Learn Hardcore Hausa: Yara goma suna cikin ɗaki yanzu. - Ten children are inside the room now.

yara – children (plural of yaro “child”)
goma – ten
suna – they are (3rd person plural + a marker that often corresponds to English be in “are/are being”)
cikin – in / inside (literally “inside of”)
ɗaki – room
yanzu – now

A very literal rendering would be:

Children ten they‑are inside room now.

Natural English: Ten children are in the room now.

Why does Hausa say yara goma (“children ten”) instead of putting the number first like English (“ten children”)?

In Hausa, the normal order is:

noun + number

So you say:

yara goma – children ten → ten children
motoci biyu – cars two → two cars
gidaje uku – houses three → three houses

Putting the number first (e.g. goma yara) is not the normal Hausa pattern and would sound wrong.

So whenever you count things, think: “say the noun, then the number.”

What is the difference between yaro and yara, and how would I say other numbers of children?

yaro = a child (usually “boy”, but often used as “child” in general, context decides)
yara = children (plural)

Some examples with different numbers:

yaro ɗaya – one child
yara biyu – two children
yara uku – three children
yara biyar – five children
yara goma – ten children

Basic numbers 1–10 (masculine forms) are:

ɗaya
biyu
uku
huɗu
biyar
shida
bakwai
takwas
tara
goma

You just put them after yara:

yara tara, yara takwas, etc.

What exactly does suna mean here? Is it the verb “to be”?

suna corresponds to English “they are”, but it works a bit differently:

It is built from su (they) + na (a marker often used for ongoing states/actions).
There is no separate stand‑alone verb “to be” in this kind of sentence. Instead, suna does the job.

So:

Yara goma suna cikin ɗaki yanzu.
→ Ten children are in the room now.

You might see or learn the small words ne / ce in Hausa. Those act like a kind of copula in some sentences (for equating or emphasizing things), but you do not need ne/ce here. For a simple “X is in Y (now)”, suna / yana / tana / ina / muna / kuna with a place expression is the normal pattern.

How would this change for a single child, or if I were talking about myself?

The part that changes is the person/number form (the “I/you/he/they” part). Here’s the pattern with cikin ɗaki yanzu (“in the room now”):

Ni (I):
Ina cikin ɗaki yanzu. – I am in the room now.
Kai (you, masculine singular):
Kana cikin ɗaki yanzu.
Ke (you, feminine singular):
Kina cikin ɗaki yanzu.
Shi (he):
Yana cikin ɗaki yanzu.
Ita (she):
Tana cikin ɗaki yanzu.
Mu (we):
Muna cikin ɗaki yanzu.
Ku (you plural):
Kuna cikin ɗaki yanzu.
Su (they):
Suna cikin ɗaki yanzu.

So to say “One child is in the room now”:

Yaro ɗaya yana cikin ɗaki yanzu.

What does cikin ɗaki literally mean, and why is cikin needed instead of just ɗaki?

Literally:

ciki = inside / interior
cikin = inside‑of (the ‑n is a linker that attaches when another noun follows)
ɗaki = room

So cikin ɗaki is “inside (the) room”, which in normal English is just “in the room”.

You cannot normally use ɗaki on its own to mean “in the room”. You need something that expresses location, such as:

a ɗaki – in the room (using the preposition a “at/in”)
cikin ɗaki – inside the room
a cikin ɗaki – in(side) the room (both a and cikin together)

In your sentence, suna cikin ɗaki is a very natural way to say “they are in the room.”

Can I say suna a ɗaki instead of suna cikin ɗaki? Is there any difference?

Yes, you can say both, and both are grammatical:

Suna a ɗaki. – They are in the room.
Suna cikin ɗaki. – They are in the room / inside the room.

Rough difference:

a ɗaki: plain “in the room”, just location.
cikin ɗaki: slightly more explicit about being inside the room (not in the doorway or outside). In many everyday contexts, the difference is small and both are used.

You will also often hear:

Suna a cikin ɗaki.

That’s very common and also means “They are in the room (inside it).”

Does ɗaki mean “a room” or “the room”? How do I say “the room” clearly in Hausa?

Bare nouns in Hausa are often neutral about definiteness. ɗaki can be understood as:

a room
the room

Context usually decides which one makes sense, and English must choose “a” or “the” even when Hausa doesn’t.

To make “the room” clearer or more specific, Hausa often adds a definite ending or a demonstrative:

ɗakin – the room
ɗakin nan – this room
ɗakin can – that room (over there)

Similarly, for yara:

yara – children / (some) children
yaran – the children
yaran nan – these children

So your sentence could also appear as:

Yaran goma suna cikin ɗakin yanzu.
→ The ten children are in the room now.

Where can yanzu (“now”) go in the sentence? Can it come at the beginning?

yanzu is a time adverb, and Hausa allows some flexibility with its position. All of these are possible:

Yara goma suna cikin ɗaki yanzu.
– Ten children are in the room now. (neutral, very common)
Yanzu yara goma suna cikin ɗaki.
– Now, ten children are in the room. (emphasis on the time “now”)
Yara goma yanzu suna cikin ɗaki.
– Ten children now are in the room. (can emphasize the change/state “now”)

The basic meaning stays the same; moving yanzu mainly affects what is emphasized or what the speaker is “framing” first.

For a learner, putting yanzu at the end (as in the original sentence) is a safe default.

Is there a stronger way to say “right now” instead of just yanzu?

Yes, Hausa has a few common ways to make “now” more emphatic, such as:

yanzun nan – right now, just now
a yanzu – at the moment / at this time
yanzu haka – right now as it is / in this very situation

Examples:

Yara goma suna cikin ɗaki yanzun nan.
→ Ten children are in the room right now (this very moment).
A yanzu yara goma suna cikin ɗaki.
→ At the moment, ten children are in the room.

Compared with plain yanzu, these forms sound a bit stronger or more explicit about immediacy.

How do you pronounce the letter ɗ in ɗaki, and how is it different from d?

ɗ is a special Hausa consonant. It is an implosive d‑sound:

For d, you release air outward, like English [d] in “day”.
For ɗ, you pull a little air inward as you make the sound. The tongue position is similar to English d, but the airflow is slightly “sucked in” rather than pushed out.

In practice:

Many learners just pronounce ɗ as a clearer, slightly heavier d. Native speakers will almost always understand you.
However, in Hausa, d and ɗ can distinguish different words, so they are not the same sound.

In ɗaki (“room”), use that heavier d sound. If you can’t yet produce the exact implosive, a normal English d is an acceptable approximation while you are learning.