Learn Hardcore Hausa: Malama ta tambaye mu mu saurari waƙa da kunnenmu mu rubuta yadda muke ji. - The female teacher asked us to listen to a song with our ears and write how we feel.

Hausa finite verbs normally take a subject pronoun: na, ka/ki, ya, ta, mu, ku, su.
Even when you explicitly say the subject with a noun (here Malama “(female) teacher”), you still add the matching subject pronoun before the verb.

So:

Malama ta tambaye mu ≈ “The (female) teacher, she asked us.”
ta agrees with Malama (feminine, 3rd person singular) and marks that the action is completed (past/perfective).

Leaving it out (Malama tambaye mu) is not normal standard Hausa; it sounds wrong to native speakers.

Why is it ta and not ya in Malama ta tambaye mu?

Hausa marks grammatical gender in the 3rd person singular:

ya = “he” (3rd person singular masculine, past/perfective)
ta = “she” (3rd person singular feminine, past/perfective)

Because Malama means female teacher, you must use the feminine form:

Malam ya zo. – “The (male) teacher came.”
Malama ta zo. – “The (female) teacher came.”

So Malama ta tambaye mu means “The (female) teacher asked us.”

What is the difference between tambaya, tambayi, and tambaye?

They are closely related forms built from the same root:

tambaya
- This is usually a noun meaning “question”.
- Example: Ina da tambaya. – “I have a question.”
tambayi
- This is the verb “to ask (someone)” when followed by a full noun as the object.
- Example: Ta tambayi Malam. – “She asked the teacher.”
tambaye
- This is the same verb, but in the form used before a pronoun object.
- Example: Ta tambaye mu. – “She asked us.”

So in your sentence, ta tambaye mu is the correct combination because mu (“us”) is a pronoun object.

In ta tambaye mu, which word means “us”, and why does it come after the verb?

The word mu means “us” in this part of the sentence.

ta = “she (past)”
tambaye = “asked”
mu = “us” (object pronoun)

Hausa object pronouns normally come immediately after the verb:

Ta gan‑mu. – “She saw us.”
Ta tambaye‑mu. – “She asked us.”
Sun kira‑shi. – “They called him.”

So ta tambaye mu is literally “she asked us.”

Why is mu repeated in ta tambaye mu mu saurari waƙa da kunnenmu mu rubuta yadda muke ji?

There are two different uses of mu here:

ta tambaye mu – the first mu = “us” (object of “ask”).
mu saurari… mu rubuta… – the later mu’s = “we (should)” (subjects of the actions she wants us to do).

So the structure is:

Malama ta tambaye mu
→ mu saurari waƙa da kunnenmu
→ mu rubuta yadda muke ji.

In English: “The teacher asked us (that) we (should) listen to the song with our ears and (that) we (should) write how we feel.”

Hausa shows the new clause clearly by putting a pronoun subject (mu) before each verb: mu saurari, mu rubuta.

What exactly does mu before saurari and rubuta mean? Is it the same mu as “we”?

Yes, it is the same pronoun mu meaning “we”, but here it is used in a subjunctive / command / purpose sense:

mu saurari – “that we (should) listen”
mu rubuta – “that we (should) write”

This kind of mu + verb is typical:

Mu tafi. – “Let’s go.”
Ta ce mu zauna. – “She said (that) we should sit.”
Sun so mu yi aiki. – “They wanted us to work.”

In your sentence, after ta tambaye mu, the sequence mu saurari… mu rubuta… expresses what she wants us to do.

Why isn’t there a word meaning “to” before saurari and rubuta, like “to listen” or “to write”?

Hausa does not use a separate “to” infinitive the way English does.
Instead, it uses a finite verb with a subject pronoun, often in a subjunctive pattern:

English: “She asked us to listen to the song.”
Hausa: Ta tambaye mu mu saurari waƙa.
(literally: “She asked us we‑listen song.”)

Similarly:

English: “She told us to write it.”
Hausa: Ta ce mu rubuta shi.
(literally: “She said we‑write it.”)

So mu saurari and mu rubuta are how Hausa expresses “to listen” and “to write” in this type of construction.

In da kunnenmu, what does da mean? Is it “and” or something else?

Here da means “with” in the sense of “using” or “by means of”:

da kunnenmu = “with our ears” (using our ears)

Hausa da is very flexible:

Ali da Musa – “Ali and Musa” (da = “and”)
Ina da littafi. – “I have a book.” (literally: “I am with a book.”)
Ya yanka nama da wuƙa. – “He cut the meat with a knife.” (instrumental “with”)

In your sentence, saurari waƙa da kunnenmu means “listen to the song with our ears” (i.e., pay real attention), not “song and our ears.”

How is kunnenmu formed, and why is there an -n- in the middle?

Kunnenmu is made up of three parts:

kunne – “ear”
-n- – a linking consonant (often called the linker or genitive linker)
mu – “we/our”

So:

kunne + n + mu → kunnenmu = “our ear(s)”

This -n- (or sometimes -r-, -m-, depending on the word) is used in Hausa:

between a noun and a following possessive pronoun
- gida + n + su → gidan su – “their house”
between two nouns in a possessive-type relation
- littafin Malam – “the teacher’s book”

Here kunnenmu literally means “the ear(s) of us” → “our ears.”

What does yadda do in yadda muke ji?

Yadda is a conjunction meaning roughly “how” or “the way (that)”.

yadda muke ji = “how we feel” / “the way we feel”

It introduces a clause that describes a manner or way of doing/being:

Yi shi yadda na gaya maka. – “Do it the way I told you.”
Ka rubuta yadda ka fahimta. – “Write how you understood (it).”

So mu rubuta yadda muke ji means “that we (should) write how we feel / the way we feel.”

Why is it muke ji and not muna ji or just mu ji?

The form muke ji is the relative / imperfective form, which is used inside certain clauses, including those introduced by yadda.

Breakdown:

mu – “we”
ke – relative/imperfective marker
ji – “hear/feel”

Compare:

muna ji – “we are feeling/hearing” (main clause progressive)
- Muna jin waƙa. – “We are listening to a song.”
muke ji – “(that) we are feeling/hearing” inside a relative or focus clause
- yadda muke ji – “how we feel / are feeling”

After yadda, Hausa normally uses the …ke series:

yadda nake ji – how I feel
yadda kake ji – how you (m.) feel
yadda yake ji – how he feels
yadda muke ji – how we feel

So muna ji would not be natural here; muke ji is the correct form in this construction.

Does ji mean “hear” or “feel” in this sentence?

Ji is a very broad verb in Hausa; it can mean both “hear” and “feel” (including emotions and physical sensations). The exact meaning depends on context.

Examples:

Na ji ki. – “I heard you.”
Ina jin sanyi. – “I feel cold.”
Yana jin daɗi. – “He feels good / He enjoys it.”
Mun ji waƙa. – “We heard a song.”

In yadda muke ji, given the task (“listen to the song … and write how we ji”), it can be understood as:

“how we feel (about it)” – emotional reaction, or
more literally “what we hear/experience.”

In a classroom context, teachers typically mean “how we feel” or “what we feel/think when we listen.”

Why is it waƙa and not waƙar here? Does that change the meaning?

Waƙa is the basic word for “song” or “poem”; waƙar is the definite form, roughly “the song.”

waƙa – “a song / song (in general)”
waƙar – “the song” (a specific one already known in the context)

In your sentence:

mu saurari waƙa can be taken as “listen to a song / the song (contextually understood).”

Hausa often omits explicit definiteness if the context is clear, so waƙa can still refer to a particular song the teacher has in mind. Using waƙar would make “the” more explicit, but waƙa is also very natural here.