Learn Hardcore Hausa: Da yamma muna sauraron kida daga rediyo a falo. - In the evening we listen to music from the radio in the living room.

Literally, da yamma is something like “with evening / at evening-time”, but in Hausa this fixed expression is the normal way to say “in the evening”.

Hausa uses da plus a time-of-day word to mean “at that time”:

da safe – in the morning
da rana – in the afternoon / daytime
da yamma – in the evening
da dare – at night

So Da yamma muna… = “In the evening we…”

Could I say a yamma instead of da yamma?

In standard, natural Hausa you normally say da yamma, not a yamma, for “in the evening”.

The preposition a is the general locative (“in / at / on”) and is not usually used with these time-of-day expressions. For time of day, Hausa strongly prefers:

da safe, da rana, da yamma, da dare

You might occasionally see a yamma in some dialects or in poetry, but for everyday speech and writing, da yamma is the safe, idiomatic choice.

What exactly is muna? Is it just the pronoun “we”?

muna is not just “we”; it’s a subject pronoun fused with an aspect marker. It roughly means “we (are)” in a continuous or habitual sense.

Hausa has a special set of forms for continuous / habitual actions:

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

So:

Mu = independent pronoun “we”
muna = “we (are) [doing something]”

In muna sauraron kida, muna introduces a continuous or habitual action: “we (are) listening to music / we (usually) listen to music”.

Why is it muna sauraron kida and not muna saurara kida or muna saurari kida?

Hausa often expresses ongoing or habitual actions with:

[continuous pronoun] + [verbal noun]

Here:

The verb is saurara / saurare – “to listen, pay attention”.
The verbal noun (VN) is sauraro – “listening”.

To add an object, the verbal noun uses a linker:

sauraro + -n + kida → sauraron kida = “the listening of music” = “listening to music”.

So muna sauraron kida is literally:

“We are in the listening-of-music (state)” → “We are listening to music / We listen to music.”

Using the finite verb directly (muna saurara kida, muna saurari kida) is either ungrammatical or at least not the normal pattern here. The continuous + verbal noun pattern is what you should learn:

Ina cin abinci. – I am eating (food).
Muna sauraron kida. – We are listening to music.

What is the function of the -n at the end of sauraron?

The -n in sauraron is the genitive linker that connects one noun to another, similar to “of” or possessive linking in English.

Base verbal noun: sauraro – listening
With linker before another noun: sauraro + n → sauraron

Then it links to kida:

sauraron kida = “listening of music” → “listening to music”.

This same linker appears all over Hausa:

gidan malam – the teacher’s house (house-of teacher)
sauraron waƙa – listening to a song
sha’anin aiki – matter of work

Why doesn’t Hausa use a word for “to” after “listen”? Why is it sauraron kida and not something like sauraron zuwa kida?

In Hausa, “listen to (something)” is expressed by a transitive verb that takes a direct object. There is no separate preposition like English “to”.

Verb: saurara / saurare / saurari – to listen (to)
Verbal noun: sauraro – listening

So:

sauraron kida – listening (to) music
sauraron rediyo – listening (to) the radio
sauraren magana – listening (to) speech / what is being said

Adding zuwa (“to, toward”) here would be wrong; the idea of “to” is already built into the verb.

Is there any difference between kida and waƙa?

Yes, they’re related but not identical:

kida
- literally “instrumental playing, drumming,” but in modern usage it generally means music (often the instrumental or overall sound).
- You can use it for any kind of music: traditional, pop, etc.
waƙa
- literally song, poem, lyrics.
- Focuses more on the words being sung or recited.

In practice:

kida – the music / instrumentation (and by extension, music in general).
waƙa – a song, or the lyrical / poetic side.

In your sentence, kida is natural, because you’re talking about music from the radio in general, not one specific song.

