Learn Hardcore Hausa: Ƙauna tana da muhimmanci sosai.

So the structure is “Love has a lot of importance.”, which is the natural Hausa way to express “love is very important.” Hausa often uses “be + da” (to be with) to express possession or an abstract quality:

Ina da kuɗi. – I have money.
Rayuwa tana da ƙalubale. – Life has challenges. / Life is challenging.

What exactly does tana da mean here?

Tana da is made of:

ta – 3rd person singular feminine pronoun “she/it (fem.)”
-na – a marker often called the continuous/progressive aspect
da – “with”, used in this pattern to mean “have/possess”

So tana da literally is “she/it is with”, and in this construction it functions like “she/it has.”

In this sentence, tana da connects the subject ƙauna to what it “has”: muhimmanci sosai (a lot of importance).

Why is it tana and not yana?

Hausa nouns have grammatical gender: masculine or feminine. The verb-like element (the subject pronoun) must agree with the gender of the noun.

yana = “he/it (masc.) is …”
tana = “she/it (fem.) is …”

The noun ƙauna (love) is grammatically feminine, so it takes tana, not yana:

Ƙauna tana da muhimmanci sosai. – Love (fem.) has a lot of importance.
If the subject were masculine, you would use yana, e.g.:
- Soyayya yana da muhimmanci sosai. (in some dialects where soyayya is treated as masc.)

The key point: tana agrees with ƙauna because ƙauna is feminine in Hausa grammar.

What part of speech is muhimmanci, and how is it related to muhimmi?

Muhimmi is an adjective: “important.”
Muhimmanci is an abstract noun: “importance.”

Hausa often forms abstract nouns from adjectives by using the suffix -ci (or -anci / -anci depending on the word). Here:

muhimmi → muhimmanci (“importance”)

So in the sentence, ƙauna tana da muhimmanci sosai = “love has a lot of importance / love is very important.”

You could also meet forms like mahimmanci in some writing; muhimmanci is very common and understood as “importance.”

Why is it muhimmanci sosai and not simply muhimmi sosai?

Both are possible, but they are slightly different structures:

Ƙauna tana da muhimmanci sosai.
- Literally: “Love has a lot of importance.”
- muhimmanci is a noun (“importance”) modified by sosai (“a lot / very much”).
Ƙauna tana da muhimmi sosai.
- Grammatically possible, but less idiomatic in this exact pattern.
- This would sound more like “Love has very important [something]” and feels incomplete without a noun (e.g. abu muhimmi sosai – “a very important thing”).

To say “Love is very important”, Hausa speakers very naturally say:

Ƙauna tana da muhimmanci sosai.
or
Ƙauna muhimmi ce sosai. – literally “Love is important (fem.) very.”

Your sentence uses the abstract noun pattern (importance) plus tana da.

What does sosai mean, and can it go anywhere else in the sentence?

Sosai means roughly “very, very much, a lot, greatly.” It intensifies adjectives, verbs, or verbal expressions.

In Ƙauna tana da muhimmanci sosai, it intensifies muhimmanci, giving the sense of “a lot of importance / very important.”

Typical placement is after what it intensifies:

Yayi kyau sosai. – It is very beautiful.
Na gaji sosai. – I am very tired.
Muhimmanci sosai. – A lot of importance / very important.

You’ll very rarely move sosai earlier; putting it after muhimmanci is the natural choice here.

Is this da the same as the “and” / “with” that I know from other contexts?

Yes, it is the same da, but in this structure it has a special grammatical function.

Basic meanings of da:

“and”:
- Ali da Musa – Ali and Musa
“with”:
- Ina zuwa da kai. – I am coming with you.

In combinations like ina da, kana da, tana da, etc., da creates a “have / possess” meaning:

Ina da kuɗi. – I have money.
Sun daɗe da aure. – They have long been married.
Ƙauna tana da muhimmanci sosai. – Love has a lot of importance.

So it is the same word, but here it is part of the standard “be + da” = “have” construction.

Why is only the first letter Ƙ capitalized? Is Ƙauna normally capitalized?

In normal Hausa writing:

Common nouns like ƙauna (love) are written in lowercase: ƙauna.
The first word of a sentence is capitalized, so at the start you’ll see Ƙauna.

In your example, Ƙauna is capitalized only because it starts the sentence, not because “Love” is a proper noun. In the middle of a sentence it would be written ƙauna.

How would the sentence change if the subject were plural, like things instead of love?

The subject pronoun needs to agree with number and gender. For a plural subject, you use suna (“they are …”) instead of tana (“she/it (fem.) is …”).

For example:

Abubuwa suna da muhimmanci sosai.
- abubuwa – things
- suna da – they have
- muhimmanci sosai – a lot of importance / are very important
- Meaning: “Things are very important.” (in context, often “these things are very important.”)

So the pattern is:

Singular feminine: ƙauna tana da muhimmanci sosai.
Plural: ƙauna da zaman lafiya suna da muhimmanci sosai. – “Love and peace are very important.”

How do you pronounce ƙauna, especially the letter Ƙ?

Ƙauna is pronounced roughly like:

ƙauna – [ƙáu.nà] (two syllables: ƙau–na)

About Ƙ / ƙ:

It is not the same as plain k.
ƙ is an implosive / glottalized k‑sound, produced deeper in the throat, with a slight inward movement of air.
English doesn’t have this sound, so many learners approximate it with a strong “k”; native speakers will usually still understand you.

So you can think of ƙauna as something like “kauna” with a stronger, “popped” k at the beginning.