Learn Hardcore Hausa: Tsuntsu yana tashi sama. - The bird is flying in the sky.

Tsuntsu yana tashi sama ≈ “The bird is flying up.”
Without yana, Tsuntsu tashi sama is either incomplete or sounds like a more “telegraphic” phrase, not normal everyday grammar for “The bird is flying up.”
So for a normal present‑progressive sentence, you do need yana (or the shorter form na, as in Tsuntsu na tashi sama).

What exactly is “yana”? Is it one word or two words?

Historically it’s two elements:

ya – “he / it (masculine)” subject pronoun
na – progressive marker “be doing”

In speech and writing, they combine into one word: yana.
So tsuntsu yana tashi literally has a pronoun (“he/it”) + progressive that agrees with tsuntsu and tells you the action is in progress.

Why is there a pronoun “ya” inside “yana” when we already have “tsuntsu” as the subject?

In Hausa, verbs normally agree with the subject via a subject pronoun that appears before the tense/aspect marker. Even when you have a full noun subject, you still add this “cross‑referencing” pronoun:

Tsuntsu yana tashi sama. – Bird he‑is flying up.
Yaro yana tashi. – The boy is getting up.
Mace tana tafiya. – The woman is walking.

So tsuntsu (bird) is the lexical subject, and ya‑ inside yana is the agreement pronoun that matches it (3rd person singular, masculine).

Is the word order in Tsuntsu yana tashi sama normal for Hausa?

Yes. The basic pattern here is:

Subject – (subject pronoun + progressive) – main verb – extra information

So:

Tsuntsu – subject noun
yana – “he/it is (doing)” (pronoun + progressive)
tashi – main verb (“rise / fly / take off”)
sama – direction / place (“up / to the sky”)

This is a very typical Hausa word order.

Does tsuntsu mean “a bird” or “the bird”?

By itself, tsuntsu can mean “a bird,” “the bird,” or “birds (in general)” depending on context. Hausa normally doesn’t use a separate word for “a / an / the”.

If you really need to be explicit:

wata tsuntsu – a (certain) bird
tsuntsun nan – this bird / that bird (near)
tsuntsun ɗin – the specific/known bird (roughly “the bird in question”)

But in a simple sentence like Tsuntsu yana tashi sama, an English speaker would usually translate it as “The bird is flying up / in the sky.”

How do you say “birds” in Hausa, and how would the sentence change with a plural subject?

The common plural of tsuntsu (bird) is tsuntsaye (birds).
If you make the subject plural, the agreement changes too:

Tsuntsu yana tashi sama. – The bird is flying up.
Tsuntsaye suna tashi sama. – The birds are flying up.

Notice yana → suna (3rd person plural progressive).

What other meanings can tashi have besides “fly”?

Tashi is a general verb meaning “rise, get up, take off, leave/depart, fly”, and the exact sense comes from context:

tashi daga barci – to get up from sleep
tashi daga kujerar – to get up from the chair
jirgi ya tashi – the plane took off
tsuntsu yana tashi sama – the bird is flying up / taking off into the air

So with a bird and sama, English “fly (up)” is the most natural translation.

What exactly does sama mean here? Is it “up” or “sky” or “heaven”?

Sama can mean:

“up / above” (direction)
“the sky / heavens” (a noun meaning the upper space)
by extension, “heaven” in a religious sense

In Tsuntsu yana tashi sama, you can understand it as “upwards / into the sky,” so both “up” and “in the sky” are reasonable interpretations.
You often also hear a sama (“in the sky / up above”), e.g. Tsuntsu yana tashi a sama.

Can I drop “sama” and just say “Tsuntsu yana tashi”?

Yes, that is a complete sentence:

Tsuntsu yana tashi. – The bird is taking off / getting up / flying.

Without sama, the idea of “up / in the sky” is less explicit. It might simply mean “The bird is taking off / starting to fly,” not necessarily emphasizing the sky or upward direction.

How would I say “The bird flies (in general / habitually)”, not “is flying right now”?

For a habitual / general fact, Hausa often uses:

kan (habitual marker), or
the simple present with na (depending on dialect/variety and style).

Examples:

Tsuntsu kan tashi sama. – A bird (in general) flies up / Birds fly.
Tsuntsaye kan tashi sama. – Birds fly (up / in the sky).

This talks about what birds normally do, not what is happening right now.

Is there a shorter form instead of “yana”, like “na” after the noun?

Yes, there is a short progressive form:

Tsuntsu na tashi sama. – The bird is flying up.

Here na is directly after the noun and marks the progressive aspect.
Both Tsuntsu na tashi sama and Tsuntsu yana tashi sama are grammatical; many speakers freely use either. The yana form makes the subject agreement more explicit and is especially necessary when there is no full noun subject, e.g. Yana tashi sama – “He/it is flying up.”

How do I pronounce tsuntsu yana tashi sama?

Approximate guidance for an English speaker:

tsu – like the “tsu” in Japanese tsunami (a ts sound plus u)
tsuntsu – tsun-tsu, both vowels like u in put (but often a bit more rounded)
ya – like ya in yard (y + short a as in father)
na – na as in nah
ta in tashi – ta as in taco
shi – like English “she”
sa – sa as in safari
ma – ma as in mama

Stress is fairly even; don’t strongly stress just one syllable the way English does. Also remember Hausa is tonal, though tones are not written in standard spelling; you mainly pick them up by listening to native speakers.