Ni ina karatu awa ɗaya kafin aiki ya fara.

I study for one hour before work starts.

Breakdown of Ni ina karatu awa ɗaya kafin aiki ya fara.

• ni: I
• ne: to be
• karatu: to study
• aiki: the work
• kafin: before
• ɗaya: one
• fara: to start
• awa: the hour

Questions & Answers about Ni ina karatu awa ɗaya kafin aiki ya fara.

What does the combination Ni ina express, and why are there two words for “I”?

Hausa often uses two different pronouns with different functions:

• Ni = an independent/stressed pronoun (“me / I (in contrast to others)”)
• ina = a subject‑tense form meaning “I (am) …‑ing / I (usually) …”

So Ni ina karatu… is like saying:

• “Me, I study…” or “As for me, I study…”

The ni adds emphasis or contrast; ina is the normal way to mark 1st person singular in the continuous/habitual aspect.

Can I leave out Ni and just say Ina karatu awa ɗaya kafin aiki ya fara?

Yes.

• Ina karatu awa ɗaya kafin aiki ya fara. = perfectly natural, neutral sentence.
• Ni ina karatu awa ɗaya kafin aiki ya fara. = emphasizes I (maybe contrasting with someone else).

So ni is optional and used for focus/emphasis, not required for basic grammar.

What exactly does ina mean? Is it “am” or “am doing”?

ina is a tense/aspect + subject form:

• It marks 1st person singular (I)
• It signals imperfective aspect: ongoing, repeated, or habitual action

Depending on context, ina + verb/noun of action can mean:

• “I am …‑ing right now” (progressive)
• “I … regularly / I usually …” (habitual)

So:

• Ina karatu… can be “I am studying…” or “I study (regularly)…”, depending on context.

Is karatu a noun or a verb here? Why not use karanta?

karatu is a verbal noun (a noun of action) meaning “study, studying, reading (in general)”.

• karatu = study / studies / the act of studying
• karanta = the finite verb “to read” (usually with a specific object: a book, letter, etc.)

In this sentence:

• Ina karatu literally = “I am (in) study / I am doing study.”
  It’s a very common pattern in Hausa: ina + verbal noun.

You could say Ina karanta littafi = “I am reading a book.”, but ina karatu talks about studying as an activity in general, not reading some specific text.

Is anything “missing” between ina and karatu, like a verb “to do”?

Speakers often think of Ina (yin) karatu:

• yi = to do, to make
• yin = its verbal noun

So the “full” structure is:

• Ina yin karatu. = “I am doing study / I am studying.”

In everyday speech, yin is normally dropped:

• Ina karatu. (common and completely correct)

So nothing is really missing; it’s just that yin is often omitted in this construction.

What does awa ɗaya literally mean, and how is the order decided?

• awa = “hour”
• ɗaya = “one”

So awa ɗaya literally = “one hour”, but the order is noun + number:

• awa ɗaya = one hour
• littafi biyu = two books
• rana uku = three days

Hausa generally puts the noun first, then the numeral.

Why is there no word for “for” in awa ɗaya (as in “for one hour”)?

In Hausa, a bare time expression after the verb is often understood as duration:

• Ina karatu awa ɗaya. ≈ “I study (for) one hour.”
• Na jira minti goma. = “I waited (for) ten minutes.”

You don’t normally add a preposition like English “for” in this duration use; awa ɗaya alone covers it.

What does kafin mean, and how does it work in this sentence?

• kafin = “before”

It introduces a time clause or time phrase:

• kafin aiki ya fara = “before work starts”

So the structure is:

• Ina karatu awa ɗaya – I study for one hour
• kafin aiki ya fara – before work starts

You can also put the kafin‑clause at the beginning:

• Kafin aiki ya fara, ina karatu awa ɗaya.
  = Before work starts, I study for an hour.

In aiki ya fara, why do we have both aiki and ya? Isn’t that like saying “work it started”?

It looks that way from an English point of view, but in Hausa:

• aiki = noun subject (“work”)
• ya = 3rd person masculine singular subject marker (part of the verb phrase)
• fara = “start, begin”

Hausa verbs normally carry a subject marker like ya, ta, sun, etc., even when a full noun subject is present:

• Yara sun tafi. = The children (they) have gone.
• Audu ya zo. = Audu (he) came.
• Aiki ya fara. = Work (it) started.

So ya is not redundant; it’s the normal agreement marker on the verb.

Does ya here refer to aiki, or to some person like “he”?

Here ya agrees with aiki:

• aiki is grammatically masculine singular in Hausa.
• The matching subject marker is ya (3rd person masculine singular).

So in aiki ya fara, ya does not refer to an unnamed “he”; it refers back to aiki (“work”) as its subject.

Could we also say kafin ya fara aiki instead of kafin aiki ya fara?

Yes, that is also possible:

• kafin aiki ya fara = literally “before work started”
• kafin ya fara aiki = literally “before it started work / before he started work”

The difference:

• kafin aiki ya fara clearly makes “work” the subject.
• kafin na fara aiki would mean “before I started work”.
• kafin ya fara aiki usually means “before he started work” (referring to some person or previously mentioned subject).

In your original sentence, aiki ya fara is best read as “work starts”.

Does this sentence describe a habit (“I usually study…”) or a one‑time event (“I am studying today…”)?

By itself, with ina and no specific time adverb like “today”, it most naturally suggests a habit or routine:

• Ni ina karatu awa ɗaya kafin aiki ya fara.
  ≈ “I study for an hour before work starts (as a regular practice).”

But in the right context (e.g. talking about today’s schedule), it can also be understood as “I am studying for an hour before work starts (today).” The difference comes mainly from context, not from a different form in Hausa.