Iyali na suna farin ciki yau.

My family is happy today.

Breakdown of Iyali na suna farin ciki yau.

• ne: to be
• yau: today
• iyali: the family
• farin ciki: happy

Questions & Answers about Iyali na suna farin ciki yau.

What does each word in “Iyali na suna farin ciki yau” literally mean?

Word by word:

• Iyali – family
• na – my (possessive marker attached to a noun)
• suna – they are (3rd person plural subject pronoun in the “continuous”/imperfective aspect)
• farin ciki – literally whiteness of the inside, idiomatically happiness / happy
• yau – today

So a very literal breakdown is: “Family my they-are happiness today.”
Natural English: “My family is happy today.”

Why is it “na” after “iyali”? Is that the word for “my”?

Yes. “na” here is the 1st person singular possessive clitic meaning “my”.

• iyali = family
• iyali na / iyalina = my family

In writing, you may see it either:

• iyali na (separate)
• iyalina (as one word)

Both reflect the same structure: noun + possessive clitic. In speech it’s usually pronounced as one unit, like “iyalina.”

Could I say “Iyalina suna farin ciki yau” instead of “Iyali na suna farin ciki yau”?

Yes.

Both:

• Iyali na suna farin ciki yau.
• Iyalina suna farin ciki yau.

are understood as “My family is happy today.”

Stylistically:

• Writing it together (Iyalina) is a bit more common in modern, standardized spelling.
• Writing it separate (Iyali na) makes the possessive clearer for learners, but it’s not wrong.

Meaning and grammar are the same in this sentence.

What exactly does “suna” do here? Why not just “Iyali na farin ciki yau”?

“suna” is the 3rd person plural subject pronoun in the imperfective (continuous) aspect. Roughly, it works like “they are” here.

• su = they
• na (in this context) = part of the imperfective marker
• suna ≈ “they are (doing/being …)”

Hausa usually requires a subject pronoun like suna in verb and many predicate constructions, even when there is a full noun phrase subject:

• Iyali na suna farin ciki. – My family is happy.
  (literally: “My family, they-are happy.”)

You can say “Iyali na farin ciki yau” and be understood, but the version with suna is more typical/standard in this kind of “they are happy” sentence.

Why is “suna” (plural “they are”) used when “my family” is singular in English?

In Hausa, collective nouns like “iyali” (family) are often treated as grammatically plural, because they refer to a group of people.

So:

• Iyali na suna farin ciki.
  literally: My family, they are happy.

This is similar to some varieties of British English:

• My family are happy today.

So it’s normal and correct in Hausa to use plural agreement (suna) with “iyali”.

Is “farin ciki” just “happy”, or is there more going on?

There is more going on. “farin ciki” is an idiomatic noun phrase:

• fari – white
• -n – linker (genitive marker)
• ciki – inside, belly

So “farin ciki” is literally “whiteness of the inside”, and idiomatically means “joy / happiness”.

Because it behaves like a noun phrase, Hausa often uses it with verbs or aspect markers, not as a simple adjective:

• Ina farin ciki. – I am happy. (literally: I am in happiness.)
• Suna farin ciki. – They are happy.

Is there a separate verb in Hausa that means “to be happy”, or do you always use “farin ciki”?

In everyday Hausa, happiness is almost always expressed with “farin ciki” plus some verb or aspect marker, especially “yin farin ciki” (“to do happiness”, i.e. to be/feel happy).

Common patterns:

• Ina farin ciki. – I am happy.
• Sun yi farin ciki. – They became / were happy.
• Iyali na suna farin ciki. – My family is (feeling) happy.

So you don’t usually have a bare verb meaning “to be happy”; instead, you “do” happiness or “be in” happiness with farin ciki.

Could you explain the grammar of “suna farin ciki” as a whole?

Yes:

• suna – they are (3rd person plural, imperfective/continuous)
• farin ciki – happiness (literally “whiteness of the inside”)

So “suna farin ciki” is:

• literally: “they-are (in a state of) happiness”
• naturally: “they are happy”

It’s structurally similar to English “they are in a good mood”, but the Hausa construction is more idiomatic and very common.

What does “yau” do in the sentence, and where can it go?

“yau” means “today”. It’s an adverb of time.

In this sentence it’s at the end:

• Iyali na suna farin ciki yau. – My family is happy today.

You can also move it to the beginning without changing the meaning:

• Yau, iyali na suna farin ciki.
• Yau iyali na suna farin ciki.

Placing “yau” at the beginning can put a slight emphasis on “today”, like saying “Today, my family is happy.”, but grammatically all of these are fine.

If I want to change the tense (for example, “My family was happy yesterday”), do I still use “farin ciki”?

Yes, you still use “farin ciki”, but you change the tense/aspect marker and usually add “yi” (to do) to make it sound natural.

For “My family was happy yesterday”, a natural sentence is:

• Iyali na sun yi farin ciki jiya.
  
  • sun – they have / they did (3rd plural perfective)
  • yi – to do
  • farin ciki – happiness
  • jiya – yesterday

Literally: “My family, they-did happiness yesterday.”

For a past continuous sense like “My family were (in a state of being) happy yesterday (for some period)”, you might hear:

• Jiya, iyali na suna farin ciki.
  (Context and narration would clarify that it’s about yesterday.)

Can I leave out “Iyali na” and just say “Suna farin ciki yau”?

Yes, if the context already makes it clear who “they” are.

• Suna farin ciki yau. – They are happy today.

In Hausa:

• The subject pronoun (suna) is usually obligatory in this kind of clause.
• The full noun phrase (iyali na) is optional if context tells us who we’re talking about.

So you can drop “Iyali na” but not “suna” in this sentence type.