Learn Hardcore Hausa: Daliba ta ce lissafi ba shi da ban sha'awa, amma Hausa tana da ban sha'awa sosai. - A female student said math is not interesting, but Hausa is very interesting.

So in this sentence, daliba tells you that the speaker is a female student.
If you wanted to say “the (female) student”, you could say dalibar (with -r showing definiteness) in many contexts, e.g. Dalibar ta ce… = “The female student said…”

Why do we need ta in daliba ta ce when we already know the subject is “daliba”?

In Hausa, finite verbs normally take a subject pronoun even when the subject noun is already mentioned.

ta = “she” / “it” (3rd person singular feminine)
ce = completive (perfective) form of the verb cewa “to say”

So:

Daliba ta ce…
= literally “A female student, she said…”

This is normal and grammatically required.
You cannot drop ta and just say Daliba ce… in this meaning.

What tense or aspect is expressed by ta ce?

Ta ce is the completive (perfective) form, which often corresponds to a simple past in English:

ta ce = “she said”
ya ce = “he said”
sun ce = “they said”

So Daliba ta ce… = “A (female) student said…” or “The student said…”, describing a completed action.

Why is it written ta ce and not one word like tace?

In standard modern Hausa orthography, the subject pronoun and the verb are written as two separate words:

ta ce (she said)
ya ce (he said)
sun ce (they said)

In informal writing you may sometimes see them fused (e.g. tace), but in correct standard spelling they should be separate: ta ce.

How does lissafi ba shi da ban sha'awa literally work?

Literally, it breaks down like this:

lissafi = mathematics
ba … da = negative “have / with” construction
shi = “he/it” (3rd person singular masculine pronoun)
ban sha'awa = interest; attractiveness; something interesting

So:

lissafi ba shi da ban sha'awa
= literally “As for mathematics, it does not have interest.”
= idiomatically “Mathematics is not interesting.”

The negation pattern is:

Affirmative: lissafi yana da ban sha'awa (“math has interest” = “math is interesting”)
Negative: lissafi ba shi da ban sha'awa (“math does not have interest” = “math is not interesting”)

Why is the pronoun shi used for lissafi, but tana (feminine) is used for Hausa?

In Hausa, many inanimate nouns are grammatically masculine or feminine, and agreement follows that grammatical gender.

lissafi (mathematics) is treated as masculine → pronoun shi
- hence: lissafi ba shi da ban sha'awa
Hausa (the Hausa language) is treated as feminine → pronoun ta / tana
- hence: Hausa tana da ban sha'awa sosai

So:

shi = he / it (masculine)
ta / tana = she / it (feminine)

You generally have to learn the gender of inanimate nouns; it’s not always predictable, though nouns ending in -a are often feminine.

Could we say lissafi ba ya da ban sha'awa instead of ba shi da ban sha'awa?

For the standard “X has / doesn’t have Y” pattern, Hausa uses:

Affirmative: X yana da Y
Negative: X ba shi da Y

So:

✅ lissafi yana da ban sha'awa – math is interesting
✅ lissafi ba shi da ban sha'awa – math is not interesting

Using ba ya da is not the normal negative of this “have” construction and would sound odd or non‑standard in most contexts.
It’s better to stick with ba shi da / ba ta da / ba su da as the set negative “have” patterns:

ba ni da – I don’t have
ba ka da – you (m.) don’t have
ba ki da – you (f.) don’t have
ba shi da – he/it (m.) doesn’t have
ba ta da – she/it (f.) doesn’t have
ba su da – they don’t have

Is ban in ban sha'awa another negative word like ba?

No. Even though it looks similar to ba, in ban sha'awa it is not a separate negative particle.

ban sha'awa is treated as one fixed expression meaning
“interest”, “attractiveness”, “being interesting”.

You can think of it simply as a noun phrase:

ban sha'awa = interest / attractiveness
mai ban sha'awa = interesting (literally “having interest”, “possessor of interest”)

So in ba shi da ban sha'awa, only ba … da is doing the negation:

ba shi da = it does not have
ban sha'awa = interest

Together: ba shi da ban sha'awa = “it does not have interest”.

What does amma mean, and does it affect the word order?

Amma means “but”.

It works much like English “but”:

… ban sha'awa, amma Hausa tana da ban sha'awa sosai.
= “… is not interesting, but Hausa is very interesting.”

It does not change the basic word order of the clause that follows. You just place it at the start of the contrasting clause, just like English:

Ina gajiya, amma zan je. – I am tired, but I will go.
Ya tafi, amma ba ta tafi ba. – He went, but she didn’t go.

Why is it Hausa tana da ban sha'awa sosai instead of something like “Hausa is very interesting” with a separate verb “to be”?

Hausa does not use a separate verb like English “to be” in this kind of sentence.
Instead, it often expresses “X is (adjective)” using a “have / be with” idea:

Hausa tana da ban sha'awa sosai
literally: “Hausa (it-she) has very much interest”
meaning: “Hausa is very interesting.”

The structure is:

[Subject] + yana/tana/suna da + [noun of quality] (+ sosai)

Examples:

Littafin nan yana da ban sha'awa. – This book is interesting.
Aikin nan yana da wahala sosai. – This work is very hard.
Mutumin nan yana da hankali. – This man is sensible / intelligent.

What does sosai mean and where does it usually go in the sentence?

Sosai is an intensifier meaning:

“very”, “really”, “a lot”, “extremely”.

It usually comes after the phrase it intensifies:

ya fi kyau sosai – it’s much better / very good
tana son shi sosai – she likes him very much
Hausa tana da ban sha'awa sosai – Hausa is very interesting.

Putting sosai earlier (e.g. “Hausa tana da sosai ban sha'awa”) is not natural; keep it at the end.

Could we say Hausa ba ta da ban sha'awa to mean “Hausa is not interesting”?

Yes. That would be the negative counterpart of the same pattern:

Hausa tana da ban sha'awa sosai. – Hausa is very interesting.
Hausa ba ta da ban sha'awa. – Hausa is not interesting.

The agreement:

Hausa = feminine noun
affirmative: tana da
negative: ba ta da

So you can negate this construction for any noun, keeping gender agreement:

Littafin nan yana da ban sha'awa. – This book is interesting.
Littafin nan ba shi da ban sha'awa. – This book is not interesting.