Learn Hardcore Hausa: Yaro yana zaune kusa da babba a falo. - A child is sitting next to an adult in the living room.

In everyday speech, people often use yaro more generally as child, especially when the gender is not important.
The specifically female form is yarinya (girl).
The plural of yaro is yara (children/kids).

So context decides whether you translate yaro as boy or simply child.

Why is it yana zaune and not ya zauna, if the meaning is “is sitting”?

Hausa distinguishes between a completed action and an ongoing/state action:

ya zauna = he sat / he has sat (a completed action in the past)
yana zaune = he is sitting / he is in a sitting position (ongoing state right now)

In this sentence we want to describe the current state of the boy (he is sitting there now), so yana zaune is the correct form.

What exactly is zaune? Is it a normal verb form?

Zaune is not the basic verb; it is a verbal adjective / stative form derived from the verb zauna (to sit, to reside/live).

You can think of it like this:

zauna ≈ “to sit” (the basic verb)
zaune ≈ “in a sitting state” / “sitting”

In Hausa, physical positions are often expressed like this:

yana zaune – he is sitting
yana tsaye – he is standing
yana kwance – he is lying down

So zaune works more like an adjective that describes the boy’s posture, combined with yana (“he is”).

Could I say Yaro yana zauna kusa da babba instead of yana zaune?

No, Yaro yana zauna kusa da babba is not the normal way to say “The boy is sitting near the adult.”

With physical posture (sitting/standing/lying), Hausa uses the stative forms:
- zaune (sitting)
- tsaye (standing)
- kwance (lying)

So you say:

Yaro yana zaune – The boy is sitting.

Using zauna with yana (→ yana zauna) suggests something more like “he (habitually) sits / he stays / he lives (there)”, not just his posture right now.

Why is it yana with yaro? What would it be with a girl or with several children?

Yana agrees with the subject in person and gender/number.
For the progressive “… is doing …”, the forms are:

ni ina zaune – I am sitting
kai/kina kana/kinna zaune – you (sg.) are sitting (forms vary a bit by dialect)
shi yana zaune – he is sitting
ita tana zaune – she is sitting
mu muna zaune – we are sitting
ku kuna zaune – you (pl.) are sitting
su suna zaune – they are sitting

So:

Yaro yana zaune – The boy is sitting.
Yarinya tana zaune – The girl is sitting.
Yara suna zaune – The children are sitting.

We don’t need a separate “he” or “she” word; yana / tana / suna already include that information.

What does kusa da literally mean, and why do we need da after kusa?

Literally:

kusa = nearness, closeness
da = with / to

Together, kusa da functions as a compound preposition meaning “near, close to, beside”:

kusa da babba – near an adult
kusa da gida – near the house
kusa da hanya – near the road

You normally must have da when kusa is followed by a noun.
Without da, kusa would sound incomplete or ungrammatical in this context.

Can I drop da and say kusa babba?

No, not in this structure. With a following noun, you should say:

kusa da babba – near an adult
kusa da tebur – near the table

Without da, it is not correct Hausa.

The only time you can leave da out is when kusa is used more like an adverb, without a noun after it, for example:

Ya zo kusa. – He came close.

But as soon as you mention what it is close to, you need da: kusa da …

What does babba mean here exactly? Does it mean “big person”, “elder”, or “parent”?

Literally, babba means big / great / grown-up. As a noun referring to a person, it usually means:

an adult,
an elder / older person, or
simply a grown-up (as opposed to a child).

In this sentence, kusa da babba is best understood as “near an adult / near a grown-up.”

Important points:

babba contrasts with yaro (child), so you get a child vs. adult contrast.
It does not necessarily mean “parent”; it could be any adult.
It can refer to a man or a woman; the word babba itself doesn’t change form for gender here.
The plural idea “elders / adults” is often expressed with forms like manyan mutane (literally “big/important people”).

How would I say “near the big boy” instead of “near an adult”?

To say “near the big boy”, you can use an adjective with yaro:

kusa da babban yaro – near the big boy / the older boy

Notes:

In Hausa, adjectives normally come after the noun, but they often change form when they are directly attached to a noun.
The basic adjective is babba (big), but in front of yaro it becomes babban:
- yaro babba – a big boy
- babban yaro – the big boy (more tightly linked, often somewhat more definite/emphatic)

So you could build a full sentence:

Yaro yana zaune kusa da babban yaro a falo. – A boy is sitting near the big boy in the living room.

What is the function of a before falo? Could I use cikin instead?

a is a general locative preposition. It often corresponds to “in, at, on” in English, depending on context:

a falo – in the sitting room / in the living room
a gida – at home / in the house
a kasuwa – at the market

You can use cikin as well:

cikin falo – inside the sitting room

The nuance:

a falo: neutral “in the living room” (location).
cikin falo: emphasises being inside the interior of the room (not outside the door, not just at the area called “falo”).

In many everyday contexts, a falo and cikin falo will both be understood as “in the living room,” with only a small difference in emphasis.

Is falo the same as ɗaki or gida?

No, they refer to different kinds of places:

falo – a sitting room / living room / lounge (the main room where people sit and receive guests)
ɗaki – a room, often understood as a bedroom unless specified otherwise
gida – house, home

So:

a falo – in the living room
a ɗaki – in the room/bedroom
a gida – at home / in the house

Can I change the order and say Yaro yana zaune a falo kusa da babba? Does that change the meaning?

Yes, you can say:

Yaro yana zaune kusa da babba a falo.
Yaro yana zaune a falo kusa da babba.

Both are grammatically correct and mean essentially the same thing: the boy is sitting near the adult in the living room.

Nuance:

kusa da babba a falo: the picture is “near the adult (who is) in the living room.”
a falo kusa da babba: the location in the living room comes first, then near the adult further specifies where in that room.

In normal conversation, both orders are acceptable; Hausa allows some flexibility with the order of these location phrases.

In English we say “The boy is sitting.” Why doesn’t Hausa need a separate word for “he” here?

In Hausa, the progressive/person marker (like yana) already includes the subject pronoun:

yana ≈ “he is”
tana ≈ “she is”
suna ≈ “they are”, etc.

So:

Yaro yana zaune literally feels like “Boy he-is sitting,” but “he” is built into yana, so you don’t add another shi (he).

If you say:

Yaro shi yana zaune…

this is possible, but it adds emphasis on shi (“The boy, he is the one who is sitting…”). For a neutral sentence, Yaro yana zaune… is the normal form.