Learn Hardcore Hausa: Yara ƙanana suna koya ƙirga daga ɗaya zuwa goma musamman a aji na farko. - The small children are learning to count from one to ten, especially in the first class.

Yara means children, and ƙanana means small / little / young.
So yara ƙanana is literally small children or little children.

In Hausa, descriptive adjectives normally come after the noun they describe:

yaro ƙarami – a small boy
mace tsawo – a tall woman
yara ƙanana – small children

Also, the adjective agrees in number with the noun:

singular: yaro ƙarami (small child)
plural: yara ƙanana (small children)

What exactly is suna doing in suna koya ƙirga?

Suna is made of two parts:

su = they (3rd person plural pronoun)
-na = a marker that often corresponds to “be …-ing” (progressive / continuous or habitual aspect)

So suna koya ƙirga can mean:

they are learning to count (right now / these days)
or, depending on context,
they (generally) learn to count (habitually, as a routine in school)

You don’t add a separate word like English are; suna already contains both they and the “are …-ing / usually do” idea.

Why do we have both koya and ƙirga? Isn’t one verb enough?

In Hausa, this pattern is common: koya + another verb / verbal noun = learn to do X.

koya = to learn / to teach
ƙirga = (to) count / counting

So suna koya ƙirga literally is they are learning counting, i.e. they are learning to count.

You could say suna ƙirga = they are counting, but that changes the meaning; it no longer means learning, just doing the counting. The combination koya ƙirga is specifically learn to count.

How does daga ɗaya zuwa goma work, and do I need both daga and zuwa?

Yes, in this kind of range expression you normally use both:

daga = from
zuwa = to / up to

So:

daga ɗaya zuwa goma = from one to ten
daga karfe takwas zuwa karfe goma = from eight o’clock to ten o’clock
daga Kano zuwa Abuja = from Kano to Abuja

You can think of daga X zuwa Y as the standard way to say from X to Y.

What does musamman add here, and where can it appear in the sentence?

Musamman means especially / particularly / mainly.

In the sentence, it narrows the statement:

without it: Young children learn to count from one to ten in first grade.
with musamman: Young children (do) learn to count from one to ten, especially in first grade.
(i.e. that level is particularly associated with this learning)

Typical positions:

At the end of the clause: … daga ɗaya zuwa goma musamman.
Before the phrase it focuses: … musamman a aji na farko. (as in your sentence)

Both are possible; the version you have is very natural.

What does aji na farko literally mean, and why is na there?

aji = class / grade / form (school context)
farko = first
na here is a linking / possessive particle, often glossed as of

So aji na farko is literally class of first, the usual Hausa way to say first class / first grade.

This na is very common when a noun is followed by a describing or “possessor-like” element:

aji na farko – first class / grade 1
aji na biyu – second class / grade 2
motar su or mota ta su – their car
ranar Lahadi – day of Sunday → Sunday

With ordinals after a noun, na is the normal linker: aji na uku, aji na huɗu, etc.

Does suna koya mean “are learning right now” or “learn (generally)”? How is time expressed?

Suna koya is flexible; it usually covers:

present progressive: they are (currently) learning
present habitual: they (generally) learn / they usually learn

In this sentence, because it’s about what happens in first grade, it’s best understood as habitual:
Young children (in general) learn to count from one to ten, especially in first grade.

The exact time is often clarified by context or extra time words:

Yanzu suna koya ƙirga. – They are learning to count now.
A kowace shekara yara ƙanana suna koya ƙirga. – Every year young children learn to count.

Why is it yara ƙanana, not ƙanana yara?

In standard Hausa, descriptive adjectives come after the noun they describe:

yaro ƙarami – small boy
gida babba – big house
yara ƙanana – small children

Putting the adjective before the noun (ƙanana yara) is not correct in standard grammar and will sound wrong to most speakers.

So the normal, grammatical order is noun + adjective: yara ƙanana, not the other way around.

How do I pronounce the special letters ƙ and ɗ in ƙanana and ɗaya?

These are implosive consonants, different from plain k and d:

ƙ (as in ƙanana)
- Made somewhat like k, but with a slight “inward” movement of air.
- For learners, it’s often OK at first to approximate it with a strong k sound, but native ƙ is distinct from k in many words.
ɗ (as in ɗaya)
- Similar place of articulation to d, but again with that “inward” quality.
- Beginners can approximate it with d, but be aware that ɗ and d can distinguish meaning in Hausa.

So:

ƙanana ≈ ka-na-na but with a special k; stress usually near the first syllable.
ɗaya ≈ da-ya with a special d; often pronounced something like dya or d-ya.

Is there any missing word for “are” between yara ƙanana and suna koya?

No; nothing is missing. Hausa does not use a separate “are / is / am” in this structure.

The pattern is:

Subject (yara ƙanana)
- subject+aspect marker (suna)
  - verb (koya)
    - rest of the phrase

Here suna already includes both:

the subject pronoun (su = they)
and the aspect marker (-na ≈ “are …-ing / usually do”)

So you don’t say something like *yara ƙanana suna are koya….
The single word suna does all that grammatical work for the verb.

Can this sentence also mean “Young children are taught to count from one to ten …”, not just “learn”?

Yes, depending on context koya can mean teach or learn:

na koya su – I taught them
na koya Hausa – I learned Hausa

In yara ƙanana suna koya ƙirga, the default reading is they are learning to count, because the subject is the children themselves.

However, in a broader description of schooling, English might naturally translate this as:

Young children are taught to count from one to ten …

even though literally Hausa is focusing on the children doing the learning. Both English translations can be acceptable depending on how you want to phrase it.