Learn Hardcore Hausa: Lokacin da ruwan sama ya tsaya, za mu tafi filin wasa mu yi yawo. - When the rain stops, we will go to the playground and take a walk.

Lokacin da ruwan sama ya tsaya, za mu tafi filin wasa mu yi yawo.

When the rain stops, we will go to the playground and take a walk.

Breakdown of Lokacin da ruwan sama ya tsaya, za mu tafi filin wasa mu yi yawo.

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Questions & Answers about Lokacin da ruwan sama ya tsaya, za mu tafi filin wasa mu yi yawo.

What does Lokacin da mean here, and how is it different from just idan?

Lokacin da literally means “the time that / when”. It introduces a time clause:

Lokacin = the time
da = a linker that can mean that / when in this context

So Lokacin da ruwan sama ya tsaya = When the rain stops (literally “The time that the rain stops”).

You could also say:

Idan ruwan sama ya tsaya… = When/if the rain stops…

Differences:

Lokacin da… focuses more on the specific time an event happens.
Idan… is more like if / when, and can sound a bit more conditional.

Both are common and acceptable here; Lokacin da just sounds a bit more like you are talking about the moment in time.

What does ruwan sama literally mean? Why not just a single word for “rain”?

Ruwan sama is a compound expression:

ruwa = water
-n = a linking/genitive ending (ruwa + n → ruwan)
sama = sky / heaven

So ruwan sama literally = “water of the sky”, and that is the usual way to say rain.

Hausa often forms new meanings by linking two nouns like this (possessive/genitive construction):

ruwan lemo = soft drink (literally “water of orange drink”)
gidan cin abinci = restaurant (literally “house of eating food”)

Why is it ya tsaya and not ta tsaya with ruwan sama?

The verb part is:

ya tsaya = he/it stopped (3rd person masculine singular, perfective)

In Hausa, nouns have grammatical gender. Ruwa (and so ruwan sama) is treated as masculine, so it takes the masculine subject pronoun ya:

ruwan sama ya tsaya = the rain stopped

If the noun were feminine, you would use ta instead. For example:

mota ta tsaya = the car stopped (mota is feminine)

So ya tsaya agrees with the gender of ruwa.

The clause is talking about the future (“when the rain stops”), but ya tsaya looks like a past form. Why?

Yes, ya tsaya is perfective aspect, often used for past events:

ruwan sama ya tsaya = the rain stopped / has stopped

However, in Hausa, when you talk about a future time using expressions like Lokacin da, sa’ad da, idan, you commonly use the perfective form in that clause, even though the whole sentence refers to the future.

So:

Lokacin da ruwan sama ya tsaya
literally: “The time that the rain has stopped”
functionally: “When the rain stops” (in the future)

It’s a standard pattern: a time/conditional clause + perfective, followed by a main clause that can be future:

Idan ya zo, za mu fara = When he comes, we will start.

How does za mu tafi work? Is za like “will”?

Yes, za is the usual future marker in Hausa.

mu = we
tafi = go
za mu tafi = we will go / we are going to go

Structure:

za + subject pronoun + verb
- za ni je / zan je = I will go
- za ka zo = you (m.sg.) will come
- za su yi = they will do

So za mu tafi directly corresponds to English we will go.

Why is it tafi filin wasa with no preposition meaning “to the playground”? Shouldn’t there be a word like “to”?

With motion verbs like tafi (to go), Hausa often omits a preposition and just puts the destination noun directly after the verb:

tafi gida = go home
tafi kasuwa = go to the market
tafi makaranta = go to school

So:

tafi filin wasa = go to the playground

You can add zuwa (“to”) for emphasis or clarity:

za mu tafi zuwa filin wasa = we will go to the playground

Both forms are correct; the shorter one is very common in everyday speech.

What exactly does filin wasa mean? Is it always a children’s playground?

Filin wasa is another genitive-style expression:

fili = open space / field / ground
-n = linking ending (fili + n → filin)
wasa = play, game, playing

So filin wasa literally = “field of play” / “play area”.

It can refer to:

A playground (for children)
A general playing field or sports ground
Sometimes just any open space where people play

If you want to specify, you might say:

filin kwallo = football pitch
filin wasa na yara = children’s playground

Why is it mu yi yawo at the end, instead of another za mu before yi?

The end of the sentence is:

za mu tafi filin wasa mu yi yawo

Breakdown:

za mu tafi = we will go
mu yi yawo = literally “we do strolling” → we (shall) stroll / we will take a walk

In Hausa, once you have already marked the future with za for the first verb, you often:

Do not repeat za for each following verb
Use the subjunctive/jussive form (here mu yi) for later actions in the sequence

So it’s like saying:

We will go to the playground and (then) we stroll / walk around.

You could say za mu yi yawo again, but it sounds heavier and less natural. The original is smoother and very idiomatic.

Why is there another mu before yi yawo? Could you just say …filin wasa yi yawo?

You do need the mu there.

yi by itself is just “do”; it needs a subject.
In coordinated or sequential actions, Hausa normally repeats the subject pronoun with each new finite verb in this kind of structure.

So:

za mu tafi filin wasa, mu yi yawo
= we will go to the playground and (we will) stroll

If you dropped mu:

za mu tafi filin wasa yi yawo

this would sound incomplete or wrong to a native speaker in standard Hausa.

The pattern is:

za mu [verb1] … mu [verb2] …
we will [verb1] … (and) [we will] [verb2] …

What does the expression yi yawo mean? Why use yi (“do”) with yawo?

Yi yawo is a very common expression:

yi = do / make
yawo = wandering, strolling, roaming about

Together yin yawo / yi yawo = to stroll / take a walk / roam around / hang out.

Examples:

Mu yi yawo kadan. = Let’s take a short walk.
Sun fita yin yawo. = They went out for a stroll.

Hausa often uses yi + noun to make a verb-like phrase:

yi magana = speak, talk
yi wasa = play
yi aiki = work

So yi yawo fits the same pattern: “do strolling” → stroll.

Could the order be Za mu tafi filin wasa lokacin da ruwan sama ya tsaya instead? Is that still correct?

Yes, that is correct and natural:

Lokacin da ruwan sama ya tsaya, za mu tafi filin wasa mu yi yawo.
Za mu tafi filin wasa mu yi yawo lokacin da ruwan sama ya tsaya.

Both basically mean the same thing.

Differences in feel:

Starting with Lokacin da… puts more emphasis on the condition/time first (When the rain stops…).
Starting with Za mu tafi… puts more emphasis on what we will do, and only then adds when.

Grammatically, both word orders are fine. Hausa allows the time clause either before or after the main clause.

Is Lokacin da ruwan sama ya tsaya more like “when” or more like “after”?

In this sentence it is understood as “when (once)” in a future sense:

When the rain stops, we will go…

Because the event of stopping comes first in time, English might sometimes also say:

After the rain stops, we will go…

In Hausa, Lokacin da … ya tsaya here mainly means “the time when it has stopped”, but in practice speakers use it like “when it stops”. Context makes it clear that:

The rain will stop first.
Then you will go to the playground.