Yara suna gudu a waje bayan darasi.

The children run outside after the lesson.

Breakdown of Yara suna gudu a waje bayan darasi.

• ne: to be
• a: at
• yaro: the child
• waje: outside
• bayan: after
• darasi: the lesson
• gudu: to run

Questions & Answers about Yara suna gudu a waje bayan darasi.

Why do we need both Yara and suna? Doesn’t suna already mean “they are”?

In Hausa, when the subject is a full noun (like yara = “children”), you usually still add a subject pronoun before the verb.

• Yara = the children (noun phrase)
• suna = they are (3rd person plural subject pronoun + progressive marker)
• gudu = running

So Yara suna gudu… is literally “The children, they-are running…”.
This “double subject” (noun + pronoun) is normal and grammatical Hausa.

If the meaning is clear from context, you can sometimes drop the noun and just say:

• Suna gudu a waje bayan darasi. – They are running outside after class.

But you cannot drop the pronoun and say ✗ Yara gudu a waje… in this structure; that would be wrong.

Does suna gudu mean “they are running (right now)” or “they run (generally/habitually)”?

suna gudu is primarily a progressive / continuous form:

• suna gudu ≈ “they are running”

So in context, your sentence most straightforwardly means:

• Yara suna gudu a waje bayan darasi.
  The children are running outside after class (right now / at that time).

If you want to clearly express habit (“they usually run / they tend to run”), Hausa often uses sukan + verb:

• Yara sukan gudu a waje bayan darasi.
  The children usually run outside after class.

So:

• suna gudu – ongoing action in the present (or around now)
• sukan gudu – repeated / habitual action

What exactly does the little word a in a waje mean?

a is a common preposition that usually means “in / at / on” depending on context. In this sentence:

• a waje = outside (literally “at outside / in the outside”)

Some examples:

• a gida – at home
• a makaranta – at school
• a kasuwa – at the market
• a waje – outside

In most cases where English uses “in / at” to show location, Hausa will use a.

Can I drop a and just say Yara suna gudu waje bayan darasi?

No, that sounds ungrammatical or very odd.

Hausa normally needs a preposition before a noun of place when you’re talking about location:

• ✅ a waje – outside
• ✅ a gida – at home
• ✅ a makaranta – at school

So you should keep the a:

• Yara suna gudu a waje bayan darasi.
  The children are running outside after class.

What does waje mean? Is it always just “outside”?

In this sentence, waje means “outside (the building / room)”.

More generally, waje can mean:

1. Outside / outdoors

   • Ina so in zauna a waje. – I want to sit outside.

2. Place / area (sometimes in compounds)

   • wajen aiki – the place of work, workplace

3. In some contexts, “abroad / overseas” (especially in speech like “ya tafi waje” – he went abroad).

But a waje in your sentence is the common everyday way to say “outside” as in “The kids are outside.”

What does bayan mean in bayan darasi? Can it also mean “behind”?

Yes, bayan can mean both:

1. “after” in a time sense

   • bayan darasi – after class / after the lesson
   • bayan salla – after the prayer

2. “behind” in a spatial sense

   • a bayan gida – behind the house

In your sentence, because darasi is an event (a lesson), bayan darasi is understood as “after class”, not “behind class”.

How would I say “before class” instead of “after class”?

Use kafin for “before” (time), instead of bayan:

• Yara suna gudu a waje kafin darasi.
  The children are running outside before class.

So:

• bayan darasi – after class
• kafin darasi – before class

What exactly does darasi mean? Is it “class”, “lesson”, or “course”?

darasi usually means “lesson / class session”, i.e. one teaching period or a specific lesson.

Common related words:

• darasi – a lesson / a class period
• darussa – lessons (plural)
• makaranta – school
• aji – class (as a group or level), e.g. aji na uku – third class / third grade

So bayan darasi is “after (the) lesson / after class (period)” rather than “after the whole course.”

How would I put this sentence into the past tense (“The children ran outside after class”)?

To make it clearly past, switch from suna gudu (progressive) to a perfective form sun gudu:

• Yara sun gudu a waje bayan darasi.
  The children ran outside after class.

Structure:

• Yara – the children (noun)
• sun – they (3pl perfective subject pronoun)
• gudu – ran
• a waje – outside
• bayan darasi – after class

Compare:

• Yara suna gudu… – The children are running… (present, ongoing)
• Yara sun gudu… – The children ran… (completed past event)

If I want to say “The children are playing outside after class”, how do I change the sentence?

You simply replace the verb gudu (“run”) with wasa (“play”):

• Yara suna wasa a waje bayan darasi.
  The children are playing outside after class.

The pattern Yara suna + [verb] + a waje bayan darasi works with many verbs:

• Yara suna karatu a waje bayan darasi. – The children are reading/studying outside after class.
• Yara suna magana a waje bayan darasi. – The children are talking outside after class.

Is there any word for “the” in Yara suna gudu a waje bayan darasi? How do you say “the children” vs “children (in general)”?

Hausa does not have separate words for “the” or “a/an” like English.

• Yara by itself can mean:
  • “children” (in general), or
  • “the children” (if the context makes a specific group clear)

To make a noun more specifically definite, Hausa often uses possessive/genitive constructions or demonstratives:

• yaran nan – these children / the children here
• yaran makaranta – the school children
• yaranmu – our children

But in many simple sentences, a bare noun like yara is translated with “the” in English if that sounds more natural:

• Yara suna gudu a waje bayan darasi.
  → “The children are running outside after class.”

How do you pronounce the words yara, suna, gudu, and waje?

Approximate pronunciations (in simple English terms):

• yara – YAH-rah

  • y like English y in yes
  • r is a light tap/flap (a quick “r”)

• suna – SOO-nah

  • u like oo in food

• gudu – GOO-doo

  • both u like oo in food

• waje – WAH-jeh

  • j like j in judge
  • e like e in get (short “eh” sound)

Hausa is tonal, but tones are not shown in normal spelling. At a basic level, it’s enough to copy what you hear from native speakers and focus on getting the consonants and vowels right first.