Daliba tana karanta littafi a ɗaki.

The female student is reading a book in the room.

Breakdown of Daliba tana karanta littafi a ɗaki.

• ne: to be
• karanta: to read
• littafi: the book
• a: in
• ɗaki: the room
• daliba: the female student

Questions & Answers about Daliba tana karanta littafi a ɗaki.

What does daliba mean exactly, and is it masculine or feminine?

Daliba means student, but specifically a female student.

Hausa marks gender in many human nouns:

• dalibi = male student
• daliba = female student

So Daliba tana karanta littafi a ɗaki. is understood as:

• A (female) student is reading a book in the room.

If you wanted a clearly male subject, you would say:

• Dalibi yana karanta littafi a ɗaki.
  (A male student is reading a book in the room.)

Why is there no word for “the” or “a” in the sentence?

Hausa does not use separate words for “the” or “a/an” the way English does. Nouns can be interpreted as definite or indefinite based on:

• Context
• Pronouns / agreement
• Demonstratives (this/that)

So littafi can mean “a book” or “the book” depending on context.

If you really need to make it explicitly “this” or “that”, you can add a demonstrative:

• Dalibar nan tana karanta littafin nan a ɗakin nan.
  This student is reading this book in this room.

But in normal speech, Daliba tana karanta littafi a ɗaki. is perfectly fine and natural.

What exactly is going on with tana karanta? Is tana one word or two?

tana is written as one word, but it comes from two elements:

• ta = 3rd person singular feminine subject pronoun (she)
• na = progressive aspect marker (roughly “be doing”)

So:

• tana karanta ≈ “she is reading”

Full breakdown of the clause:

• daliba – student (female)
• ta – she
• na – (marker for ongoing action)
• karanta – to read

Together:

• Daliba tana karanta littafi.
  The female student is reading a book.

If daliba already means “student”, why do we still need ta in tana? Isn’t that like saying “student she is reading”?

Yes, structurally it is like “student she is reading”, but in Hausa that’s normal and required.

In Hausa, a full noun subject is usually followed by a subject pronoun that agrees with it in gender and number. This pronoun then carries the tense/aspect markers.

• Daliba tana karanta littafi.
  The (female) student (she) is reading a book.

If you removed the pronoun and just said:

• Daliba na karanta littafi.

that would sound wrong or at least very odd in standard Hausa. The pronoun ta within tana is part of the basic grammar; it’s not optional decoration.

What tense or aspect is tana karanta? Is it like English present simple or present continuous?

tana karanta is primarily progressive / continuous aspect:

• She is reading (right now / currently)

Some rough contrasts:

• Ta karanta littafi.
  She read a book / She has read a book / She reads (habitually).
  – more perfective or habitual depending on context.

• Tana karanta littafi.
  She is reading a book (at the moment).

So in your sentence, tana marks that the reading is an ongoing action.

How do I say the same thing about a male student? What changes in the sentence?

For a male subject, both the noun and the pronoun part change:

• Dalibi yana karanta littafi a ɗaki.
  A (male) student is reading a book in the room.

Changes:

• daliba → dalibi (female → male)
• tana → yana (she is → he is)

The progressive forms with pronouns are:

• ina – I am
• kana – you (m.sg) are
• kina – you (f.sg) are
• yana – he is
• tana – she is
• muna – we are
• kuna – you (pl) are
• suna – they are

What does the preposition a mean in a ɗaki?

a is a very common Hausa preposition that usually means:

• in, at, or on (depending on context)

In a ɗaki:

• a = in/at
• ɗaki = room

So a ɗaki = in the room / in a room.

More examples:

• a gida – at home / in the house
• a makaranta – at school
• a kasuwa – in the market

What is special about the letter ɗ in ɗaki? How is it different from d?

The letter ɗ represents a different sound from plain d in Hausa. It’s an implosive d:

• d – like English d in “dog”
• ɗ – a “swallowed” d; you slightly pull air inward as you pronounce it

Minimal pair:

• ɗaki = room
• daka (with plain d, different word) can mean “pounded grain, meal” or “powder”, depending on context.

So ɗ / d contrast can change the meaning; it’s important to pronounce ɗaki with ɗ, not with plain d.

How would I make this sentence plural, like “Students are reading books in the rooms”?

You need to pluralize all the relevant words and change the pronoun:

• Dalibai suna karanta littattafai a ɗakuna.
  Students are reading books in the rooms.

Breakdown:

• daliba / dalibi → dalibai (students)
• tana (she is) / yana (he is) → suna (they are)
• littafi → littattafai (book → books)
• ɗaki → ɗakuna (room → rooms)

So:

• Daliba tana karanta littafi a ɗaki.
  A female student is reading a book in the room.

• Dalibai suna karanta littattafai a ɗakuna.
  Students are reading books in the rooms.

How do I make this sentence negative, like “The student is not reading a book in the room”?

Hausa usually uses ba … ba to negate finite clauses, and the subject pronoun changes form a bit. One natural negative is:

• Daliba ba ta karanta littafi a ɗaki ba.
  The (female) student is not reading a book in the room.

Structure:

• Daliba – student (female)
• ba ta … ba – she does not / is not (doing)
• karanta littafi – read a book
• a ɗaki – in the room

For a male student:

• Dalibi ba ya karanta littafi a ɗaki ba.
  The (male) student is not reading a book in the room.

How do I turn this into a yes–no question, like “Is the student reading a book in the room?”?

The simplest way is to keep the same word order and use question intonation (rising tone at the end):

• Daliba tana karanta littafi a ɗaki?
  Is the (female) student reading a book in the room?

Spoken Hausa often relies on intonation for yes–no questions.

You can also make it explicitly a question with ko in some contexts, but for a basic yes–no question, just raising your voice at the end is enough:

• Daliba tana karanta littafi a ɗaki?
• Dalibi yana karanta littafi a ɗaki? (for a male student)

Where does littafi go in the sentence? Could I move a ɗaki in front of it?

The normal, neutral word order in Hausa is:

• Subject – Pronoun/Aspect – Verb – Object – (Place/Time)

So your sentence:

• Daliba (subject)
• tana (she is, progressive)
• karanta (read)
• littafi (object)
• a ɗaki (place phrase)

→ Daliba tana karanta littafi a ɗaki.

You could sometimes move the place phrase for emphasis or in more complex sentences, but for a beginner, the safest and most natural pattern is:

• Daliba tana karanta littafi a ɗaki.
  (Subject) (is) (verb-ing) (object) (in-place).