Learn Hardcore Hausa: ’Yar uwata tana son jirgin sama, tana kallo yadda yake tashi daga filin jirgi a talabijin. - My sister likes airplanes; she watches how they take off from the airport on television.

’yar = daughter / girl (reduced form of yarinya or from the noun ’ya = child)
uwa = mother
-ta = my (possessive suffix for my on feminine nouns)
uwata = my mother
’yar uwata = daughter of my mother → my (female) sibling → my sister

So Hausa often names siblings as son/daughter of my father/mother.
Similarly:

ɗan uwata = son of my mother → my brother (from ɗa = son, ɗan = son of)

Why is there an apostrophe at the beginning of ’Yar? How is it pronounced?

The initial mark in ’yar shows that there is a glottal stop /ʔ/ before the y sound. It is written as ’ (apostrophe) in standard Hausa orthography.

Pronunciation:

’yar ≈ [ʔjar]
- Start with a little catch in the throat (like the break between uh‑oh in English), then say yar.

This apostrophe also distinguishes ’ya / ’yar (child, daughter) from plain ya (he has done) or yar (which would be a different sequence). It’s part of the normal spelling; you keep it when you add possessives:

’yata = my daughter
’yarsa = his daughter
’Yar uwata = daughter of my mother

What exactly does tana mean in tana son jirgin sama and tana kallo?

tana is a compound form:

ta = she (3rd person singular feminine subject pronoun)
na = progressive / continuous aspect marker

So ta + na → tana means roughly she is (doing). It marks an ongoing or habitual action.

In the sentence:

tana son jirgin sama = she (is) liking / she likes airplanes
tana kallo = she (is) watching

Hausa uses subject pronoun + aspect marker like this for most finite verbs:

Ina tafiya. = I am going. (ni + na → ina)
Suna wasa. = They are playing. (su + na → suna)

Why is it tana son jirgin sama and not tana so jirgin sama?

The verb so (to like, to want) behaves a bit differently from many other verbs:

You very often see son rather than plain so in continuous/habitual contexts.
son is a verbal noun / noun form of the verb so.

So:

ta na son jirgin sama (contracted to tana son jirgin sama)
= literally she is in liking of airplane
= she likes airplanes.

You will see:

Ina son abinchi. = I like food.
Muna son tafiya. = We want to go / we like travelling.

Plain so does appear, but son after ina/tana/muna/suna etc. is extremely common and sounds more natural here.

In tana son jirgin sama, what do jirgin and sama each mean, and why is there an -n on jirgin?

Breakdown:

jirgi = vehicle, ship, airplane (depending on context)
sama = sky, heavens, up

When Hausa links two nouns in a genitive relationship (X of Y), it usually adds a linking consonant -n or -r to the first noun:

jirgi + -n + sama → jirgin sama
literally ship of sky, i.e. airplane.

Other examples:

gidajen abinci = houses of food → restaurants
motar makaranta = car of school → the school’s car / school bus

So -n in jirgin sama is the normal genitive linker: X-n Y = X of Y.

Why do we repeat tana in the second clause instead of just saying something like … tana son jirgin sama, kallo yadda yake tashi …?

In Hausa, each finite clause normally needs its own subject + aspect marker. So:

tana son jirgin sama = full clause 1
tana kallo yadda yake tashi… = full clause 2

If you drop tana in the second part, kallo yadda yake tashi… no longer has an explicit grammatical subject or aspect marker, and it sounds incomplete or ungrammatical in standard Hausa.

More natural multi‑clause options usually repeat or clearly mark the second verb:

’Yar uwata tana son jirgin sama, tana kuma kallon yadda yake tashi…
’Yar uwata tana son jirgin sama kuma tana kallo yadda yake tashi…

Is kallo a verb or a noun in tana kallo yadda yake tashi? Why not something like tana kallon yadda…?

kallo is primarily a verbal noun / action noun from the verb kalli (to look at, to watch).

