Karatu na lissafi yana yi wa wasu dalibai wuya sosai.

Math study is very hard for some students.

Breakdown of Karatu na lissafi yana yi wa wasu dalibai wuya sosai.

• ne: to be
• sosai: very
• na: of
• yi: to do
• wa: to
• dalibi: the student
• karatu: the studying
• wuya: the difficulty
• lissafi: the mathematics
• wasu: some

Questions & Answers about Karatu na lissafi yana yi wa wasu dalibai wuya sosai.

In Karatu na lissafi, what does each word mean, and which part is the subject of the sentence?

Breakdown:

• karatu – study(ing), reading, schoolwork
• na – a linker meaning “of” (genitive/possessive link)
• lissafi – mathematics, arithmetic

So Karatu na lissafi literally means “the study of mathematics” or “maths study”.

In the whole sentence, Karatu na lissafi is the subject:

• Karatu na lissafi (subject)
• yana yi wa wasu dalibai wuya sosai (predicate: what it is doing / how it affects the students)

Why is it Karatu na lissafi and not karatun lissafi? Are both correct?

Both Karatu na lissafi and karatun lissafi are grammatical; Hausa has two common ways to link nouns:

1. Annexation (compound form):

   • karatun lissafi – literally “maths-study”
   • This uses the -n ending on karatu (→ karatun).

2. With the linker na:

   • karatu na lissafi – literally “study of maths”

Subtle differences:

• karatun lissafi is a bit tighter, like one compound noun (“maths class / maths studies”).
• karatu na lissafi can feel a bit more explicit or clearer as “the study of mathematics”.

In many everyday contexts they are interchangeable; your sentence is fine as it is.

What does yına / yana mean in yana yi wa?

yana is a subject pronoun + aspect marker:

• ya – “he/it” (3rd person masculine singular)
• na – progressive/continuous aspect: “is doing”

Spoken together: ya na → yana.

So yana roughly corresponds to “he/it is (doing)”.

In this sentence, the subject is karatu na lissafi, which is grammatically masculine singular, so we use yana, not tana or suna.

Examples:

• Karatu na lissafi yana… – “Maths study is…”
• Littafi yana… – “The book is…”
• Mota tana… – “The car (feminine) is…”

What is the function of yi in yana yi wa wasu dalibai wuya sosai?

yi is a common “light verb” in Hausa meaning “to do / to make / to cause”, and it is also used in many expressions.

In this sentence, the structure is:

• yana yi wa [someone] wuya
  literally: “it is doing to [someone] difficulty”
  idiomatically: “it is difficult for [someone]”

So yi works with wuya (“difficulty”) to form the expression yi wa wani wuya – “to be difficult for someone.”

Think of yi wuya as one idiomatic chunk: “to be difficult”.

What does wa add in yana yi wa wasu dalibai wuya sosai?

wa is a preposition that usually corresponds to “to/for” (used with indirect objects).

Here, the pattern is:

• yi wa + person + wuya
  → “to be difficult for someone”

So:

• yana yi wa wasu dalibai wuya sosai
  literally: “(It) is doing difficulty to/for some students a lot”
  meaning: “It is very hard/difficult for some students.”

Without wa, the sentence would sound ungrammatical in Hausa.

What does wuya mean here, and why isn’t there a separate adjective like “difficult”?

wuya is a noun meaning:

• difficulty, hardship, trouble, and in other contexts also neck (different meaning).

In Hausa, instead of using an adjective like “difficult”, there’s an idiomatic structure:

• yi wa mutum wuya
  literally: “do to a person difficulty”
  → “to be difficult for someone / to give someone a hard time”

So wuya itself expresses the idea of “difficulty”:

• yana yi wa wasu dalibai wuya – “it is difficult for some students.”

If you wanted a more adjective-like form, you could also say:

• Karatu na lissafi mai wuya ne. – “Maths study is difficult.”
  Here mai wuya functions adjectivally: “having difficulty / difficult.”

What does sosai add to wuya in wuya sosai?

sosai is an adverb meaning “very / very much / greatly.”

• wuya – difficulty, hard
• wuya sosai – very difficult, really hard

It usually comes after the word it intensifies:

• wuya sosai – very hard
• gajiya sosai – very tired
• ina son shi sosai – I like him a lot

What does wasu mean, and how is it different from wani / wata?

• wasu means “some” (plural).
• wani (masc.) / wata (fem.) mean “a / one (certain)” (singular, often “a certain / some particular”).

In the sentence:

• wasu dalibai – some students (not all, just a certain number of them)

Compare:

• wani dalibi – a (certain) male student
• wata daliba – a (certain) female student
• wasu dalibai – some students (could be male+female; focuses on plurality, not gender)

What does dalibai mean exactly, and what is the singular form?

• dalibai – students (plural)
• singular:
  • dalibi – male student
  • daliba – female student

So wasu dalibai = “some students” (group of students, gender not specified or mixed).

What is the overall word order of this sentence? How would you label the parts?

The basic structure is:

• Karatu na lissafi – Subject (S)
• yana – Subject pronoun + progressive aspect (“it is”)
• yi wa – Verb phrase (“doing to / making for”)
• wasu dalibai – Indirect object (“some students”)
• wuya sosai – Complement (what is being done: “big difficulty” → “very hard”)

So in labels:

• S: Karatu na lissafi
• V: yana yi wa
• IO: wasu dalibai
• Comp/Predicative: wuya sosai

This roughly aligns with English: Subject – Verb – (Indirect Object) – Complement
“Maths study is causing some students a lot of difficulty.”

Can I say the same idea in a simpler way, like “Math is very hard for some students” in Hausa?

Yes, here are a few natural alternatives:

1. Lissafi yana yi wa wasu dalibai wuya sosai.
   – Mathematics is very hard for some students.
   (Here, lissafi itself is the subject.)

2. Lissafi yana da wuya ga wasu dalibai.
   – Math is difficult for some students.
   (More literal: “Math has difficulty for some students.”)

3. Wasu dalibai suna ganin karatu na lissafi da wuya sosai.
   – Some students find studying math very hard.
   (literally: “Some students see math study as very difficult.”)

All keep the same core idea but with slightly different emphasis or construction.

Why do we use yana (masc. singular) when the subject Karatu na lissafi seems like an abstract concept, not a person?

In Hausa, grammatical gender is not only for living beings; nouns themselves are either masculine or feminine.

• karatu is grammatically masculine.
• Therefore, any pronoun/aspect marker referring back to it must be masculine singular:
  • yana (he/it is …)
  • ya (he/it did …)

So:

• Karatu na lissafi yana yi wa… – correct
• Karatu na lissafi tana yi wa… – incorrect (tana → feminine)
• Karatu na lissafi suna yi wa… – incorrect (suna → plural)

Even though “study of maths” is abstract, it behaves grammatically like a masculine singular noun.