Learn Hardcore Hausa: Yaro ɗaya yana cikin gida yanzu.

yaro ɗaya can mean:
- “one boy” (numerical, emphasizing the number), or
- “one (particular) boy / a certain boy” (when context suggests you’re singling one out).

If you just want to say “a boy is in the house” without stressing “one”, Hausa can also just say:

Yaro yana cikin gida. – A boy/the boy is in the house.

Adding ɗaya makes the “one-ness” or “only one” idea more explicit.

Why do we have yana if yaro ɗaya is already the subject? Isn’t that like saying “One boy he is in the house”?

It looks redundant from an English point of view, but it’s normal in Hausa.

In Hausa, the subject pronoun is usually required before many verbs and aspect markers. So:

Yaro ɗaya yana cikin gida.
- yaro ɗaya – “one boy” (full noun phrase, subject)
- yana – “he is (doing)” (3rd person masculine singular subject pronoun + continuous aspect)

You can think of yana as a verb-like element that needs to appear even if you’ve already mentioned the noun. It agrees with yaro ɗaya (3rd person singular, masculine).

This pattern is very common:

Musa yana cin abinci. – Musa is eating.
’Ya’ya suna wasa. – The children are playing.

So it’s not double-subject in Hausa grammar; it’s just noun subject + agreeing auxiliary.

What exactly does yana mean here? Is it “is”, or “he is”, or “is being/doing”?

Yana combines subject + aspect:

ya-: 3rd person masculine singular pronoun (“he”)
-na: continuous/progressive aspect (“is doing / be in a state of”)

So yana ≈ “he is (currently)” or “he is (doing/being)”.

In Yaro ɗaya yana cikin gida yanzu, yana marks that the situation is ongoing right now (continuous/progressive), similar to English “is” in “is (inside the house)”.

Why is there no separate word for “is” like in English? Where is the “is” in this sentence?

In Hausa, there is no separate general verb “to be” like English is/are.

When you use yana, the “is” meaning is built into it (as continuous aspect).
In simple nominal sentences (no yana, just “X is Y”), Hausa can sometimes have no explicit “is” at all:
- Yaro ne. – He is a boy. (literally “boy [focus marker]”)
- Gida babba ne. – The house is big.

In your sentence, yana is what gives the “is (being/being located)” sense. There’s no separate word equivalent to “is” apart from that.

What does cikin mean in cikin gida? Is it a preposition like “in”?

Cikin literally comes from ciki (inside / stomach) + a linking element -n.

ciki – inside, interior
cikin gida – the inside of the house / in the house

Functionally, cikin here works like a preposition meaning in / inside:

a cikin gida – in the house
cikin jaka – inside the bag

In your sentence, yana cikin gida = “he is inside (the) house.”

What is the difference between cikin gida and a cikin gida? Could I say Yaro ɗaya yana a cikin gida yanzu?

Both cikin gida and a cikin gida can appear in Hausa, but they’re used a bit differently:

a cikin gida: more explicit, literally “at in the interior of the house”, i.e. “in(side) the house”.
cikin gida: can also function adverbially on its own as “inside the house”.

In practice:

Yaro ɗaya yana cikin gida yanzu. – This is natural.
Yaro ɗaya yana a cikin gida yanzu. – Usually felt redundant or awkward, because yana already governs the locative, and cikin itself is functioning like “in”.

So for this exact sentence, stick with yana cikin gida, not yana a cikin gida.

Does gida mean specifically “house” or can it also mean “home”?

Gida usually means “house”, but depending on context it can also carry the idea of “home / household / family compound”.

In cikin gida, it commonly suggests the physical house/inside the house:

yana cikin gida – he is inside the house.

But in broader contexts, gida can be closer to English “home”:

Na dawo gida. – I have come back home.

What does yanzu add exactly? Could I omit it?

Yanzu means “now”.

Yaro ɗaya yana cikin gida. – A boy is inside the house. (no explicit “now”)
Yaro ɗaya yana cikin gida yanzu. – A boy is inside the house now, emphasizing the current time.

You can omit yanzu if context already makes the time clear. Including it highlights that this is happening right at this moment.

How do you pronounce ɗaya, and how is ɗ different from a normal d in Hausa?

ɗaya is roughly pronounced [ɗà.yà]:

ɗ is an implosive “d” sound.
- To produce it, put your tongue where you’d put it for d, but draw a little air inward as you voice it, rather than pushing air out.
ya as in English “yah”.
The word has two syllables: ɗa-ya.

This sound does not exist in standard English, so many learners approximate it with a normal d at first, but it’s good to learn to hear and produce the difference because d and ɗ can distinguish words in Hausa.

Is yaro always “boy”? Can it also mean just “child,” like “kid”?

Yaro most commonly means:

boy,
or more generally, young child (often male, but sometimes just “kid” in informal speech).

There is also:

yarinya – girl / young girl
yara – children (plural of yaro/yarinya, context gives gender mix)

So yaro ɗaya is naturally understood as “one boy”, but in some contexts, it could be more like “one kid / one child”, especially if gender isn’t important.

If the child were a girl, would the sentence change? How would I say “One girl is in the house now”?

You would change the noun yaro and usually also the agreement in yana:

Yarinya ɗaya tana cikin gida yanzu. – One girl is in the house now.

Changes:

yarinya – girl
ɗaya – same number “one”, still after the noun
tana – 3rd person feminine singular continuous (she is …)

So:

yana = he is (3sg masculine)
tana = she is (3sg feminine)

How would I make the sentence plural: “Some boys are in the house now” or “Several boys are in the house now”?

First make yaro plural and then adjust the verb:

“Some boys are in the house now” / “Several boys are in the house now”:
- Wasu yara suna cikin gida yanzu.
  - wasu – some
  - yara – children / boys (plural)
  - suna – they are (3rd person plural continuous)
If you want a specific number, e.g. “Three boys are in the house now”:
- Yara uku suna cikin gida yanzu.
  - uku – three

So the pattern is:

Singular: yaro ɗaya yana…
Plural: yara (ɗaya / biyu / uku …) suna… (with suna for “they are”).