Yara suna wasa a ƙarƙashin bishiya.

The children are playing under a tree.

Breakdown of Yara suna wasa a ƙarƙashin bishiya.

• ne: to be
• yaro: the child
• wasa: to play
• bishiya: the tree
• a ƙarƙashin: under

Questions & Answers about Yara suna wasa a ƙarƙashin bishiya.

What does each word in Yara suna wasa a ƙarƙashin bishiya mean literally?

Word by word, it breaks down like this:

• yara – children (plural of yaro, child)
• suna – they are (literally su they
  • na aspect marker for present/progressive or habitual)
• wasa – play / playing (a verbal noun meaning play, game, playing)
• a – a general locative preposition meaning roughly in / at / on / to
• ƙarƙashin – under, underneath, beneath
• bishiya – tree

So the basic structure is children – they-are – playing – at – under – tree.

Why do we have both yara and suna? Aren’t they both referring to they / the children?

Yes, both refer to the same group, and this is normal in Hausa.

• yara is the full noun subject (children).
• suna contains the pronoun su (they) plus the aspect marker na.

Hausa very often uses a full noun subject + pronoun pattern with verbs, e.g.:

• Yara suna wasa. – The children are playing.
• Malamai suna magana. – The teachers are speaking.

If you drop the noun and just say Suna wasa, it means They are playing, but then who they are is understood from context, not mentioned explicitly.

Is suna exactly the same as English are?

Not exactly. suna does two jobs at once:

1. It includes the subject pronoun su (they).
2. It marks the present/progressive or habitual aspect (something that is happening now, or happens regularly).

English are only shows person/number; it does not itself say whether the action is progressive or habitual. Hausa suna tends to cover both meanings:

• Yara suna wasa. – The children are playing / The children play (habitually).

Context usually tells you if it’s right now or habitually.

What is wasa exactly? Is it a verb like “to play”?

wasa is a verbal noun. It can mean:

• play, playing (the activity)
• game (a game, a play)

In this sentence, suna wasa is literally they-are at playing, which functions like English are playing.

If you look it up in a dictionary, you might see entries such as:

• yi wasa – to play (literally do play)

So:

• Yara suna wasa. – The children are playing.
• Yara sun yi wasa. – The children played / have played.

What does the preposition a contribute in a ƙarƙashin bishiya? Could you leave it out?

a is a very common Hausa locative preposition, roughly in / at / on / to.

In a ƙarƙashin bishiya, it leads into a location phrase and can often be translated simply as under together with ƙarƙashin:

• a ƙarƙashin bishiya – under the tree / beneath the tree

Native speakers sometimes say just ƙarƙashin bishiya in fast or informal speech, but a ƙarƙashin bishiya is very standard and clear, and as a learner you should keep the a there. It signals that what follows is a place where the action happens.

What is the structure and meaning of ƙarƙashin?

ƙarƙashin comes from:

• ƙarƙashi – underside, lower part, underneath
• -n – a linker that connects it to a following noun (of in English-like glosses)

So:

• ƙarƙashin bishiya – literally the underside of tree → under the tree / beneath the tree

Without a following noun you would normally just say ƙarƙashi (underside), and ƙarƙashin appears when it introduces a noun phrase after it.

What does bishiya mean, and how do you make it plural?

bishiya means tree.

Its common plural is:

• bishiyoyi – trees

So:

• Yara suna wasa a ƙarƙashin bishiya. – The children are playing under the tree.
• Yara suna wasa a ƙarƙashin bishiyoyi. – The children are playing under the trees. (less common context, but grammatically fine)

How is the sound ƙ in ƙarƙashin pronounced?

The Hausa letter ƙ is an implosive k. To an English speaker, you can think of it as:

• Similar place of articulation as k, but
• Pronounced with a little inward movement of air and a tighter closure in the throat.

Very approximate tips:

• k in kasa – a regular k sound.
• ƙ in ƙasa – a deeper, “popped” k made farther back.

English does not have ƙ, so learners often pronounce it just like k. Native speakers will usually still understand you, but it is a good sound to practice.

Does Hausa have words for the and a/an, or is yara already definite like the children?

Hausa does not have separate words like English the and a/an. Definiteness is shown mainly by:

• Suffixes, especially -n / -r / -n on nouns
• Context and word order

In this isolated sentence:

• Yara suna wasa… could be understood as children are playing or the children are playing, depending on context.

If you say:

• Yaran suna wasa a ƙarƙashin bishiya.

the -n on yaran tends to make it more clearly the children (some specific group already known in the context).

What is the basic word order in this sentence? Is it the normal Hausa order?

Yes, it follows the usual Hausa word order:

• Subject – (pronoun/aspect) – verb – place phrase

In this case:

• Yara – subject (children)
• suna – pronoun + aspect marker (they are)
• wasa – verb idea (playing)
• a ƙarƙashin bishiya – location phrase (under the tree)

So the full pattern is: Yara – suna – wasa – a ƙarƙashin bishiya.

How would you say The children are not playing under the tree?

The normal negative of suna (they are / they do) is ba sa. So you get:

• Yara ba sa wasa a ƙarƙashin bishiya.
  – The children are not playing under the tree. / The children do not play under the tree.

You may also see a final ba in more careful style:

• Yara ba sa wasa a ƙarƙashin bishiya ba.

Everyday speech often drops that last ba after longer sentences.

How would you change this sentence to past and future: The children played / will play under the tree?

You usually switch to a different aspect marker and often use yi with wasa:

• Past (perfective):
  Yara sun yi wasa a ƙarƙashin bishiya.
  – The children played / have played under the tree.

• Future:
  Yara za su yi wasa a ƙarƙashin bishiya.
  – The children will play under the tree.

Compare with the original:

• Yara suna wasa a ƙarƙashin bishiya. – The children are playing / (habitually) play under the tree.

Could you drop yara and just say Suna wasa a ƙarƙashin bishiya?

Yes.

• Suna wasa a ƙarƙashin bishiya. means They are playing under the tree.

Without yara, you are not specifying who they are; it must be understood from the previous context. The version with yara names the group explicitly:

• Yara suna wasa a ƙarƙashin bishiya. – The children are playing under the tree.