Learn Hardcore Hausa: Yau iska ta tashi a waje, amma ba sanyi sosai ba. - Today the wind has risen outside, but it is not very cold.

In Hausa, this is a common idiomatic way to say “the wind has started blowing / it’s windy.”
English uses an impersonal “it” (it’s windy), but Hausa talks directly about the wind as a thing that “gets up” or “starts.”

Why is the pronoun “ta” used here and not “ya” or “shi”?

Hausa has grammatical gender for nouns, and pronouns agree with that gender.

iska (wind) is grammatically feminine.
The feminine 3rd person singular subject pronoun is ta (“she/it” for feminine).
The masculine version would be ya (“he/it” for masculine).

So:

Iska ta tashi. – The wind has risen / It’s windy.
If the noun were masculine, you would see ya, e.g.
Rana ta fito. (The sun has come out. — rana is also feminine, so ta again.)
Gida ya rushe. (The house collapsed. — gida is masculine, so ya.)

You must use ta with iska to agree with its feminine gender.

What does “a waje” mean, and why do we need the “a”?

a waje breaks down as:

a – preposition meaning in/at/on (general location marker)
waje – outside, the outside, outdoors

So a waje = “outside” / “outdoors” in the sense of “at the outside place”.

You normally include a before location nouns:

a gida – at home / in the house
a kasuwa – at the market
a makaranta – at school
a waje – outside

Just saying waje alone can mean “outside” more as a bare noun (“the outside”), but for “outside (as a location)” in a sentence, you usually say a waje.

Could this sentence also be “Yau iska tana tashi a waje”? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can say:

Yau iska tana tashi a waje.

The difference is aspect (time-view of the action):

ta tashi – perfective: the event is seen as completed / started.
- iska ta tashi ≈ the wind has risen / the wind has started (blowing)
- Very natural as a general weather statement: “it’s (become) windy today.”
tana tashi – imperfective/progressive: ongoing / repeated action.
- iska tana tashi ≈ the wind is blowing (now / repeatedly).
- Feels more like describing the continuous action of the wind at this moment.

In everyday speech about weather, Yau iska ta tashi a waje is very idiomatic for “It’s windy today outside.”
Yau iska tana tashi a waje is understood, but draws more attention to the ongoing blowing of the wind.

How does “amma” work here? Is it just like English “but”?

Yes, amma is a common conjunction meaning “but / however.”

In the sentence:

Yau iska ta tashi a waje, amma ba sanyi sosai ba.

you can understand it as:

“Today the wind is up outside, but it’s not very cold.”

amma connects two clauses and introduces a contrast, just like English but.
It usually comes at the beginning of the second clause, as you see here.

Why is “ba” used twice in “ba sanyi sosai ba”?

Hausa standard negation often uses “ba … ba” around what is being negated, especially in simple nominal (non-verb) sentences and in many other clause types.

In ba sanyi sosai ba:

first ba – starts the negation
sanyi sosai – “(very) cold / much cold”
final ba – closes the negation

So ba sanyi sosai ba literally is like:
“there is not (much) cold” / “it is not very cold.”

This double ba pattern also appears in other sentences, e.g.:

Ba gida ba ne. – It is not a house.
Ba mai aiki ba ne. – He is not a worker.
Ba zan tafi ba. – I will not go.

In your sentence, ba … ba is applied to the phrase sanyi sosai.

What exactly is “sanyi”, and how can a noun mean “cold” like an adjective?

sanyi is a noun meaning coldness, coolness, chill, cold (as a thing).

Hausa often uses nouns where English uses adjectives, especially in weather and physical sensation expressions:

sanyi – cold / coldness
zafi – heat / hotness
zafi ne. – It’s hot. (literally “it is heat”)
sanyi ne. – It’s cold. (literally “it is coldness”)

In your sentence:

ba sanyi sosai ba = “there isn’t much cold” → “it’s not very cold.”

So the structure is [negation] + [noun (coldness)], rather than an adjective like in English.

What does “sosai” add to the meaning, and where does it go in the sentence?

sosai means “very, a lot, greatly, extremely.”

It typically comes after the word it modifies:

sanyi sosai – very cold / a lot of cold
zafi sosai – very hot
ina gajiya sosai. – I am very tired.
ya ci abinci sosai. – He ate a lot (of) food.

In ba sanyi sosai ba, the order sanyi sosai is the natural one:

You would not normally say ba sosai sanyi ba for this meaning.
So: “not very cold” is expressed as ba sanyi sosai ba.

Why is there no word like “is” (a copula) in “ba sanyi sosai ba”?

Hausa often drops an explicit copula (“is/are”) in simple nominal sentences (X is Y), especially in the present tense.

So instead of something like:

“It is cold.”

Hausa can just say:

Sanyi ne. – (It) is cold.
Ba sanyi sosai ba. – It is not very cold.

The ne/ce particle sometimes appears for focus or clarity (e.g. sanyi ne sosai, shi ne sanyi), but in a short, neutral weather statement like this, just ba sanyi sosai ba is completely natural. The “is” is understood, not spoken.

How does Hausa express “it” in weather sentences? There’s no “it” here.

Hausa does not use a dummy subject like English “it” for weather.
Instead, it talks directly about the relevant thing (wind, cold, rain, sun, heat, etc.):

Iska ta tashi. – The wind has risen / It’s windy.
Sanyi ne. – It is cold. (literally: “(There) is coldness.”)
Rana ta fito. – The sun has come out.
Ana ruwa. – It is raining. (literally: “One/they are [doing] rain.”)

So in your sentence:

Yau iska ta tashi a waje, amma ba sanyi sosai ba.

Hausa mentions iska (wind) and sanyi (cold) directly, instead of an impersonal “it.”