Learn Hardcore Hausa: Idan ba mu sami mota a tashar mota ba, watakila mu ɗauki jirgin sama daga birni. - If we do not find a car at the motor park, maybe we will take a plane from the city.

In this sentence: Idan ba mu sami mota… = If we don’t get/find a car…
Idan can also sometimes mean “when” (especially for habitual actions):
- Idan na tashi da safe, ina shan shayi. = When I wake up in the morning, I drink tea.

You understand it as if or when based on context. Here, because it’s a possibility, if is the right interpretation.

Why is the negation split as ba … ba around mu sami?

Hausa often uses a two‑part negation in many tenses and structures:

ba [subject] [verb] ... ba

In this sentence:

ba — first part of the negative
mu — we
sami — get/find (perfective)
mota — a car
a tashar mota — at the motor park/station
ba — closing part of the negative

So: ba mu sami mota a tashar mota ba
literally: not we got car at motor park not
= “we did not get / do not get a car at the motor park.”

With Idan and this perfective form, it is understood as a future‑like condition: “If we don’t get a car…”

Why is it mu sami and mu ɗauki, not something like za mu sami or za mu ɗauka?

The forms mu sami and mu ɗauki are subjunctive‑like forms, often used:

after Idan (if/when) for conditions, and
after watakila (maybe, perhaps) for possibilities.

Compare:

Idan ba mu sami mota…
→ “If we don’t get a car…”
Watakila mu ɗauki jirgin sama…
→ “Maybe we (will) take a plane…”

You could say za mu sami / za mu ɗauka in other contexts, but:

Idan + mu sami is a very natural pattern for conditional if.
Watakila + subjunctive (mu ɗauki) is the default pattern after watakila.

So the sentence is using the normal Hausa way to express conditions and possibilities.

What exactly does sami mean here? Is it “find” or “get”? How is it different from gani?

Sami basically means to get / to obtain / to find (by obtaining).

In this sentence, ba mu sami mota is best understood as:
- “we don’t get a car / we fail to get a car”
  and in many contexts that overlaps with “we don’t find a car” (e.g. no car is available).

Gani means to see (with your eyes), or sometimes “to realize/understand”.

Na ga mota. = I saw a car.
Na sami mota. = I got/found/managed to get a car (e.g. to hire, to use).

So sami is about successfully obtaining something, not just visually seeing it.

Does mota always mean “car”? Could it mean “bus” or something else here?

Mota literally means “vehicle / car”, but in everyday Hausa it can refer to:

a private car
a taxi
a bus / minibus / shared taxi, depending on context

In tashar mota (motor park / bus station), mota often refers to public transport vehicles (buses, minibuses, long‑distance cars, etc.). So here mota is more like “a vehicle / bus / car to travel with” rather than specifically a private car.

What does tashar mota mean exactly, and how is it formed?

Tashar mota is a common fixed expression meaning roughly:

“motor park / bus station / car station”
(the place where vehicles load and unload passengers)

Breakdown:

tasha — station, stop, terminal
tashar — tasha
- ‑r linker, used before a following noun
mota — vehicle / car

So tashar mota = “station of vehicles/cars” → motor park / bus park.

In the sentence, a tashar mota means “at the motor park / at the bus station.”

Why is it a tashar mota for “at the station” but daga birni for “from the city”? What’s the difference between a and daga?

a and daga are different prepositions:

a = at / in / on (location)
- a tashar mota = at the motor park
- a gida = at home
- a birni = in the city
daga = from (starting point, origin)
- daga birni = from the city
- daga Kano = from Kano
- daga gida = from home

So the sentence uses:

a tashar mota — where you are looking for the vehicle (location)
daga birni — where the plane will depart from (origin).

What does watakila mean, and does it always take a subjunctive form like mu ɗauki after it?

Watakila means “maybe / perhaps / it’s possible that”.

It typically introduces a possible action or uncertain event, and it’s very natural to follow it with the subjunctive form of the verb:

Watakila mu tafi. = Maybe we’ll go.
Watakila ya zo gobe. = Maybe he will come tomorrow.
Watakila mu ɗauki jirgin sama. = Maybe we’ll take a plane.

You can occasionally see za mu after watakila, but watakila + subjunctive (mu ɗauki, ya zo, etc.) is the core pattern learners should focus on.

What does jirgin sama literally mean, and how does it end up meaning “airplane”?

Jirgin sama is the common word for airplane / aircraft.

Literal breakdown:

jirgi — vehicle, ship, craft (can be boat, plane, etc., depending on the second word)
jirgin — jirgi
- ‑n linker
sama — sky / heaven / above

So jirgin sama literally = “vehicle of the sky” / “sky‑vehicle”, which is understood as an airplane.

Similarly:

jirgin ƙasa = train (literally “vehicle of the ground/earth”)
jirgin ruwa = boat/ship (literally “water vehicle”)

Why is mu repeated: ba mu sami… and again mu ɗauki…? Could it be left out the second time?

Mu is the 1st‑person plural pronoun “we”, and in these forms it’s also functioning as a subject/mood marker.

In a multi‑clause sentence like this, Hausa normally repeats the subject pronoun in each clause for clarity, especially when the clauses are separated by something like watakila:

Idan ba mu sami mota… (first clause)
watakila mu ɗauki jirgin sama… (second clause)

You would not normally drop mu in the second clause here. Saying just watakila ɗauki jirgin sama is ungrammatical; the subject pronoun is needed.

What is the role of ɗ in ɗauki, and how is it different from plain d?

In Hausa, ɗ and d are different consonants:

d is a regular voiced d sound, as in English day.
ɗ is an implosive d. It sounds somewhat like a “swallowed d” and is produced with a slight inward movement of air.

ɗauki (with ɗ) means “to take / to pick up / to carry”.

Spelling it with plain d (dauki) would change the word (or make it look wrong), so it’s important to pay attention to the dot under ɗ in writing and to practice the different pronunciation.

Could the word order be changed, for example: Ba mu sami mota a tashar mota ba idan…?

For this kind of standard conditional, the natural pattern is:

Idan
- [clause] , [main clause]

So:

Idan ba mu sami mota a tashar mota ba, watakila mu ɗauki jirgin sama daga birni.

Putting Idan later (e.g. Ba mu sami mota a tashar mota ba idan…) is not the usual or natural order in spoken or written Hausa. Idan normally comes at the beginning of the conditional clause.

Is this sentence formal, informal, or neutral? Are there more casual alternatives?

The sentence is neutral and perfectly natural in everyday speech. It is neither especially formal nor slangy.

A more casual‑sounding variant might drop some words in rapid speech, e.g.:

Idan ba mu sami mota a tasha ba, watakila mu ɗauki jirgi daga birni.

Changes:

tashar mota → tasha (shorter, but still very common)
jirgin sama → jirgi (often understood as “plane” from context)

But the original sentence is a good, clear, standard form for learners to copy.