamar lafiya.

2. Emphasising equality more strongly:

   • Muhimmancin tsabta da na lafiya ɗaya ne.
     “The importance of cleanliness and that of health is the same.”

3. A bit more formal:

   • Tsabta tana da matuƙar muhimmanci kamar lafiya.
     “Cleanliness is extremely important, like health.”

Your original sentence is already very natural and common.

How would I say “Cleanliness is more important than health” or “less important than health”?

To express “more … than …” you typically use fi … fiye da (or shortenings of that).

• Cleanliness is more important than health.
  Tsabta ta fi lafiya muhimmanci.
  (Literally: “Cleanliness exceeds health in importance.”)

To say “less … than …”, you can use ba … kamar … ba or other periphrastic ways; there isn’t a single simple “less than” particle:

• Cleanliness is not as important as health.
  Tsabta ba ta da muhimmanci kamar lafiya ba.

Those go beyond your original sentence, but they use the same key pieces:

• fi for “more than”
• kamar and ba … ba for “(not) as … as …”
• muhimmanci in the same “have importance” pattern.