Learn Hardcore Hausa: Na duba agogo na, na ga ƙarfe goma da rabi na dare. - I looked at my watch and saw that it was ten thirty at night.

Na₁ (before duba)
- This is the 1st person singular subject in the perfective.
- It means I (did).
- Na duba ≈ I checked / I looked (at).
na₂ (after agogo)
- This is the possessive pronoun my.
- agogo na = my watch / my clock.
na₃ (before dare)
- This is the linker/genitive marker meaning roughly of.
- ƙarfe goma da rabi na dare = half past ten of the night / 10:30 at night.
- It does not mean my here; it simply links the time to night.

So:

first na = I (did),
second na = my,
third na = of (linking to night).

What tense or aspect does Na duba express?

Na duba uses the perfective aspect, which usually describes a completed action in Hausa.

Na duba agogo na can be translated as:
- I checked my watch,
- or sometimes I have checked my watch, depending on context.

Contrast it with:

Ina duba agogo na = I am checking / I am looking at my watch (ongoing, imperfective).
Zan duba agogo na = I will check my watch (future).

So in this sentence, Na duba clearly places the action in the completed past.

What exactly does duba mean, and do I need a preposition like at after it?

duba means to look at / to check / to examine.

It is a transitive verb, and it takes its object directly, with no preposition:
- Na duba agogo na = I checked my watch / I looked at my watch.
- Na duba jarida = I looked at the newspaper.
- Na duba imel ɗina = I checked my email.

So you do not say anything like duba a agogo; you just put the object right after the verb.

(Another common verb for look at is kalli, often for looking/watching with more focus: Na kalli talabijin = I watched TV.)

What does agogo mean here—watch, clock, or time?

agogo basically means a timepiece:

watch (on your wrist),
clock (on the wall, on your phone, etc.),
and by extension, it can refer to the time shown on a clock.

Typical uses:

agogo na = my watch / my clock.
agogon daki = the room clock.
Agogon ya tsaya. = The clock has stopped.

For time in general, Hausa usually uses lokaci:

Ban da lokaci. = I don’t have time.

Could I also say Na duba agogona instead of agogo na? Is there any difference?

Yes, you can say Na duba agogona, and the meaning is the same.

agogo na = my watch (noun + separate possessive pronoun).
agogona = my watch (noun plus -na attached as a suffix).

Both are correct. Some notes:

In writing you may also see a hyphen: agogo-na.
The attached form (agogona) is very common and feels compact and natural.
The separate form (agogo na) can sound slightly more deliberate or emphatic, but both are everyday Hausa.

So:

Na duba agogo na.
Na duba agogona.

Both = I checked my watch.

Why is there only a comma between the two parts, instead of a word meaning and like in English?

Hausa often joins clauses simply by putting them next to each other, especially when the actions follow one another in time.

Na duba agogo na, na ga ƙarfe goma da rabi na dare.
Literally: I-checked my-watch, I-saw ten-thirty of night.

You could add a connector if you want to make the relation explicit:

Na duba agogo na, sai na ga ƙarfe goma da rabi na dare.
(sai adds a sense of then / and then / so (then).)
Na duba agogo na, kuma na ga…
(kuma ≈ and / also, but a bit less natural in this exact context.)

The sentence with just a comma is perfectly normal: Hausa does not always need an explicit and between clauses.

Why is it na ga and not something like na gani?

The basic verb to see is gani, but in the finite perfective forms it shortens to ga in combination with subject markers:

na ga = I saw
ka ga = you (m.s.) saw
kin ga = you (f.s.) saw
ya ga = he saw
ta ga = she saw
mun ga = we saw
kun ga = you (pl.) saw
sun ga = they saw

gani itself is used as a verbal noun / infinitive:

Ina son ganin sa. = I want to see him.
Na yi farin cikin ganinki. = I was happy to see you (f.).

So in your sentence, the correct finite form is na ga, not na gani.

What does ƙarfe add here? Is it necessary?

ƙarfe is the standard word used in telling clock time. It’s like saying “o’clock” / “the time of”.