So:

kalli = to watch / to look at (finite verb form)
kallo = watching, a look, viewing (noun / verbal noun)

In tana kallo yadda yake tashi…, we have:

tana (she is) + kallo (watching)
→ literally she is in watching how it takes off…

Often, when a verbal noun is followed by something it governs, you’ll see a genitive linker -n:

tana kallon fina-finai. = She watches films.
tana kallon yadda jirgin sama yake tashi. = She watches how the plane takes off.

In your sentence, tana kallo yadda… (without -n) is still understandable and used in speech, but many speakers would prefer tana kallon yadda… as the more “complete” form.

What does yadda yake tashi mean structure‑wise, and why is yake masculine?

Breakdown:

yadda = how / the way that
ya = he / it (3rd person singular masculine subject pronoun)
ke = part of the progressive / stative form (here it works with ya to give yake)
tashi = to rise, to take off

So:

yadda yake tashi = how he/it is rising → how it takes off / how it is taking off

Why masculine?

In Hausa, many inanimate nouns are grammatically masculine by default, including jirgin sama (plane).
The pronoun ya (he/it) here refers back to jirgin sama, so it takes the masculine form.

If the antecedent were grammatically feminine, you’d see tana / take instead, for example:

mota (car) is usually feminine:
yadda take tafiya = how it (the car) goes.

The plane (jirgin sama) is not mentioned again in yadda yake tashi. How do we know yake refers to the plane?

Hausa, like English, often omits repeated nouns when it’s clear from context. The subject of yake tashi is understood from the nearest appropriate antecedent:

Previous noun: jirgin sama (the airplane)
Next clause: yadda yake tashi (how he/it is taking off)

Because:

yake (3rd person singular masculine) needs a masculine singular referent.
The obvious candidate is jirgin sama, mentioned just before.

So speakers automatically interpret yake as he/it = the plane. The full, very explicit version would be:

… tana kallon yadda jirgin sama yake tashi daga filin jirgi …,
but Hausa normally drops the repeated noun when it’s obvious.

What does daga mean in daga filin jirgi, and how is filin jirgi formed?

daga is a preposition meaning from, out of, away from.

daga filin jirgi = from the airfield / from the airport

Formation of filin jirgi:

fili = field, open place
fili + -n + jirgi → filin jirgi
= field of the plane → airfield, airport

Again, -n is the genitive linker (X-n Y = X of Y):

filin wasa = field of play → sports field
filin jirgi = field of (the) plane(s) → airfield, airport

Why is the preposition a used in a talabijin to mean on TV?

In Hausa, a is a very general preposition that can mean in, at, or on, depending on context. In English we distinguish in, on, at, but Hausa uses a for many of these locations.

a gida = at home / in the house
a kasuwa = at the market
a talabijin = on television

So a talabijin is the normal way to say on TV in Hausa. You might also hear:

a kan talabijin (literally: on top of TV), but for “on TV (as a medium)”, a talabijin is very common and idiomatic.

Is the comma in the sentence doing anything special in Hausa, or is it just like in English?

The comma here functions very much like in English:

It separates two closely related clauses that share the same subject:
- ’Yar uwata tana son jirgin sama,
- tana kallo yadda yake tashi daga filin jirgi a talabijin.

In speech, you would normally have a short pause there. It doesn’t mark any special grammar rule beyond normal punctuation:

You could add kuma (and) after it:
… tana son jirgin sama, kuma tana kallo yadda…
Or leave it as written; both are acceptable.

Is there any difference between saying ’Yar uwata tana son jirgin sama and ’Yar uwata tana son jirage sama or something like that?

Yes, there is a difference, and only one of those is idiomatic:

jirgin sama = airplane (literally: ship of the sky)
This is the set expression for airplane / aeroplane.

If you tried something like jirage sama:

jirage = plural of jirgi (vehicles, ships, planes)
jirage sama (without the genitive linker and with plural) does not mean “airplanes” in standard usage; it just sounds odd.

To say airplanes in the normal way, you’d still use the compound, with a plural on jirgi and the genitive linker:

jiragen sama = airplanes (ships of the sky)

So:

tana son jirgin sama = she likes the airplane / airplanes (generic)
tana son jiragen sama = she likes airplanes (explicit plural)

In many contexts, the singular jirgin sama can have a generic meaning (airplanes in general), just as English sometimes uses a singular for a class of things.