Why is it daga rediyo for “from the radio”? Could I say a rediyo or zuwa rediyo?

daga usually means “from, out of, originating in”. When you talk about sound coming from a source, daga is the normal preposition:

kida daga rediyo – music from the radio
saƙo daga mahaifina – a message from my father
ruwa daga rijiyar nan – water from this well

Compare:

a rediyo – at / on the radio (location or medium), not “from”.
- e.g. Shirin yana a rediyo. – The program is on the radio.
zuwa rediyo – to the radio (movement toward the radio).

So to show source of the sound, daga rediyo is the right choice.

What does a falo mean exactly, and how is a used here?

a falo means “in the living room”.

a is the general locative preposition meaning “in / at / on”.
falo is “living room / sitting room”.

So:

a falo – in the living room
a gida – at home / in the house
a makaranta – at school

Note that Hausa doesn’t use a separate word for “the” here; a falo can mean “in the living room” when context makes it clear which living room you mean.

Could I also say cikin falo instead of a falo?

Yes, but there is a slight nuance difference:

a falo – in / at the living room (neutral location).
cikin falo – inside the living room; it highlights the “inside” aspect more strongly.

In many contexts they’ll both be understood as “in the living room,” but:

a falo is the more general everyday way.
cikin falo can feel a bit more specific or descriptive (“inside the living room” rather than just “at the living room area”).

Does muna sauraron kida mean “we are listening to music right now” or “we usually listen to music”?

By itself, muna sauraron kida can mean either, depending on context:

Right now / at this moment:
- With something like yanzu (“now”):
  - Yanzu muna sauraron kida. – We are listening to music now.
Habitual / repeated action:
- With a time expression like da yamma:
  - Da yamma muna sauraron kida… – In the evenings, we (usually) listen to music…

So in your full sentence with da yamma, the natural reading is habitual: “In the evening we (normally) listen to music from the radio in the living room.”

Can I change the word order, like Muna sauraron kida daga rediyo a falo da yamma?

You can move the time expression, but the most natural, neutral order in Hausa is often:

[Time] + [Subject + Verb (+ Object)] + [Place]

So your original:

Da yamma muna sauraron kida daga rediyo a falo.
= In the evening, we listen to music from the radio in the living room.

Other possible orders:

Muna sauraron kida daga rediyo a falo da yamma. – Grammatically possible; the meaning is still clear, but da yamma at the end is a bit less typical and may sound slightly heavier stylistically.

If you strongly want to emphasize the time, Hausa often puts it at the beginning (as in the original sentence), or even in a cleft construction:

Da yamma muke sauraron kida daga rediyo a falo.
(Focus on “it’s in the evening that we listen…”)

For a learner, keeping da yamma at the beginning is a good, natural pattern.

How would I say “In the mornings we listen to music from the radio in the living room”?

You can keep the structure and just change the time expression:

Da safe muna sauraron kida daga rediyo a falo.

Breakdown:

da safe – in the morning(s)
muna sauraron kida – we listen to music
daga rediyo – from the radio
a falo – in the living room

Is there any difference between muna sauraron kida daga rediyo and muna sauraron rediyo?

Yes:

muna sauraron rediyo
- literally “we are listening to the radio”.
- Focus is on listening to radio programs in general (news, talk shows, music, anything).
muna sauraron kida daga rediyo
- “we are listening to music from the radio”.
- Emphasizes that what you’re listening to on the radio is music specifically, not just any kind of broadcast.

Your sentence makes it clear that the content is music, and the source is the radio.

How would I say “In the evening we do not listen to music from the radio in the living room”?

A natural negative version is:

Da yamma ba ma sauraron kida daga rediyo a falo.
(Full form, often with a final ba in more formal style:)
- Da yamma ba ma sauraron kida daga rediyo a falo ba.

Pattern:

ba + [negative continuous pronoun] + [verbal noun phrase] (ba)
For muna, the negative is ba ma:

Examples:

Muna karatu. → Ba ma karatu. – We study. → We don’t study.
Da yamma muna sauraron kida. → Da yamma ba ma sauraron kida.
– In the evening we listen to music. → In the evening we do not listen to music.