Learn Hardcore Hausa: Yara suna kallon tsuntsu yana tashi sama yana yi waƙa. - The children are watching a bird flying in the sky and singing a song.

Suna is made up of su (they) + na (a marker often used for continuous or habitual aspect). In writing and speech this usually comes out as one word: suna.

In this sentence:

Yara = children
suna kallon… = are watching…

So suna is roughly equivalent to English are in are watching, but it also carries the idea of an ongoing or repeated action. Think of:

Yara suna kallon tsuntsu = The children are (in the process of) watching a bird.

If you changed suna to another form (like suka or sun), the time and aspect (ongoing vs. completed) would change, not just the tense. So suna is not just are, it is they + continuous aspect together.

Why is it kallon and not just kallo?

Kallo is a verbal noun meaning watching / a look / a viewing.

When this verbal noun directly takes an object, Hausa normally adds a linking -n (or -r depending on the word). That -n is a genitive linker, roughly of in English.

kallo (watching) + -n
- tsuntsu (bird)
  → kallon tsuntsu = watching of a bird → watching a bird

So:

Yara suna kallo – The children are watching (something, in general).
Yara suna kallon tsuntsu – The children are watching a bird.

Using kallo tsuntsu without -n is ungrammatical in standard Hausa in this structure.

Who does yana refer to? The children or the bird?

Yana is a 3rd person singular masculine form: ya (he/it, masculine) + na (continuous marker) → yana.

In this sentence, the nearest suitable 3rd person singular masculine noun before yana is tsuntsu (bird), which is grammatically masculine. So yana refers to the tsuntsu, not the yara.

Yara suna kallon tsuntsu – The children are watching a bird
[tsuntsu] yana tashi sama yana yi waƙa – it (the bird) is flying up and singing

So the structure is:

Main clause: Yara suna kallon tsuntsu
Description of tsuntsu: yana tashi sama yana yi waƙa

The children are not the ones flying and singing; the bird is.

Why is there no word like English that before yana tashi sama (as in the bird that is flying)? Is something omitted?

Hausa often does not use an explicit word like English that between a noun and a descriptive clause.

In English you might say:

The children are watching a bird that is flying up and singing.

In Hausa, it is very natural simply to put the descriptive clause right after the noun:

Yara suna kallon tsuntsu yana tashi sama yana yi waƙa.
(literally: The children are watching a bird it-is flying up it-is doing song.)

You can make it more obviously “relative” by adding da yake:

Yara suna kallon tsuntsu da yake tashi sama yana yi waƙa.
= The children are watching a bird that is flying up and singing.

But the original sentence without da yake is very normal and idiomatic, and context makes it clear that yana tashi sama… is describing the bird.

Why do we have yana tashi sama yana yi waƙa with yana repeated? Could we just say yana tashi sama yi waƙa?

In Hausa it is very common – and stylistically natural – to repeat the auxiliary with each verb in a sequence of ongoing actions.

yana tashi sama = it is flying up
yana yi waƙa = it is singing

Putting them together:

yana tashi sama yana yi waƙa = it is flying up and (also) singing.

You will hear and see both patterns:

Auxiliary repeated (very clear, common):
- yana tashi sama yana yi waƙa
Auxiliary used once then a bare verb (also possible in many contexts):
- yana tashi sama ya yi waƙa (often sounds more sequential: it is flying up and then it sang)
- or with da: yana tashi sama da yin waƙa (it is flying up while singing / with singing)

In your sentence, repeating yana keeps both tashi and yi waƙa clearly in the same progressive, simultaneous frame: it is flying and singing at the same time.

What exactly does tashi sama mean? Is sama just sky, or is it more like upwards?

On its own:

tashi can mean to get up, to rise, to take off, to fly (for birds/planes).
sama means up, upward, above, the sky.

Combined, tashi sama strengthens the idea of moving upward or into the air:

tashi – rise / take off / fly
tashi sama – fly up, rise up into the air, go up into the sky

In your sentence, yana tashi sama suggests the bird is actively taking off or flying upward, not just generally flying around somewhere.

Why do we say yi waƙa for to sing? What does yi add?

Yi is a very general verb meaning to do, to make, to perform.

Hausa often uses yi + noun to express what English treats as a simple verb. Some examples:

yi magana – to speak / talk (literally, to do speech)
yi bacci – to sleep (literally, to do sleep)
yi wasa – to play (literally, to do play)
yi waƙa – to sing (literally, to do song)

So yi waƙa functions as a compound verb meaning to sing. In your sentence:

yana yi waƙa = he/it is singing.

Could this sentence be misunderstood to mean that the children are the ones flying and singing? How do Hausa speakers avoid that confusion?

Grammatically, no: a Hausa speaker will automatically take yana tashi sama yana yi waƙa as referring to the tsuntsu, not to the yara, because:

yana is singular masculine, while yara is plural,
tsuntsu (bird) is the last suitable singular masculine noun before yana,
The structure [NOUN] … yana … is a very regular way of describing that noun.

To make it even more explicit, Hausa speakers sometimes add da yake or wanda yake:

Yara suna kallon tsuntsu da yake tashi sama yana yi waƙa.
Yara suna kallon tsuntsu wanda yake tashi sama yana yi waƙa.

Both clearly mean a bird that is flying up and singing, leaving no room for the children to be the ones flying and singing.

What is the basic word order in this sentence? Is it similar to English?

The core word order is very similar to English S–V–O, but the verb phrase is built differently.

Break it down:

Yara – subject (children)
suna kallon tsuntsu – verb phrase (are watching a bird)
yana tashi sama yana yi waƙa – descriptive clause about the bird

Inside suna kallon tsuntsu:

suna – auxiliary (they are)
kallon – verbal noun (watching of)
tsuntsu – object (bird)

So broadly:

English: [Children] [are watching] [a bird] [that is flying up and singing].
Hausa: [Yara] [suna kallon] [tsuntsu] [yana tashi sama yana yi waƙa].

Subject comes first, then the auxiliary + verbal noun, then the object, then the descriptive clause. So the overall order feels familiar to English speakers, but the internal structure of the verb phrase (auxiliary + verbal noun instead of a single finite verb) is a key difference.

How do you pronounce tsuntsu? That ts cluster looks tricky.

Tsuntsu has two syllables: tsun-tsu.

ts is a single consonant in Hausa, like the ts in English cats, but at the beginning of the syllable.
The u is pronounced like oo in English foot (short) or put.

So:

tsun – sounds like tsoon (but with a short oo)
tsu – like tsoo (again, short)

Say it smoothly: tsun-tsu. Both ts sounds should be clearly pronounced.