Learn Hardcore Hausa: Jiya na tsaya kusa da titi ƙarfe huɗu ina jiran motar kasuwa. - Yesterday I stood near the street at four o'clock, waiting for the market car.

So na tsaya describes a completed action in the past: I stood / I stopped (there).
Because you already have jiya (yesterday), the whole thing is clearly in the past.

Why is it na tsaya and not ina tsaya?

Hausa contrasts perfective and imperfective:

na tsaya – perfective, completed: I stood / I stopped (at some point).
ina tsaya – imperfective, repeated/ongoing/habitual: roughly I (usually) stand / I am (in the process of) standing.

In this sentence, na tsaya tells you the single event that happened yesterday.
If you said jiya ina tsaya kusa da titi, it would sound more like yesterday I was (in the habit of) standing near the road or I happened to be standing near the road, focusing on an ongoing state rather than the simple event I stopped/stood there.

What’s the difference between tsaya and tsaye?

tsaya is the verb: to stand, to stop (moving).
- na tsaya – I stood / I stopped.
tsaye is an adjective/participial form: standing (upright).
- ina tsaye – I am standing (upright).

So:

na tsaya = I stood / I came to a stop.
ina tsaye = I am in a standing position.

In your sentence, na tsaya describes the action of coming to a stop / taking a standing position near the road.

What does kusa da mean, and why is there da there?

kusa da means “near / close to”.

kusa – nearness, closeness.
da – a preposition often translated as with, by, at, to, but here it’s part of the fixed expression kusa da X = near X.

So kusa da titi = “near the road”.

You’ll see this pattern with other location words too, for example:

gaba da gida – in front of the house
baya da gida – behind the house

What is titi exactly? Is it “road” or “street,” and is it specific?

titi means “road / street” in general. It can be either, depending on context.

In this sentence, kusa da titi means “near the road / near the street.” There’s no article like “the” vs “a” in the Hausa word itself. English adds the because it sounds more natural: near the road.

How does ƙarfe huɗu work grammatically, and how do I say “at four o’clock”?

ƙarfe huɗu literally is something like “the four o’clock mark”:

ƙarfe – o’clock, time-phrase marker (originally related to “metal / clock”).
huɗu – four.

To ask the time:

Ƙarfe nawa ne? – What time is it?

To answer:

Ƙarfe huɗu ne. – It’s four o’clock.

When indicating time in a sentence, Hausa typically does not use a preposition like “at”:

Na tashi ƙarfe huɗu. – I got up at four o’clock.
…kusa da titi ƙarfe huɗu… – near the road at four o’clock…

English supplies “at,” but Hausa just places ƙarfe huɗu as a time expression.

What is going on in ina jiran motar kasuwa? Why ina jiran and not just ina jira?

ina jiran motar kasuwa literally means “I am in the waiting-of the market vehicle” → I am waiting for the market vehicle (bus/transport).

Structure:

ina – 1st person singular imperfective: I am / I do / I (am) -ing.
jiran – verbal noun (masdar) of jira “to wait (for)”.
motar kasuwa – the market vehicle / market bus / shared taxi going to market.

So ina jiran X = “I am (in) the waiting of X” = “I am waiting for X.”

You will also hear:

ina jira motar kasuwa – using the plain verb jira instead of the verbal noun jiran.

Both are understood; ina jiran X (with the verbal noun) is very common and slightly more formal in feel.

Why does the sentence use both na tsaya and ina jiran? Isn’t that mixing tenses?

The sentence deliberately mixes perfective and imperfective to show different aspects of the past event:

na tsaya – perfective past: I stood / I stopped (a completed action that happened).
ina jiran motar kasuwa – imperfective past-in-context: I was waiting for the market bus (an ongoing action at that time).

So the meaning is:

Yesterday I (went and) stood near the road at four o’clock, *(while) I was waiting for the market bus.*

Hausa often uses ina + verbal noun / verb to describe a background or ongoing action in the past when the time frame (jiya, ƙarfe huɗu) is already clear from context.

What does motar kasuwa literally mean, and why is there an r at the end of mota?

motar kasuwa is a genitive (possessive/“of”) construction:

mota – car, vehicle.
-r – genitive linker (for feminine nouns ending in a vowel).
kasuwa – market.

So motar kasuwa literally = “the vehicle of (the) market” → the market vehicle, i.e. the public/shared vehicle that goes to the market (minibus, shared taxi, etc.).

The -r is a linking consonant that appears when a feminine noun like mota is followed by what “belongs” to it:

motar gida – the car of the house (the family car)
jakar mace – the bag of the woman (the woman’s bag)

Can jiya go somewhere else in the sentence, or must it come first?

Jiya (yesterday) is fairly flexible in position. All of these are possible and natural:

Jiya na tsaya kusa da titi ƙarfe huɗu…
Na tsaya jiya kusa da titi ƙarfe huɗu…
Na tsaya kusa da titi jiya ƙarfe huɗu… (less common but possible)
Na tsaya kusa da titi ƙarfe huɗu jiya… (sounds a bit heavy, but can occur in speech)

Putting jiya at the very start, as in your sentence, emphasizes the time frame: As for yesterday, I stood… It’s a common position for time words.

How would I say “I was standing near the road at four o’clock waiting for the market bus” if I want to stress the ongoing state of standing, not just the act of stopping?

To emphasize the state of standing, you’d typically use tsaye:

Jiya ƙarfe huɗu ina tsaye kusa da titi ina jiran motar kasuwa.

Breakdown:

ina tsaye – I was standing (upright).
ina jiran motar kasuwa – I was waiting for the market bus.

This version focuses more on the ongoing situation: you were (already) standing there at four o’clock, waiting.
The original na tsaya focuses more on the event of going there and stopping/standing near the road.