Learn Hardcore Hausa: Farashin abinci yana ƙaruwa a kasuwa kowace sati. - The price of food is increasing at the market every week.

farashi – price
-n / -in – a suffix that links a noun to what follows it (often called the genitive or annexation marker; it often also makes the noun definite, like the)
abinci – food

So farashin abinci means “the price of food”.

In Hausa, when one noun possesses or qualifies another (price of food, house of Ali, etc.), the first noun usually takes this linking -n / -r / -ar / -in suffix, depending on its ending. Here:

farashi
- -n → farashin

This structure is very common:

farashin mota – the price of a car
sunan yarinya – the name of a girl
gaban gida – the front of the house

Is Farashin abinci the subject of the sentence?

Yes.

In the sentence:

Farashin abinci yana ƙaruwa a kasuwa kowace sati.

the subject is:

Farashin abinci – the price of food

Then comes the verb phrase:

yana ƙaruwa – is increasing

And then adverbial phrases:

a kasuwa – in the market
kowace sati – every week

So the overall structure is:

[Subject] [Progressive verb phrase] [Place] [Time]
Farashin abinci – yana ƙaruwa – a kasuwa – kowace sati.

What exactly does yana ƙaruwa mean, and why do we have two words instead of just one verb?

Yana ƙaruwa is a common Hausa way to express a progressive meaning (an action that is ongoing or currently happening).

Breakdown:

ya – 3rd person singular masculine pronoun (he/it)
na – part of the progressive aspect marker
yana – together functions like he/it is … (progressive)
ƙaruwa – the verbal noun (gerund/nominal form) of ƙaru (to increase), so ƙaruwa ≈ increasing / increase

So yana ƙaruwa literally feels like:

it is in a state of increase / it is increasing

This pattern is very frequent:

yana tafiya – he is going / he is walking
suna aiki – they are working
gudanarwa tana faruwa – the process is happening

An alternative, less “broken-down” view: yana + verbal noun ≈ English “is + -ing”.

What is the difference between ƙaru and ƙara, and why is ƙaruwa used here instead of ƙara?

Both relate to increase, but they are used differently:

ƙaru – to increase, to go up (intransitive: something itself goes up)
- Farashi ya ƙaru. – The price increased / went up.
ƙara – to add, to increase (something) (transitive: someone increases something)
- Sun ƙara farashin abinci. – They increased the price of food.

In your sentence:

Farashin abinci yana ƙaruwa…
– The price of food is increasing…

No agent is mentioned (no they or the government). We’re talking about the price itself going up, so ƙaruwa (from ƙaru) is appropriate.

If you wanted to say that someone is putting the price up, you would usually use ƙara:

Ana ƙara farashin abinci a kasuwa kowace sati.
– They are increasing the price of food in the market every week. / The price of food is being increased…

Is ƙaruwa a verb or a noun, and could we say yana ƙaru instead?

ƙaruwa is a verbal noun (a gerund-like form). It is formed from the verb ƙaru (to increase).

ƙaru – finite verb: to increase
ƙaruwa – verbal noun: increase, increasing

The construction yana + verbal noun is the standard way to make the progressive:

yana ƙaruwa – is increasing
yana tafiya – is going / is walking
tana magana – is speaking (she)

Can we say yana ƙaru?

Native speakers do sometimes say things like farashi yana ƙaru, and it can be understood, but strictly speaking, the most regular grammatical pattern is yana ƙaruwa with the verbal noun.
For a learner, it is safer and more “textbook-correct” to use yana + verbal noun: yana ƙaruwa.

What does a kasuwa mean exactly, and could we drop the a?

a kasuwa means “in the market”.

a – a very general preposition, often translated as in, at, on depending on context
kasuwa – market

So:

a kasuwa – at/in the market

Can you drop the a?

If you say just kasuwa, that is usually understood as the noun “market” (subject or object), not as a location phrase.
To clearly express location (in/at the market), you normally need the preposition a.

You can also make it more explicit:

a cikin kasuwa – literally in the inside of the market, i.e. inside the market.

Why is it kowace sati and not kowane sati? What is going on with gender here?

kowane / kowanne and kowace / kowacce are forms of “every / each”, and they agree with the grammatical gender of the noun.

Broadly:

kowane / kowanne – used with masculine nouns
kowace / kowacce – used with feminine nouns

In your sentence:

sati – week
kowace sati – every week

In much contemporary usage, sati is treated as feminine, so speakers say kowace sati.

You may also encounter some variation (some speakers or dialects might use kowane sati), but in the variety reflected in your sentence, sati patterns as feminine. For you as a learner, it’s good to just memorize kowace sati as a fixed collocation for “every week”.

Could we move kowace sati to the beginning of the sentence, like in English “Every week, the price of food is increasing in the market”?

Yes.

Hausa allows time expressions like kowace sati to appear either at the beginning or at the end of the sentence, with a slight difference in emphasis:

Farashin abinci yana ƙaruwa a kasuwa kowace sati.
– Neutral: The price of food is increasing in the market every week.
Kowace sati, farashin abinci yana ƙaruwa a kasuwa.
– Puts more emphasis on every week (it sounds a bit like: Every week, the price of food is increasing in the market.)

Both are correct. As a learner, keeping time expressions at the end is often easiest, but fronting them is very natural in speech.

How is ƙ in ƙaruwa pronounced, and is it different from k?

Yes, ƙ and k are different consonants in Hausa, and they can distinguish meaning.

k – a plain voiceless velar stop, like k in English cat, kid
ƙ – an ejective / glottalized k. To pronounce it, you:
1. Close the back of your tongue as for k.
2. Build up pressure in your mouth.
3. Release it with a sharp, popping quality, often with a little glottal constriction.

It is somewhat like a very “hard” k.

The difference is meaningful:

karo – a different word (e.g. time/occasion in some contexts)
ƙaro – to add, to multiply (different verb)

So pronouncing ƙaruwa with plain k (like karuwa) could be confusing, because karuwa is also a real word in Hausa with a completely different meaning (a kind of woman, often pejorative). For “increase”, you need that ejective ƙ sound.

Is a kasuwa kowace sati describing where or when the action happens, and does Hausa have a fixed order for place and time?

In:

Farashin abinci yana ƙaruwa a kasuwa kowace sati.

a kasuwa – place (in the market)
kowace sati – time (every week)

So a kasuwa is the location, kowace sati is the time.

About order: a common pattern in Hausa is:

Verb phrase + Place + Time

So:

yana ƙaruwa – is increasing
a kasuwa – in the market (place)
kowace sati – every week (time)

You will also sometimes hear Time + Subject + Verb + Place, especially in speech:

Kowace sati farashin abinci yana ƙaruwa a kasuwa.

But the order in your sentence (place before time) is very typical and natural.

Could I say Farashin abinci yana tashi a kasuwa kowace sati instead of yana ƙaruwa?

Yes, in many contexts that would be understood and can sound natural.

tashi literally means to get up, to rise, to take off (as in a plane).
By extension, farashi yana tashi can be used colloquially to mean “the price is going up / rising”.

So:

Farashin abinci yana ƙaruwa a kasuwa kowace sati.
– The price of food is increasing in the market every week. (more directly “increase”)
Farashin abinci yana tashi a kasuwa kowace sati.
– The price of food is rising in the market every week. (more metaphorical “rising”)

Both are fine; ƙaruwa is the more specifically “increase-like” verb; tashi is a bit more metaphorical but very common in everyday speech.