Uwa tana ba da labari kafin barci.

Tana is a combination of:

• ta = she (3rd person singular feminine)
• na = a marker that often shows a continuous / progressive action

So tana ba da labari literally means she is giving a story → she is telling a story.

Because uwa (mother) is grammatically feminine in Hausa, you use tana, not yana (which is for masculine).

In Hausa, ba da literally means to give, and labari means story / news / information.

So:

• ba da labari = to give a story / information → idiomatically to tell a story, to give a report, to narrate something

You’ll see ba da used in many similar expressions:

• ba da shawara = to give advice
• ba da umarni = to give an order
• ba da gudummawa = to give a contribution

So ba da labari is the normal, natural way to say tell a story in Hausa.

Uwa by itself just means mother in a general or context-dependent way. Hausa does not have a separate word for a/the like English.

So Uwa tana ba da labari kafin barci could be understood as:

• (The) mother is telling a story before sleep, or
• Mother tells a story before bed (if you’re clearly talking about your mother from context).

If you want to be explicit:

• my mother = uwata
• the mother (we’re talking about) can be made more explicit with something like uwar nan (that mother/this mother), but often context is enough and people just say uwa.

Just add the possessive ending to uwa:

• Uwata tana ba da labari kafin barci.
  = My mother is telling a story before sleep/bed.

-ta at the end of uwa marks my here: uwata = my mother.

Labari can mean both story and news / information, depending on context.

• Ina da labari gare ka. = I have news for you.
• Yaro yana son sauraron labari. = The child likes listening to stories.

In Uwa tana ba da labari kafin barci, the context (mother, before sleep) strongly suggests story, as in a bedtime story.

Hausa usually shows definiteness (the) by context, word order, or adding certain particles. A very common way is to add ɗin (or din / ɗin nan) after the noun phrase.

For example:

• Uwa tana ba da labarin nan kafin barci.
  = The mother is telling that particular story before bed.

Or you can specify the story:

• Uwa tana ba da labarin jiya kafin barci.
  = The mother is telling yesterday’s story before sleep.

Without extra words, labari can be understood as a story; with nan, jiya, or other context, it feels more like the story.

Kafin means before (in time).

Structure:

• kafin + noun

  • kafin barci = before sleep/bedtime
  • kafin aiki = before work
  • kafin rana = before (the) day / before daytime

• kafin + clause (subject + verb)

  • kafin ta yi barci = before she sleeps
  • kafin mu tafi = before we go

In the sentence, kafin barci is a short, natural way to say before sleep / before going to bed.

Both are correct; they just differ in how explicit they are.

• kafin barci

  • literally: before sleep
  • idiomatic: before bed / before going to sleep

• kafin ta yi barci

  • literally: before she does sleep / before she sleeps
  • more explicit about the subject and the action

Your sentence:

• Uwa tana ba da labari kafin barci.
  = The mother tells a story before sleep (before bedtime).

You could also say:

• Uwa tana ba da labari kafin yarinya ta yi barci.
  = The mother tells a story before the girl sleeps.

So kafin barci is just a shorter, very common expression.

Yes, in this sentence the word order is similar to English:

• Uwa (Subject)
• tana ba da (Verb phrase: is giving)
• labari (Object)
• kafin barci (Time expression: before sleep)

So the basic pattern is:

• Subject – tense/aspect marker – verb – object – time expression

This is a common word order in Hausa:

• Ali yana cin abinci yanzu.
  = Ali is eating food now.

To negate this kind of sentence in Hausa, you generally use ba ... ba around the verb phrase and adjust the pronoun:

• Uwa ba ta ba da labari kafin barci ba.
  = The mother is not telling a story before bed.

Breakdown:

• ba ... ba = negative frame
• ta = she (agrees with uwa)
• ba da labari = give a story / tell a story

In fast spoken Hausa, ba ta is often pronounced and written bata:

• Uwa bata ba da labari kafin barci ba.

For learning purposes, keeping ba ta separate is clearer.

You can keep the same word order and use intonation, or add shin at the beginning.

1. Just with question intonation (speech):

   • Uwa tana ba da labari kafin barci?
     = Is the mother telling a story before bed?

2. With a question word shin (more formal/clear):

   • Shin uwa tana ba da labari kafin barci?
     = Is the mother telling a story before bed?

Both are acceptable in conversation.

You can replace the subject with waye (who) and keep the rest:

• Waye yake ba da labari kafin barci?
  = Who is telling a story before bed?

If you already know it’s a woman/female person, you can also use the feminine:

• Wace ce take ba da labari kafin barci?
  (more explicitly feminine “who”)

But Waye yake ba da labari kafin barci? is the simplest and very common.

You can add a pronoun for me and optionally a word that suggests habit:

• Uwata tana ba ni labari kafin barci.
  = My mother tells me a story before bed.
  (context can imply this is usual/habitual)

More explicitly usually / always:

• Uwata kullum tana ba ni labari kafin barci.
  = My mother always/usually tells me a story before bed.

Notes:

• ba ni = give me (indirect object)
• kullum = always/every day

Yes:

• labari – story, news, information (general, very common)
• ƙissa / kissa – tale, often a folktale or fictional story
• tatsuniya – folktale, fable, traditional story

For bedtime story, you might hear combinations like:

• labarin barci = bedtime story (literally: story of sleep)
• tatsuniyar barci = bedtime tale

For example:

• Uwata tana ba ni labarin barci kullum.
  = My mother gives me a bedtime story every day.