Learn Hardcore Hausa: Ni bana son amo mai yawa lokacin da nake sauraron waƙa a rediyo. - I do not like a lot of noise when I am listening to a song on the radio.

When you make it into a verbal noun / gerund (“liking, love”), it becomes so → soː → so-n = son (spelled son). This son then takes the thing liked as its object:

son amo – “liking (of) noise”
son ki – “liking of you”
son waƙa – “liking of music / songs”

So bana son amo is literally “I don’t have a liking of noise”, which functions as “I don’t like noise.”

What does amo mean exactly? Is it “sound” or “noise”? How is it different from sauti?

amo usually means “noise, sound (often unwanted or background noise)”.
sauti is more neutral: “sound, voice, audio.”

In this sentence, amo mai yawa fits the idea of “too much noise” or “a lot of (disturbing) sound.”

Examples:

Amo a titi ya yi yawa. – The noise on the street is too much.
Sautin rediyo ya yi ƙarfi. – The (actual audio) sound of the radio is loud.

So amo is good for noise; sauti is good for sound / audio in a more neutral or technical sense.

What does mai yawa literally mean, and how does it work?

Literally:

mai – “having / possessing”
yawa – “much, a lot, abundance”

So amo mai yawa = “noise that has a lot (of it)” → “a lot of noise / much noise / too much noise.”

This mai + noun pattern is very common:

mutum mai kudi – a person with money (a rich person)
gida mai hawa biyu – a house with two floors
amo mai yawa – noise that is a lot → a lot of noise

What does lokacin da mean, and why is there a da after lokacin?

lokaci – “time”
lokacin – “the time (of)” (genitive form)
da – here works like “that / when” introducing a clause.

So lokacin da together means “the time that / when.”

In this sentence:

lokacin da nake sauraron waƙa
≈ “(the) time when I am listening to music”

It’s one normal way to say “when” in Hausa, especially to introduce a relative / subordinate clause:

Lokacin da na iso, ka riga ka tafi.
– When I arrived, you had already gone.

What is nake here, and how does it relate to ina?

Both ina and …n-ake relate to the present continuous / progressive (“am doing”).

Ina sauraron waƙa. – I am listening to music.
… da nake sauraron waƙa – “…when I am listening to music.”

nake is built from:

na – 1st person sg marker
ke – auxiliary used in relative / focused clauses

After lokacin da, Hausa prefers … nake … instead of ina:

lokacin da nake cin abinci – when I am eating
lokacin da nake aiki – when I am working

So here, nake is the form of “am (doing)” used inside this “when…” clause.

Why is it sauraron waƙa and not just sauraro waƙa?

sauraro is “listening / hearing” as a verbal noun.

When a verbal noun takes a direct object, Hausa usually links them with a genitive -n / -r:

sauraron waƙa – “listening to music”
jin waƙa – hearing music
karatun littafi – reading a book
shan shayi – drinking tea

Because sauraro ends in a vowel, you add -n and it becomes:

sauraro + n + waƙa → sauraron waƙa

So nake sauraron waƙa = “I am (in the act of) listening to music.”

What does waƙa mean, and how is ƙ pronounced?

waƙa means “song” or more broadly “music (song-based).”
The letter ƙ represents an ejective / glottalized ‘k’ sound, made with a small “pop” in the throat. It is not the same as plain k.

Very roughly:

k – like “k” in “kite”
ƙ – a tenser “k,” produced with a glottal closure; there is no exact English equivalent.

Pronouncing waƙa with plain k (waka) can change the word or sound foreign to native speakers. So ƙ is important here.

What does a rediyo literally mean? Why use a for “on the radio”?

a is a general preposition: in / at / on (location or medium).
rediyo – “radio.”

So a rediyo is literally “in/on radio.”
In English we say “on the radio,” but Hausa uses a for this kind of medium:

Ina jin waƙa a rediyo. – I’m hearing music on the radio.
Ana magana a talabijin. – People are talking on TV.

So a is the standard preposition here.

Is the word order fixed, or could I move lokacin da… to the front?

Both orders are possible, with a slight difference in emphasis.

Sentence as given (neutral focus on what you don’t like):
- Ni bana son amo mai yawa lokacin da nake sauraron waƙa a rediyo.
  – I don’t like a lot of noise when I’m listening to music on the radio.
Starting with the time clause (emphasis on the situation/when):
- Lokacin da nake sauraron waƙa a rediyo, ni bana son amo mai yawa.
  – When I’m listening to music on the radio, I don’t like a lot of noise.

Both are grammatical; Hausa allows this kind of fronting for lokacin da… clauses.

Should there be another ba at the end of the sentence? I’ve seen negatives like ba … ba.

In full, careful Hausa, the negative often has ba … ba around the clause:

Ni ba na son amo mai yawa lokacin da nake sauraron waƙa a rediyo ba.

In everyday speech and many written examples, the final ba is often dropped, especially in simple statements, leaving just the first part:

Ni bana son amo mai yawa lokacin da nake sauraron waƙa a rediyo.

So:

With both: more formal/full.
With only the first ba (as bana): common in casual use and easily understood.

Could I say jin waƙa instead of sauraron waƙa? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say jin waƙa, but there is a nuance:

sauraron waƙa – listening to music (more active/intentional)
jin waƙa – hearing music (could be more passive: you hear it because it’s there)

In this sentence, nake sauraron waƙa suggests you are actively listening to the music on purpose, which matches the idea that extra noise is disturbing that activity.
Using jin waƙa would be understood, but the sense may be slightly more like “when I’m hearing music…” rather than “when I’m properly listening to music…”.