Yaro ya gaya wa malami sirri game da abin da ya dame shi.

A boy told the teacher a secret about what was bothering him.

Breakdown of Yaro ya gaya wa malami sirri game da abin da ya dame shi.

• yaro: the child
• malami: the teacher
• wa: to
• shi: him
• da: that
• gaya: to tell
• abin: the thing
• sirri: the secret
• game da: about
• dame: to bother

Questions & Answers about Yaro ya gaya wa malami sirri game da abin da ya dame shi.

What is the role of ya in Yaro ya gaya wa malami…? Why do we need it if we already have yaro?

In Hausa, the verb normally needs a subject pronoun before it, even when the subject noun is already mentioned.

• Yaro = the boy (noun)
• ya = 3rd person singular masculine subject pronoun (he), also marking perfective (completed) aspect
• gaya = to tell

So Yaro ya gaya… is literally “As for the boy, he-told…”.
You usually cannot say ✗ Yaro gaya… without ya; that would be ungrammatical in standard Hausa.

What does wa do in gaya wa malami? Is it like the English “to”?

Yes. Wa introduces an indirect object, roughly like English “to” or “for”.

• gaya wa malami = to tell (something) to a/the teacher
• Verb (gaya) + wa
  • person = tell to someone

You will often see wa and ma used this way:

• gaya wa malami ≈ gaya ma malami = tell the teacher
  Both are widely used; wa is a bit more formal/standard in writing.

Is malami “the teacher” or “a teacher”? How do you show definiteness in Hausa?

Hausa has no separate word like English “the” or “a”. Malami by itself can mean “a teacher” or “the teacher”, depending on context.

To make it clearly definite or specific, Hausa often uses:

• a possessive ending: malaminsa = his teacher
• the linker -n/-r with another word: malamin nan = this teacher, malaminmu = our teacher

So:

• Yaro ya gaya wa malami… = The boy told a/ the teacher…
  Context (earlier sentences) normally decides which is intended.

What exactly does sirri mean here? Is it a noun or an adjective? Can it be plural?

Sirri is a noun meaning “secret”.

In this sentence:

• ya gaya wa malami sirri… = he told the teacher a secret…

It can be pluralized:

• sirrika = secrets

It is not an adjective here; it is the direct object of gaya (the thing that was told).

How does game da work in sirri game da abin da…? Is it always used for “about”?

Game da is a fixed prepositional phrase meaning “about, concerning, regarding”.

In this sentence:

• sirri game da abin da ya dame shi
  = a secret about what was worrying him

You can use game da after nouns or verbs, for example:

• tattaunawa game da siyasa = a discussion about politics
• mu yi magana game da wannan = let’s talk about this

It is the most common way to say “about/concerning” in modern standard Hausa.

Can you break down abin da ya dame shi word by word? How does this relative clause work?

Yes. It consists of a noun phrase plus a relative clause:

• abu = thing
• abin = the thing / thing-that (abu + linker -n)
• da = relative marker “that / which”
• ya dame shi = disturbed/bothered him

So:

• abin da ya dame shi ≈ “the thing that bothered him” or more natural English “what was bothering him”

Structure:

• [abin] [da] [ya dame shi]
  head noun
  • relative marker
    • full clause

Often in everyday writing you’ll see abinda (one word) instead of abin da.

What is the difference between dame and damu? Why is it ya dame shi, not ya damu shi?

Both are related to the idea of worry/bother, but they are used differently.

• dame is normally transitive: to bother, to disturb (someone)
  
  • Wannan abu ya dame ni. = This thing bothers me.
• damu often shows being worried / disturbed, and is common in expressions like:
  • Ina damuwa. = I am worried.
  • Kada ka damu. = Don’t worry.

In ya dame shi, the structure is [something] bothers [him], so the transitive verb dame is appropriate:

• (abin) da ya dame shi = what was bothering him

Who does shi refer to in ya dame shi? Could it refer to someone other than the boy?

In this sentence, the most natural interpretation is:

• shi = him, referring back to yaro (the boy).

So abin da ya dame shi = what was worrying him (the boy).

In principle, shi could refer to another masculine person already mentioned in the wider context, but if yaro is the only masculine noun in the nearby context, listeners will automatically take shi to refer to the boy.

Could we leave out shi and just say abin da ya dame?

No, not in standard Hausa. Dame in this sense needs an object; ya dame by itself is incomplete.

You must say whom it bothered:

• ya dame shi = it bothered him
• ya dame ni = it bothered me
• ya dame su = it bothered them

So abin da ya dame shi is the full, correct form.

Why is it abin da, not just abu da?

When abu (thing) is used as the head of a relative clause, it normally appears as abin (or abun) with the linker -n/-n attached:

• abu (bare noun)
• abin da… or abun da… = the thing that… / what…

So:

• abin da ya dame shi = what bothered him
• abun da yake so = what he wants

✗ abu da ya dame shi sounds unnatural; the linker is expected.

Could we change the order and say Yaro ya gaya sirri ga malami instead? What’s the difference between wa and ga here?

You can say:

• Yaro ya gaya sirri ga malami…

This is understandable and acceptable. Hausa allows both patterns:

• gaya wa/ma wani abu
• gaya abu ga wani

Wa/ma and ga both mark an indirect object, though:

• wa/ma is more tightly connected to the verb.
• ga is more general “to, towards, for”.

Your original sentence with gaya wa malami sirri is a very normal and idiomatic pattern.

Could we drop ya and say Yaro gaya wa malami sirri…?

No. In standard Hausa you need the subject pronoun with the verb in finite clauses.

• ✓ Yaro ya gaya wa malami sirri…
• ✗ Yaro gaya wa malami sirri… (ungrammatical)

Even though yaro is the subject, Hausa grammar still requires ya as the agreement/subject marker before gaya.