Uwa tana kunna rediyo idan tana so ta ji waƙa mai daɗi.

Mother turns on the radio when she wants to hear a nice song.

Breakdown of Uwa tana kunna rediyo idan tana so ta ji waƙa mai daɗi.

• ne: to be
• so: to want
• uwa: the mother
• idan: when

Questions & Answers about Uwa tana kunna rediyo idan tana so ta ji waƙa mai daɗi.

What exactly does tana mean in Uwa tana kunna rediyo, and how is it different from just ta kunna rediyo?

tana kunna is the progressive / habitual form:

• tana = she is (doing) / she (usually) does
• kunna = to turn on

So Uwa tana kunna rediyo is like saying “Mother turns on / is turning on the radio,” and in context it really means “Mother tends to turn on the radio (whenever …).”

If you said Uwa ta kunna rediyo, with ta instead of tana, you’d be using the perfective (completed action):

• Uwa ta kunna rediyo ≈ “Mother turned on the radio / has turned on the radio.”

So:

• tana kunna → ongoing or habitual action
• ta kunna → one completed action (or, in some contexts, a specific future event)

That’s why the sentence uses tana, because it’s talking about what she does whenever she wants to hear nice music (a repeated/habitual situation).

---

Why do we say idan tana so instead of idan ta so or leaving out tana?