ƙarfe goma = ten o’clock.
ƙarfe goma da rabi = half past ten / 10:30.

In ordinary, clear speech, you normally include ƙarfe when you state a time:

Zan tafi ƙarfe biyu. = I’ll go at two o’clock.

In very informal talk you might sometimes hear people drop it and just say the number, but ƙarfe is the regular, standard form.

How does ƙarfe goma da rabi express half past ten?

The structure is:

ƙarfe
- number
  - da rabi.

Where:

goma = ten,
da = and,
rabi = half.

So:

ƙarfe goma = ten o’clock,
ƙarfe goma da rabi = ten and half → half past ten (10:30).

Other useful patterns:

ƙarfe goma da minti goma sha biyar = 10:15 (ten and fifteen minutes).
ƙarfe goma da kwata = 10:15 (ten and a quarter).
ƙarfe goma saura kwata = 9:45 (ten minus a quarter → quarter to ten).

The key idea: da = and, saura = minus / remaining, kwata = quarter.

What is the role of the last na in ƙarfe goma da rabi na dare? Could I leave it out?

Here, the last na is a linker meaning “of”, tying the time to a period of the day:

ƙarfe goma da rabi na dare
= ten-thirty of the night / 10:30 at night.

You see the same pattern with other parts of the day:

ƙarfe takwas na safe = 8:00 in the morning.
ƙarfe biyu na rana = 2:00 in the afternoon.
ƙarfe shida na yamma = 6:00 in the evening.

In everyday conversation you might sometimes hear alternative expressions like:

ƙarfe goma da rabi da daddare (using da daddare = at night),
but in the pattern used in your sentence, na is normal and not usually omitted.

What exactly does dare mean here? How is it different from yamma?

dare means night, roughly late evening through the night, while yamma is more like late afternoon / early evening.

Very roughly (it varies by speaker and context):

yamma: about 4 p.m. – 7/8 p.m.
- ƙarfe shida na yamma = 6 in the evening.
dare: after it’s clearly night, often 8/9 p.m. onward
- ƙarfe goma da rabi na dare = 10:30 at night.

The borders are not rigid, but dare in your sentence clearly signals it is night-time, not just early evening.

How do you pronounce ƙarfe, and what is the difference between ƙ and k in Hausa?

Hausa distinguishes two k-sounds:

k: a plain k, like English k in kite.
ƙ: an ejective k, made with a small “pop” from the throat (glottalized).

So ƙarfe starts with this ejective ƙ sound. In careful Hausa pronunciation, these two sounds can change meaning:

ƙasa = ground, earth, country.
kasa = to fail, or under / below in some contexts.

Many learners (and even some native speakers) don’t always pronounce the difference clearly, but in writing, the distinction k / ƙ is important, and dictionaries treat them as different consonants.

If I want to say “I was checking my watch when I saw it was 10:30 at night”, how would I change the verbs?

A natural way is to use the imperfective for the ongoing action and keep the perfective for the new event:

Ina duba agogo na, sai na ga ƙarfe goma da rabi na dare.

Literally: I-was checking my watch, then I saw it was 10:30 at night.

Breakdown:

Ina duba = I am / I was checking / looking at (imperfective, ongoing).
sai = adds then / when / and then.
na ga = I saw (perfective, completed event).

You can also make it more explicit:

Yayin da nake duba agogo na, na ga ƙarfe goma da rabi na dare.
= While I was checking my watch, I saw it was 10:30 at night.

Using the pattern in this sentence, how could I ask “What time is it?” in Hausa?

The most direct pattern uses ƙarfe plus nawa (how many / what number?):

Ƙarfe nawa ne?
Ƙarfe nawa ya yi? (very common)

Both mean What time is it? (literally: It has done what o’clock? for ya yi).

Some related answers, using the same pattern as your sentence:

Ƙarfe goma da rabi na dare. = It’s 10:30 at night.
Ƙarfe bakwai na safe. = It’s 7:00 in the morning.
Ƙarfe biyu na rana. = It’s 2:00 in the afternoon.