Malami bai faɗa wa kowa sirrin ba, domin yana girmama hankalin yaron.

The teacher did not tell anyone the secret, because he respects the boy’s mind.

Breakdown of Malami bai faɗa wa kowa sirrin ba, domin yana girmama hankalin yaron.

• ne: to be
• ba … ba: not
• malami: the teacher
• wa: to
• domin: because
• yaro: the boy
• sirri: the secret
• faɗa: to tell
• kowa: anyone
• girmama: to respect
• hankali: the mind

Questions & Answers about Malami bai faɗa wa kowa sirrin ba, domin yana girmama hankalin yaron.

What does bai ... ba mean here, and how is it different from ba ya ... ba?

In Hausa, bai ... ba is the common way to say “he did not …” in the completed (perfective) aspect.

• bai faɗa ... ba ≈ “he did not tell (at all / on that occasion)”
• ba ya faɗa ... ba would mean “he does not tell / he is not telling” (an ongoing or habitual action).

So:

• Malami bai faɗa wa kowa sirrin ba
  = “The teacher did not tell anyone the secret” (a specific past or completed event).

If you said:

• Malami ba ya faɗa wa kowa sirrin ba,
  it would mean something like “The teacher doesn’t tell anyone the secret” (as a general or ongoing behavior), not a one-time past action.

Why is there no explicit word for “he” before bai?

In Hausa, the subject pronoun is usually built into the verbal form itself, so you often don’t add a separate pronoun like shi (“he”) unless you want to emphasize it.

• bai already encodes “he (3rd person singular masculine) + negative perfective marker”.
• So bai faɗa literally carries “he (did) not tell” inside it.

You could say:

• Shi malami bai faɗa wa kowa sirrin ba

to emphasize “the teacher, he didn’t tell anyone the secret”, but it’s not required grammatically.

What is the function of wa in faɗa wa kowa sirrin?

wa here is a preposition roughly meaning “to / for”, introducing the indirect object (the person you tell something to).

• faɗa wa kowa = “to tell anyone”
  • faɗa = (to) tell, say
  • wa = to / for
  • kowa = anyone / everyone (here: “anyone”)

So the structure is:

• faɗa wa kowa sirrin
  = “tell the secret to anyone”

You can think of it as:

• faɗa [wa kowa] [sirrin]
  = “tell [to anyone] [the secret]”

Could we say faɗa ma kowa instead of faɗa wa kowa?

Yes, in many contexts Hausa speakers use wa and ma in overlapping ways to mark the indirect object (“to/for someone”), and both can sound natural:

• faɗa wa kowa
• faɗa ma kowa

Subtle points:

• ma more strongly suggests “for someone’s benefit / in someone’s favor” in many contexts.
• wa is a very general dative preposition “to / for”.

In this particular sentence, wa kowa is perfectly standard. ma kowa would also be understandable and acceptable in everyday speech, though choice can vary by region and speaker preference.

Why is it kowa (anyone/everyone) without any marking like “ba kowa ba”?

In negative sentences, kowa normally means “anyone” (or “nobody”, depending on translation). The surrounding negation (bai … ba) is what makes it negative in meaning.

• Malami bai faɗa wa kowa sirrin ba
  literally: “The teacher did not tell to anyone the secret”
  idiomatic: “The teacher didn’t tell anyone the secret.”

You don’t need to add extra ba around kowa. The pattern is:

• [verb phrase in negative] + kowa
• The bai … ba already makes kowa mean “anyone” (in a negative context -> “no one”).

What exactly does sirrin mean here, and why not just sirri?

sirri means “secret” (indefinite).

sirrin is sirri + -n, where -n / -r / -n is the definite / genitive linker in Hausa. In many cases, it marks:

1. Definiteness:

   • sirri = “a secret”
   • sirrin = “the secret”

2. Or a possessive/genitive link:

   • sirrin yaron = “the child’s secret”
   • sirrin sa = “his secret”

In your sentence:

• sirrin is best understood as “the secret” (definite object: a specific known secret).

