Questions & Answers about Iyayena suna zaune a ƙauye, amma ni ina aiki a birni.
What does Iyayena literally mean, and how is it formed?
Iyayena means “my parents.”
Breakdown:
- iyaye = parents
- -na = my (1st person singular possessive pronoun)
When you attach -na to iyaye, in speech it often contracts to iyayena. You can also see it written separately as iyaye na. Both iyayena and iyaye na mean “my parents” and are both correct in everyday usage.
Why do we say suna zaune and not just zaune?
In Hausa, you usually need an auxiliary verb to mark tense/aspect.
- su = they
- na (here) = “are” (progressive / continuous marker for the present)
- suna = they are
- zaune = sitting / residing / living (from the verb zauna “to sit, stay, reside”)
So suna zaune literally is “they are sitting / they are residing.”
Just saying zaune by itself would sound incomplete; you need suna (or another auxiliary) to show who is doing the action and when.
Does zaune here mean “sitting” or “living”?