A kasuwa farashin shinkafa ya tashi, amma farashin wake bai tashi sosai ba.

A kasuwa means “in the market”.

• a is a very common preposition in Hausa. Its basic meanings are:
  • in / at / on (location)
  • on / in (time), e.g. a yau = today, a jiya = yesterday.
• kasuwa = market.

So literally: a kasuwa = “at the market / in the market.”

Yes, you can say a cikin kasuwa, and it is also correct.

• a kasuwa – simple “at the market / in the market.”
• a cikin kasuwa – literally “in the inside of the market,” often felt as slightly more specific: inside the market area.

In this sentence, both are fine:

• A kasuwa farashin shinkafa ya tashi …
• A cikin kasuwa farashin shinkafa ya tashi …

The difference is small and often a matter of style or emphasis rather than grammar.

Because Hausa marks possession/“of” relationships using a special bound form of the first noun.

• farashi = price
• When “price” is followed by what it is the price of, it usually takes a linking -n (or -r, depending on the noun), giving:
  • farashi + -n → farashin

So:

• farashin shinkafa = “the price of rice”

This pattern is very common:

• sunna → sunnar annabī = the Prophet’s tradition
• farfaɗo → farfaɗon mara lafiya = the recovery of the patient

Using bare farashi shinkafa (without -n) is ungrammatical here.

Yes, farashi na shinkafa is grammatically possible, but it’s:

• more explicit / analytic, and
• often a bit less natural-sounding in everyday speech than farashin shinkafa.

Hausa has two common ways to say “X of Y”:

1. Synthetic (bound form):

   • farashin shinkafa = the price of rice
   • sunann mutumin = the name of the man

2. Analytic (with “na/ta”):

   • farashi na shinkafa
   • sunan mutumin or suna na mutumin

In normal conversation about prices, farashin shinkafa is the most idiomatic form. Use farashin X as your default pattern for “price of X.”

ya is the 3rd person masculine singular subject marker, roughly “he/it”.

• farashin shinkafa (the price of rice) is grammatically masculine singular, so the verb takes ya.
• The structure is:
  • farashin shinkafa = subject noun phrase
  • ya = masculine singular subject marker
  • tashi = verb “rise / go up / get up”

So farashin shinkafa ya tashi literally means “the price of rice, it has risen.”

In Hausa, the subject marker (like ya/ta/sun) is normally required in verbal clauses, even if there is a noun phrase subject before it.

tashi is a very flexible verb. Common meanings include:

• to get up / stand up / wake up (from sitting, lying, sleeping)
• to take off / fly (for planes, birds)
• to rise / go up (for things like prices, dust, smoke)

In this sentence:

• farashin shinkafa ya tashi
  = “the price of rice has gone up / has risen.”

So here, tashi is used in the sense of “rise, increase.” That is a standard, idiomatic use when talking about prices, fares, salaries, etc.

ya tashi is the perfective (completed) aspect with a 3rd masculine singular subject:

• It usually means “(it) rose / has risen / went up.”
• It presents the action as completed or as a new fact.

Some useful contrasts:

• farashin shinkafa ya tashi
  = The price of rice has gone up (it has already happened).

• farashin shinkafa yana tashi
  = The price of rice is (in the process of) rising / keeps rising.
  (yana

  • verb = progressive / habitual).

• farashin shinkafa yana tashi a duk shekara
  = The price of rice rises every year (habitual).

• farashin shinkafa yana ta tashi
  = The price of rice keeps (on) rising / is rising a lot (stronger emphasis).

• farashin shinkafa kan tashi
  = The price of rice usually / tends to rise (habitual “used to / generally does”).

So:

• ya tashi – a specific rising that has (now) happened.
• yana tashi – is rising / rises repeatedly.
• kan tashi – generally rises / tends to rise.

bai tashi sosai ba is the negative perfective form.

In Hausa, for this tense, negation uses a “ba … ba” frame:

• ba
  • subject marker + verb (+ objects/adverbs) + ba

Here:

• ba + i (from ya) → bai
• tashi = rise
• sosai = much / very

So the structure is:

• bai tashi sosai ba
  = “it has not risen much / it didn’t rise very much.”

Some parallel examples:

• Ya zo. → Bai zo ba. = He came. → He didn’t come.
• Ta gani. → Bata gani ba. = She saw. → She didn’t see.
• Sun ci. → Basu ci ba. = They ate. → They didn’t eat.

It looks like two subjects in English, but in Hausa they have different roles:

• farashin wake = full noun phrase subject (“the price of beans”)
• bai = subject agreement marker for 3rd person masculine singular in the negative perfective.

Hausa verbal clauses normally have:

1. A noun phrase subject (optional in some contexts, but usual in full sentences)
2. A subject marker (like ya, ta, sun, bai, bata, basu), which is required.

So this is normal Hausa structure:

• farashin wake (the price of beans)
• bai (it + negative perfective)
• tashi sosai ba (didn’t rise much)

Literally: “As for the price of beans, it has not risen much.”

sosai means:

• much, a lot, very, really (degree/intensity adverb)

Some examples:

• Ya yi kyau sosai. = It is very nice.
• Na gaji sosai. = I am very tired.
• Farashin wake bai tashi sosai ba. = The price of beans hasn’t risen very much.

Position:

• It normally comes after the verb (and its object, if any).

• In this sentence, it follows the verb tashi:

  • bai tashi sosai ba – “has not risen much.”

You could add other adverbs too:

• bai tashi sosai ba kwata-kwata = it hasn’t risen much at all (more emphatic).

amma is the regular coordinating conjunction meaning “but / however.”

• … ya tashi, amma … bai tashi sosai ba.
  = “… has gone up, but … has not risen very much.”

You can use other contrast markers, but they give slightly different nuances:

• amma – straightforward “but” (most neutral/standard).
• sai dai – often “except that / only that / but unfortunately / but the problem is.”
• amma kuwa / amma fa – “but indeed / but you know / but actually” (adds emphasis or contrast).

In this sentence, amma is the best default choice; sai dai would change the tone a bit.

The choice between ya and ta depends on the grammatical gender of the subject:

• ya = 3rd person masculine singular “he/it”
• ta = 3rd person feminine singular “she/it”

Here the subject is farashi (“price”), which is masculine, so:

• farashin shinkafa ya tashi = the price of rice has gone up.

You would use ta tashi with a feminine subject, e.g.:

• mota ta tashi. = The car started / the car moved.
• farfaganda ta tashi. = The propaganda has started (feminine noun).

So the agreement is with the grammatical gender of the head noun (here, farashi, masculine), not with the real-world gender of rice or beans.

Yes, you can move the locative phrase:

• A kasuwa farashin shinkafa ya tashi …
• Farashin shinkafa a kasuwa ya tashi …

Both are grammatically correct.

Typical patterns:

• [Place] + [Subject] + [Subject marker] + [Verb] …
  → A kasuwa farashin shinkafa ya tashi …
• [Subject] + [Place] + [Subject marker] + [Verb] …
  → Farashin shinkafa a kasuwa ya tashi …

Putting a kasuwa at the very beginning slightly highlights the location (“In the market, …”), while putting it after the subject leaves more focus on “the price of rice”. Both are fine in everyday speech.