Learn Hardcore Hausa: Jiya na kwana a asibiti saboda ’yar uwata tana ciwo sosai. - Yesterday I spent the night at the hospital because my sister was very ill.

If you say ina bacci, that’s more like “I am sleeping / I sleep” (progressive or habitual). For a completed action like what happened yesterday, na kwana (or na yi bacci) is more natural.

Is na just the pronoun “I”, or is it also a tense marker?

In Hausa, na in this position does double duty:

It shows the subject: first person singular (I).
It also shows the aspect: completed/past action (perfective).

So in na kwana:

na = “I (did)”
kwana = the verb “spend the night / sleep overnight”

Compare:

na kwana – “I spent the night / I slept (overnight)”
ina kwana – “I am spending the night / I usually spend the night (there)”

The change from na to ina changes both the time/aspect and the form of the pronoun.

What exactly does asibiti mean, and is it related to “hospital” in English?

Asibiti means “hospital” in Hausa.

It’s a loanword that ultimately comes from English “hospital” (most likely via another language and adapted to Hausa sound patterns). So a asibiti simply means “in/at the hospital”.

You will hear it in many everyday contexts:

Za mu je asibiti. – We will go to the hospital.
Likitoci suna aiki a asibiti. – Doctors work at the hospital.

Why is the preposition a used in a asibiti? Could it be cikin asibiti or something else?

a is a very common Hausa preposition that roughly means “in / at / on”, depending on context. In a asibiti, it means “at the hospital” (and can also be understood as “in the hospital”).

Other options:

cikin asibiti – more literally “inside the hospital”, emphasizing the inside of the building.
a gaban asibiti – “in front of the hospital”.

In this sentence, a asibiti is the normal, neutral way to say “at the hospital”.

What does ’yar uwata literally mean, and how does it end up meaning “my sister”?

’yar uwata literally breaks down as:

’yar – female child / daughter (feminine of ɗa, “child, son”)
uwa – mother
-ta – the possessive suffix for “my” after a feminine noun (here, attached to uwa)

So uwata = “my mother”, and ’yar uwata = “daughter of my mother” → which is exactly “my sister”.

This is a common Hausa way to express siblings:

’yar uwata – my sister
ɗan uwana – my brother (ɗa “son” + uwana “my mother”)

So ’yar uwata is idiomatic and very natural for “my sister”.

What is the apostrophe in ’yar for? Is it pronounced differently from just yar?

The apostrophe in ’yar reflects Hausa spelling conventions and pronunciation.

Words like ’ya, ’ya’ya, ’yar are usually written with an initial apostrophe because there is a glottal stop at the start of the word (a brief closure in the throat, like the break in the middle of “uh-oh”).

So ’yar is pronounced more like [ʔyar], not just a smooth “yar”. In practice, many learners and even some speakers don’t make a big, obvious glottal stop, but the apostrophe is standard in writing.

You’ll see it in forms like:

’ya – daughter
’ya’ya – children, daughters
’yar gida – wife (lit. daughter-of-the-house)

Why do we say tana ciwo for “she is sick” or “she is in pain”? Isn’t ciwo a noun?

Yes, ciwo is a noun meaning “sickness, illness, pain, ache”, but Hausa often uses a noun with a form of “to be” to express physical states.

tana = ta na – “she is (currently) …” (3rd person feminine, progressive/continuous)
ciwo = sickness, pain

So tana ciwo literally is “she is (in a state of) sickness/pain”, which corresponds to English “she is sick / she is ill / she is in pain”.

You may also hear:

tana jin ciwo – “she is feeling pain / she is hurting”
tana da ciwo – “she has a sickness / she is sick”

All are possible; tana ciwo is short and very common.

What does sosai add to tana ciwo sosai? Where does it normally go in the sentence?

Sosai means “very, a lot, greatly”.

In tana ciwo sosai, it intensifies the sickness: “she is very sick / she is in a lot of pain.”

Placement:

sosai typically comes after the word or phrase it modifies.
- tana ciwo sosai – she is very sick
- ya ji daɗi sosai – he enjoyed it a lot
- gidan ya yi nisa sosai – the house is very far

So tana ciwo sosai is the natural word order.

What’s the difference between na in na kwana and tana in tana ciwo?

Both contain a pronoun part and an aspect marker, but they are different persons and aspects.

na kwana
- na = “I” in completed/past aspect (perfective)
- kwana = spend the night / sleep overnight
- Together: “I spent the night / I slept (overnight)”
tana ciwo
- ta = “she” (3rd person feminine singular)
- na attached here marks progressive/continuous aspect → ta + na = tana
- ciwo = sickness/pain
- Together: “she is (currently) sick / in pain”

So na on its own is 1st person past, while tana is a combined form (she + progressive) for ongoing states or actions.

Why does the sentence start with Jiya? Could it also be placed later in the sentence?

Jiya means “yesterday”, and putting it at the start is very natural in Hausa to set the time frame:

Jiya na kwana a asibiti… – “Yesterday I spent the night at the hospital…”

You can also move jiya without changing the basic meaning, for example:

Na kwana jiya a asibiti…
Na kwana a asibiti jiya…

The sentence with Jiya at the beginning is very common and sounds smooth; time expressions often appear at the start, just like in English: “Yesterday, I…”.

Is there any way to specify “younger sister” or “older sister” instead of just ’yar uwata?

Yes. ’yar uwata just means “my sister” without specifying age. Hausa has more specific kinship terms:

yar’uwata ƙaramar / ’yar uwata ƙanana – my younger sister (lit. smaller/younger sister)
yayar
name
/ yayata – my older sister (from yaya, “older sibling”)

In everyday conversation, people often just say ’yar uwata and rely on context, but if you need to be precise, you can modify it with words like ƙarama (younger/smaller) or use yaya / yayata for an older sister.

Could I say saboda cewa instead of just saboda here?

You sometimes see saboda cewa in Hausa (literally “because that…”), but in many everyday sentences saboda on its own is enough and more natural.

Jiya na kwana a asibiti saboda ’yar uwata tana ciwo sosai.
– “Yesterday I spent the night at the hospital because my sister is very sick.”

Adding cewa here is not necessary, and in this particular sentence most speakers would simply say saboda.

Use saboda cewa more in formal or written contexts when introducing longer or more complex reasons, but for normal speech saboda + clause is standard.