Learn Hardcore Hausa: Iyayena suna koya mana cewa kowa daidai yake, ko a ƙauye ko a birni. - My parents teach us that everyone is equal, whether in a village or in a city.

Iyayena suna koya mana cewa kowa daidai yake, ko a ƙauye ko a birni.

My parents teach us that everyone is equal, whether in a village or in a city.

Breakdown of Iyayena suna koya mana cewa kowa daidai yake, ko a ƙauye ko a birni.

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Questions & Answers about Iyayena suna koya mana cewa kowa daidai yake, ko a ƙauye ko a birni.

What does Iyayena mean, and how is it formed?

Iyayena means “my parents.”

iyaye = parents
-na = my

When iyaye + na combine in fast or standard speech, they contract to iyayena. Both forms are possible in writing:

iyaye na – more clearly separated
iyayena – more tightly joined, very common

Grammatically, they mean the same thing: “my parents.”

What is the role of suna in suna koya mana?

suna is the 3rd person plural subject pronoun in the continuous/progressive aspect, roughly like “they are …ing.”

su = they
na here is part of the continuous aspect marker (it’s not the possessive my).

So:

Iyayena suna koya mana …
= My parents are teaching us … (an ongoing or habitual action)

If you changed suna to sun, you’d get past / completed meaning:

Iyayena sun koya mana …
= My parents have taught us … / taught us … (completed action)

What does koya mean in this sentence?

koya is a verb meaning “to teach” (and in some contexts, to learn).

Here, with Iyayena (my parents) as the subject, the meaning is clearly “teach”:

suna koya mana = they are teaching us / they teach us.

Basic patterns:

Ya koya mani Hausa. – He taught me Hausa.
Malamai suna koya mana harshen Turanci. – The teachers are teaching us English.

What does mana mean in suna koya mana?

mana here is an indirect object pronoun meaning “to us”.

ma = to / for
mu = us
→ combined and reduced to mana (also seen as mana / manā in some descriptions).

So:

suna koya mana = they are teaching us (literally: they are teaching to us).

Compare:

suna koya masa – they are teaching him
suna koya miki – they are teaching you (singular, female)
suna koya maka – they are teaching you (singular, male)

What does cewa do in the sentence?

cewa is a complementizer meaning roughly “that” in English, introducing a clause.

suna koya mana cewa …
= they teach us *that …*

You could think of the structure as:

Main clause: Iyayena suna koya mana
Subordinate clause introduced by cewa: kowa daidai yake, ko a ƙauye ko a birni.

In many places, cewa is optional in casual speech, but including it is standard and clear:

Sun fada mini (cewa) za su zo. – They told me (that) they will come.

How is kowa daidai yake put together, and why do we use yake?

kowa daidai yake literally breaks down as:

kowa – everyone / anybody
dai-dai – equal, the same, fair
yake – “he/she/it is” (3rd person singular, continuous/stative form used as a copula here)

So kowa daidai yake ≈ “everyone is equal.”

Why yake?

In Hausa, when you describe a subject with an adjective or noun (like “equal”, “big”, “a teacher”), you often include a form of yake / take / suke to act as the “is/are” part, especially in neutral, non-emphatic statements:

Yaro babba ne. – The boy is big.
Yaron nan babba yake. – That boy is big.
Mutane daidai suke. – People are equal.

Here, kowa is grammatically treated as 3rd person singular, so you get yake, not suke:

kowa daidai yake – everyone is equal.
mutane daidai suke – people are equal.

Could we say kowa daidai ne instead of kowa daidai yake?

You might hear kowa daidai ne in some speech, but:

kowa daidai yake is more natural and standard in this kind of general statement, because yake works as the normal copular form with an adjectival predicate.
ne/ce often adds focus or emphasis and tends to be used when emphasizing who or what something is.

So for a simple, neutral statement like “everyone is equal”, kowa daidai yake is the better and safer pattern to learn.

What does ko a ƙauye ko a birni mean, and why is ko repeated?

ko a ƙauye ko a birni means “whether in the village or in the city” / “whether in a village or in a city.”

ko – or / whether
a – in / at (locative preposition)
ƙauye – village
birni – city / town

So, word for word:

ko a ƙauye – whether in a village
ko a birni – or in a city

Repeating ko before each option is a very common Hausa pattern to express a choice or contrast:

ko da safe ko da yamma – either in the morning or in the evening
ko da ruwan sama ko da rana – whether it’s raining or sunny

You could say just ko a ƙauye a birni in fast, informal speech, but ko a ƙauye ko a birni is clearer and more idiomatic.

What is the difference between ƙauye and birni?

ƙauye = village, rural settlement
birni = city or large town, more urban, often with more infrastructure

Plural forms:

ƙauyuka – villages
birane – cities / big towns

Culturally, the contrast ƙauye vs. birni often implies rural vs. urban life:

Ya tashi a ƙauye, amma yanzu yana zaune a birni.
– He grew up in a village, but now he lives in the city.

What is the difference between ƙ and k in Hausa, as in ƙauye?

Hausa distinguishes k and ƙ as two different consonant sounds:

k – a regular voiceless [k] (like k in “car” in many English accents)
ƙ – an ejective k, pronounced with a little “pop” of the glottis, written [k’] in some phonetic transcriptions

Minimal pairs:

kasa – ground
ƙasa – country / earth (in another sense)

In ƙauye, the first consonant is ƙ, so be careful in spelling and try to produce a slightly sharper, more “popped” sound than plain k.

Why is the order suna koya mana and not suna mana koya?

Both orders can occur in real speech, but the common and natural order is:

[verb] + [indirect object pronoun]
→ koya mana

So:

Iyayena suna koya mana cewa … – My parents teach us that …

Putting mana directly after the verb is very typical:

ya ba ni – he gave me
sun gaya mata – they told her
suna nuna mana – they are showing us

You might hear other orders in fast or colloquial speech, but [verb + pronominal object] is the main pattern you should learn.

Could we replace kowa with duk mutane and say something like duk mutane daidai suke?

Yes, that’s a natural alternative with a slightly different nuance:

kowa daidai yake – everyone is equal (using kowa, “everyone/anyone”)
duk mutane daidai suke – all people are equal (more literally: all people are equal)

Grammar:

duk mutane – all people (plural)
suke – 3rd person plural form (they are), agreeing with mutane.

So:

Iyayena suna koya mana cewa duk mutane daidai suke, ko a ƙauye ko a birni.
– My parents teach us that all people are equal, whether in the village or in the city.

Both versions are correct; the original with kowa is simply more compact and general.

Is suna koya mana more like “they are teaching us now” or “they teach us (in general)”?

suna koya mana can mean either, depending on context:

Progressive (right now / around now):
- They are teaching us (at this time / these days).
Habitual / general truth:
- They teach us (as a regular thing, as their habit).

In this sentence:

Iyayena suna koya mana cewa kowa daidai yake …
the most natural reading is habitual / general:
My parents (always / generally) teach us that everyone is equal …

Hausa uses the same suna + verb form for both ongoing and habitual actions; context decides which reading is intended.