Learn Hardcore Hausa: Misali, yara suna koyon tsabta a makaranta. - For example, children are learning cleanliness at school.

You can leave Misali out if you’re not giving an example; it doesn’t affect the grammar of the rest of the sentence, only the discourse (it tells the listener this is just one example).

Can you break down each word in the sentence and its basic role?

Yes. Word by word:

Misali – example / for example (discourse marker)
yara – children (plural of yaro “child”)
suna – they are (3rd person plural subject pronoun + progressive aspect)
koyon – learning (of); verbal noun koyo “learning” + -n “of”
tsabta – cleanliness, being clean
a – preposition in / at
makaranta – school

So structurally:
[For example], children they-are learning (the) cleanliness at school.
Natural English: For example, children learn cleanliness at school.

Why do we have both yara and suna? Isn’t yara already “they/children”?

Yara is a noun (“children”), not a pronoun.
Suna is a subject pronoun + aspect marker:

su = they
-na = progressive / imperfective aspect (roughly “are …‑ing”)

Hausa normally needs this subject+aspect form before a verb or verbal noun:

Yara suna koyon tsabta. – The children are learning cleanliness.
Yara sun koya tsabta. – The children have learned cleanliness. (perfective sun)

So yara tells you who, and suna tells you who + what aspect/tense. You normally can’t drop suna in a simple main clause like this.

Is suna the same as English “are”?

It’s similar but not identical.

Functionally, in this sentence, suna is close to “are …‑ing”:
- yara suna koyon tsabta ≈ “children are learning cleanliness.”

But grammatically, suna bundles subject + aspect in one word:

su = they (subject pronoun)
na = progressive / imperfective aspect

Other forms of the same pattern are:

ina – I am (doing)
kana / kina – you (m/f) are (doing)
yana / tana – he / she is (doing)
muna – we are (doing)
kuna – you (pl) are (doing)
suna – they are (doing)

So it’s more than just “are”; it also encodes the subject and the type of action (ongoing/habitual).

What exactly is koyon here? Why not just koya?

The root verb is koya = to learn / to teach.
From it we get the verbal noun koyo = learning.

When koyo links to what is being learned, it often takes the -n linker, forming a genitive-like phrase:

koyon tsabta = the learning of cleanliness → learning cleanliness

So:

suna koyon tsabta
literally: they-are [in] the-learning-of cleanliness
functionally: they are learning cleanliness.

Why not koya? In many real-life sentences Hausa prefers the verbal noun pattern with the aspect form (suna koyo … or suna koyon …) when talking about the ongoing process of learning. For a learner, it’s easiest just to remember the chunk:

suna koyon X = they are learning X

Does tsabta mean “cleanliness” or “cleaning”? How is it used?

Tsabta is mainly an abstract noun meaning:

cleanliness, neatness, purity, being clean

It does not usually mean the activity “cleaning” (for that you’d see forms like tsaftacewa “the act of cleaning,” or other verbs).

Examples:

tsabta a jiki – bodily cleanliness
tsabta a gida – cleanliness in the home
ruwa tsabta – clean water
wuri mai tsabta – a clean place

In koyon tsabta, it’s the quality children are learning: the idea/practice of being clean, hygiene, cleanliness.

What does a makaranta mean exactly? Is it “in school” or “at school”?

The preposition a is very general; it often corresponds to English “in / at / on” depending on context.

a makaranta can be translated as “at school” or “in school”.

Both are usually acceptable in English for this context, so:

Misali, yara suna koyon tsabta a makaranta.
→ For example, children learn cleanliness at school / in school.

If you specifically want to emphasize inside the building, you can say:

a cikin makaranta – inside the school

Why is there no word for “the” in a makaranta or “the children” in yara?

Hausa does not have separate words that directly match English “a/an” or “the.”

Nouns like yara or makaranta can be interpreted as:

children / the children
school / the school

depending on context and what sounds natural in English.

So:

yara suna koyon tsabta a makaranta
might be translated as:
- children learn cleanliness at school,
- the children learn cleanliness at the school,
  etc.

You choose “a” vs “the” in English based on what you mean, not because Hausa marks it.

Can I change the word order, like “A makaranta, yara suna koyon tsabta”?

Yes. You can front the location for emphasis or style:

Misali, a makaranta yara suna koyon tsabta.
A makaranta ne yara suna koyon tsabta. (with ne for stronger focus)

All of these are possible. The neutral order, though, is:

[Subject] [suna] [verb phrase] [place]
→ Yara suna koyon tsabta a makaranta.

Changing the order usually adds emphasis (e.g., focusing on where the learning happens), rather than changing the core meaning.

How would the sentence change if I talk about just one child instead of children?

For a boy (yaro):

Misali, yaro yana koyon tsabta a makaranta.
→ For example, a boy is learning cleanliness at school.

For a girl (yarinya):

Misali, yarinya tana koyon tsabta a makaranta.

Pattern:

yaro – boy → yana (he is …‑ing)
yarinya – girl → tana (she is …‑ing)
yara – children → suna (they are …‑ing)

If I want to say “children are taught cleanliness at school” (passive), is this sentence still okay?

Yes. Hausa very often uses an active form where English might prefer a passive, so:

Yara suna koyon tsabta a makaranta.
is natural and can be understood as
“At school, children are (being) taught cleanliness / learn cleanliness.”

If you really want to highlight the teaching side, you can use another structure:

Ana koya wa yara tsabta a makaranta.
literally: One/they teach to children cleanliness at school.
natural: “Children are taught cleanliness at school.”

But your original sentence is fine and very idiomatic.

Can I drop suna and say “Misali, yara koyon tsabta a makaranta”?

In standard, careful Hausa, you should not drop suna here.

Misali, yara suna koyon tsabta a makaranta. ✅
Misali, yara koyon tsabta a makaranta. ❌ (ungrammatical as a normal main clause)

Hausa verbs (or verbal nouns used like verbs) in main clauses normally need a preceding subject+aspect form like suna, suna, yana, tana, etc. That’s why suna is required.