Learn Hardcore Hausa: ɗan sanda mai kyau yana cewa doka tana kare haƙƙin kowa a ƙasa. - A good police officer says that the law protects everyone's rights in the country.

Historically, ɗan sanda is something like “son of the (police) baton” or “person of the baton,” and it has become the fixed expression for a police officer.

Note: the plural is ’yan sanda (“police, policemen”). The singular-plural pattern ɗa(n) → ’ya(n) is very common in Hausa.

Why is the adjective mai kyau after the noun instead of before, like “good policeman”?

In Hausa, descriptive words normally come after the noun they describe.

So:

ɗan sanda mai kyau = a good policeman
mota mai kyau = a good car
mutum mai hankali = a sensible / reasonable person

Putting mai kyau before the noun (e.g. mai kyau ɗan sanda) is not correct. The normal order is:

Noun + (adjective / descriptive phrase)
ɗan sanda mai kyau = “good policeman”

What exactly does mai mean in mai kyau? Do I always need mai to say “good”?

mai literally means “owner / possessor of”, and with abstract nouns it forms an adjective-like phrase:

kyau = beauty, goodness
mai kyau = (one) having beauty → beautiful, nice, good
hankali = sense, intelligence
mai hankali = (one) having sense → sensible
tauri = hardness
mai tauri = hard, tough

So ɗan sanda mai kyau is literally “a policeman who has goodness/beauty,” i.e. a good policeman.

You do not always need mai to say “good.” Other common ways include:

nagari – good, virtuous (e.g. ɗan sanda nagari)
mai kirki – good-hearted, kind

But mai kyau is very common and completely natural here.

What is yana in yana cewa? How does it show tense or aspect?

yana is the 3rd person singular masculine progressive / imperfective form. It usually corresponds to English “he is …-ing / he (generally) does …”.

ya ce = he said (completed action, past)
yana cewa = he is saying / he says (that)…

In this sentence:

ɗan sanda mai kyau yana cewa …
“The good policeman is saying / says that …”

So yana tells us (a) the subject (he) and (b) the aspect (ongoing / not completed or general/habitual).

Why is cewa there after yana? What does cewa do?

cewa works like the English linking word “that” after verbs of saying, thinking, etc.

In:

yana cewa doka tana kare haƙƙin kowa a ƙasa.

we can analyze:

yana cewa = he is saying (that)
doka tana kare … = the content of what he says

So it matches English:

“He is saying that the law protects everyone’s rights in the land.”

You will often see cewa after verbs like ce (to say), faɗa (to say/tell), tunan (to think), etc. In informal speech it can sometimes be dropped, but using it is very natural and clear.

Why do we have yana and tana in the same sentence? What is the difference between y- and t- here?

yana and tana are both progressive/imperfective forms, but they agree with different subjects:

yana = he is … / it (masc.) is …
tana = she is … / it (fem.) is …

In the sentence:

ɗan sanda mai kyau yana cewa …
- ɗan sanda (policeman) is grammatically masculine → yana
doka tana kare haƙƙin kowa …
- doka (law) is grammatically feminine → tana

So the pattern is:

yana for ɗan sanda
tana for doka

This is subject–verb agreement based on grammatical gender (masculine vs. feminine) in Hausa.

Why is it just doka and not dokar if the meaning is “the law”?

Hausa often uses a bare noun (without an ending) to talk about something in general:

doka = law in general, “the law” as a system
dokar (doka + r) = the law of … / that specific law

In this sentence, we’re talking about law in general, so simple doka is exactly what you want:

doka tana kare haƙƙin kowa a ƙasa
“the law protects everyone’s rights in the land”

If you said:

dokar gwamnati = the government’s law / that particular law of the government

So the lack of -r on doka lets it mean “the law (in general)” here.

What is the structure of haƙƙin kowa? Why is there an -n at the end of haƙƙin?

The -n at the end of haƙƙin is the genitive/possessive linker. It links two nouns in a “X of Y” relationship.

haƙƙi = right, entitlement
haƙƙin kowa = the right(s) of everyone / everyone’s rights

Structure:

haƙƙi + n + kowa
→ haƙƙin kowa (rights of everyone)

This -n / -r linker is very common:

gidan malam = the teacher’s house (gida
- n
  - malam)
sunan yarinya = the girl’s name (suna
- n
  - yarinya)

You could also say haƙƙi na kowa, but haƙƙin kowa is shorter and very natural.

Does kowa mean “everyone” or “anyone”? Is it singular or plural?

kowa roughly corresponds to both “everyone” and “anyone”, depending on context:

kowa ya san haka = everyone/anyone knows that
kowa zai iya zuwa = anyone can come

Grammatically, kowa is singular in Hausa, so:

It takes singular verb forms, e.g. kowa yana …, kowa zai …

In haƙƙin kowa, it means “everyone’s rights” in a general, inclusive sense.

What exactly does a ƙasa mean here? Is it “on the ground” or “in the country”?

The preposition a is quite broad in Hausa; it can mean “in / on / at” depending on context.

ƙasa has several related meanings:

ground, earth, soil
land, territory
country / nation (especially in political or legal contexts)

In a sentence about law and rights, a ƙasa is best understood as:

“in the country” / “in the land / territory”

So haƙƙin kowa a ƙasa ≈ “everyone’s rights in the country / in this land.”

Could I say haƙƙi na kowa instead of haƙƙin kowa? Is there a difference?

You can say haƙƙi na kowa, and it is understandable:

haƙƙi na kowa = rights that belong to everyone

However, in everyday speech and writing, the genitive linker form is more compact and idiomatic:

haƙƙin kowa (very natural)
haƙƙi na kowa (also correct, a bit more explicit and “spelled out”)

So in this sentence, haƙƙin kowa is the most natural choice.

How do I pronounce the special letters ɗ and ƙ in this sentence?

Both ɗ and ƙ are distinct consonants in Hausa; they are not the same as plain d and k.

ɗ (in ɗan) is an implosive d:
- Put your tongue in the normal English d position,
- Slightly pull air inward as you voice it.
- A rough approximation for learners is a “heavy” or “swallowed” d.
ƙ (in haƙƙin, ƙasa) is a glottalized / ejective k:
- Start with a normal k position,
- Build up a bit of pressure and release it sharply, without extra breath.
- To many English speakers it sounds like a very “tight” k.

For practical purposes, English speakers often approximate:

ɗ ≈ a strong d
ƙ ≈ a crisp k

But in Hausa, the difference can change meaning, so it’s worth learning to hear and produce them distinctly.