If you used sirri alone, it would sound more like “(any) secret” / “a secret”, and in this sentence it would be less natural because a specific secret is implied.

How is yaron different from yaro?

• yaro = “a child / a boy” (indefinite)
• yaron = “the child / the boy” or “child-of” (definite / genitive form)

Here yaron is part of the phrase:

• hankalin yaron = “the child’s mind / the child’s sense / the child’s feelings”

So:

• yaro (bare form) = just “child/boy”
• yaron (with -n) = used in definite or genitive contexts, like “the boy” or “the boy’s …”

What does hankalin yaron literally mean?

Literally:

• hankali = “sense, intelligence, judgment, mind, awareness”
• hankalin yaron = “the child’s sense / the child’s mind / the child’s judgment”

So:

• yana girmama hankalin yaron
  literally: “he is respecting the child’s mind/judgment.”

Depending on context, it can be understood more idiomatically as:

• “he respects the child’s feelings”
• “he respects the child’s reasoning/judgment”
• “he respects the child’s mental state / dignity”

What does girmama mean exactly, and how is it different from just girma?

• girma (noun) = “greatness, respect, honor, adulthood (maturity)”
• girmama (verb) = “to honor, to respect, to show respect to”

In the sentence:

• yana girmama hankalin yaron
  = “he is respecting / honoring the child’s mind/judgment.”

So girmama is the action “to give respect”, not just the abstract idea of “respect”.

Why do we use yana girmama and not simply ya girmama?

Both are grammatically possible, but they differ in aspect:

• ya girmama = perfective: “he respected / he honored (on that occasion)”
• yana girmama = progressive/imperfective: “he is respecting / he respects (ongoingly / habitually)”

In this context, yana girmama hankalin yaron emphasizes a continuing attitude or ongoing respect:

• The teacher didn’t reveal the secret because he respects (in general) the child’s mind/feelings.

If you said domi ya girmama hankalin yaron, it would be more like:

• “because he respected the child’s mind (at that point)”

Still possible, but the -na form (yana) better fits the idea of an ongoing, principled respect.

What is the role of domin here, and is it the same as saboda?

domin is a conjunction meaning “because / in order that / for the sake of”.

In this sentence, it introduces the reason:

• domin yana girmama hankalin yaron
  = “because he respects the child’s mind.”

saboda also means “because” / “because of”. In many contexts:

• domin ≈ saboda (because)

You could say:

• Malami bai faɗa wa kowa sirrin ba, saboda yana girmama hankalin yaron.

This would still mean: “The teacher did not tell anyone the secret, because he respects the child’s mind.”

Nuance:

• domin often feels a bit more formal or “bookish” than saboda, and it can also carry “for the sake of / in order to (benefit)” in some contexts.

Can Malami mean “my teacher” here, or is it just “(a/the) teacher”?

In this form, Malami (capitalized here just because it starts the sentence) means “a teacher / the teacher”, not “my teacher”.

• malami (lowercase) = teacher (common noun)
• To say “my teacher”, you would normally say:
  malamina = “my teacher” (malami + -na “my”)

So:

• Malami bai faɗa wa kowa sirrin ba
  = “The teacher did not tell anyone the secret” (or “A teacher didn’t tell…” depending on context).

If you want it clearly to be “my teacher”:

• Malamina bai faɗa wa kowa sirrin ba.

Why is the sentence order “faɗa wa kowa sirrin” and not “faɗa sirrin wa kowa”?

Both word orders can appear in Hausa, but:

• faɗa wa kowa sirrin
  sounds natural and is very common:
  [Verb] [to-whom] [what]
  = “tell (to whom) (what)”

The pattern here is:

1. Verb: faɗa = tell
2. Indirect object phrase (person): wa kowa = to anyone
3. Direct object (thing): sirrin = the secret

Hausa tends to put the indirect object (person) before the direct object (thing) quite often, especially with prepositions like wa/ma.

faɗa sirrin wa kowa is not impossible, but it’s less smooth and typical; the version in the sentence is the natural, preferred order.