Learn Hardcore Hausa: Motar kasuwa tana dawowa ƙauye da yamma. - The market car returns to the village in the evening.

mota = vehicle / car / bus (a general word for a motor vehicle)
-r = a linking genitive marker added to many feminine nouns ending in -a when they are followed by another noun
kasuwa = market

So:

mota → motar kasuwa
“vehicle” → “vehicle-of market”

This structure is called a genitive construction (possessive / ‘of’ construction). It’s how Hausa says “X of Y,” “Y’s X,” or “X for Y.”

Does “Motar kasuwa” mean “market car” or “car of the market”? How is possession or association expressed here?

It can be understood both as:

“the car of the market” (literally)
or more naturally in English: “the market bus” / “the market lorry”, i.e. the vehicle that routinely goes to and from the market.

Hausa often expresses possession, origin, or association by putting two nouns together, with the first one in the genitive form:

motar kasuwa – the market’s vehicle / market vehicle
ɗan makaranta – school child (lit. “child of school”)
ragon gida – the house’s ram (ram belonging to the house)

So motar kasuwa is the vehicle associated with the market, not just any random car that happens to be at the market once.

Why does the sentence use “tana” (feminine) for a car? Isn’t a car an “it,” not “she”?

In Hausa, grammatical gender is not about actual sex; it’s a grammatical category.

mota is a feminine noun (most nouns ending in -a are feminine).
The 3rd person singular feminine subject pronoun is ta.
In the continuous/progressive form, ta + na often contract to tana.

So:

mota (feminine noun) → uses ta- for “it/she”
mota tana dawowa = “the car/bus is returning”

In English we say it for a car, but in Hausa the correct agreement for mota is feminine: ta, tana, etc.

What exactly is “tana dawowa”? Is “dawowa” a verb or a noun here, and how does the progressive aspect work?

tana dawowa is a progressive / continuous construction.

Breakdown:

ta = she/it (3rd person feminine subject pronoun)
na = marker used in the progressive / continuous aspect
ta + na → tana (often written together)
dawowa = verbal noun of dawo = “to return / come back”

So tana dawowa literally means something like:

“she/it is in the returning”
→ more naturally: “she/it is returning / is coming back.”

In Hausa, a common way to express the continuous is:

subject pronoun + na + verbal noun
- Ina tafiya. – I am going.
- Yana ci. – He is eating.
- Tana dawowa. – She/it is returning.

So dawowa is a verbal noun (kind of like the English “returning” or “to return” in a noun-like form) used with tana to express the ongoing action.

Could I just say “Motar kasuwa tana dawo” instead of “tana dawowa”?

No, “tana dawo” is not correct in standard Hausa.

For this kind of progressive meaning you need either:

tana dawowa
- subject + na
  - verbal noun
- Motar kasuwa tana dawowa. – The market bus is/comes back.

or, in other patterns, you might see:

ta na dawo (more separated in speech, still with the progressive marker)
This would still usually be followed by the verbal noun or adapted verb form in context.

The bare form dawo is the verb stem, used in other tense/aspect patterns (e.g. ta dawo – “it returned”), but not directly in this tana X progressive slot; there you want dawowa.

What is the function of “ƙauye” in this sentence, and why is there no preposition like “zuwa” (“to”) before it?

In Motar kasuwa tana dawowa ƙauye da yamma, the word ƙauye (“village”) marks the destination of the movement:

tana dawowa ƙauye ≈ “it is returning to the village.”

Hausa often omits a preposition like zuwa (“to”) with verbs of motion, especially with common destinations:

Ya tafi gida. – He went (to) home.
Ta shiga ɗaki. – She entered (the) room.
Motar kasuwa tana dawowa ƙauye. – The market bus is returning (to) the village.

You could say tana dawowa zuwa ƙauye, but in everyday speech tana dawowa ƙauye is completely natural and more typical.

Is there a difference between “ƙauye” and “gari” for “village/town”?

Yes, there’s a nuance:

ƙauye
- Often “village,” “countryside,” or rural area.
- Can also carry the idea of a less developed, more rural place.
gari
- Literally “town,” also used for “city.”
- More urban or central settlement.

So:

ƙauye – village / rural village
gari – town / city / urban center

In this sentence, ƙauye emphasizes that the bus is going back to a village/rural place rather than to a town.

What does “da” mean in “da yamma”? I thought “da” meant “and” or “with.”

You’re right that da normally means “and” or “with”, but in some fixed expressions it functions more like “in/at (a time)”.

With parts of the day:

da safe – in the morning
da rana – in the afternoon / daytime
da yamma – in the evening / late afternoon
da dare – at night

So in da yamma, da is part of an idiomatic time expression:

ƙauye da yamma ≈ “to the village in the evening / by evening time.”

What time of day does “yamma” refer to? Is it “evening” or “afternoon”?

Yamma covers the later part of the day, roughly:

late afternoon
up to early evening, as it starts to get dark

So depending on context, da yamma can be translated as:

“in the evening”
or “in the late afternoon”

In many English translations, “evening” is used, but be aware that in Hausa it can start a bit earlier than what some English speakers call “evening.”

Is this sentence talking about a habitual action (“comes back every evening”) or a current action (“is coming back now”)?

The Hausa form tana dawowa can express either:

Progressive / right now
- Context: You’re looking at the bus approaching and say:
  Motar kasuwa tana dawowa ƙauye da yamma.
  “The market bus is returning to the village this evening.”
Habitual / repeated
- Context: Describing the bus’s usual schedule:
  Motar kasuwa tana dawowa ƙauye da yamma.
  “The market bus (usually) comes back to the village in the evening.”

Hausa relies on context, adverbs, and previous sentences to clarify whether it’s “right now” or “usually.” This ambiguity is similar to English “The bus comes back in the evening” vs. “The bus is coming back this evening” — both are possible readings depending on context.

How would this sentence change if I wanted to say “The market buses return…” (plural)?

You would make mota plural and adjust the agreement:

Motoci na kasuwa suna dawowa ƙauye da yamma.

Breakdown:

motoci = vehicles / cars / buses (plural of mota)
na kasuwa = of the market (with plural, you typically use na, not -r)
- Alternatively: Motocin kasuwa, where motoci also takes a genitive form. Both patterns exist; motocin kasuwa is very common.
suna = su + na (they + progressive marker)
dawowa = returning
ƙauye da yamma = to the village in the evening

So:
Motocin kasuwa suna dawowa ƙauye da yamma.
= “The market buses return to the village in the evening.”

How is the letter “ƙ” in “ƙauye” pronounced compared with “k”?

Hausa distinguishes between:

k – a regular [k] sound, like English k in “cat.”
ƙ – a glottalized/implosive k, pronounced deeper in the throat.

To approximate ƙ:

Start as if you’re going to say k,
but pull the back of your tongue slightly down and “suck in” a tiny bit of air rather than push it out strongly,
it’s shorter and more “popping” than normal k.

Minimal pairs exist where k vs ƙ change meaning, so:

ƙauye (with ƙ) – village
kauye (with plain k) would be non-standard or a misspelling in this case.

In writing, always pay attention to ƙ vs k; it’s meaningful in Hausa.