Learn Hardcore Hausa: Baba yana son kasuwanci, yana saye da sayarwa a kasuwa kowace rana. - Father likes business; he buys and sells at the market every day.

Commonly: “Baba” means “father / dad” in Hausa. So it may just mean “(My) father likes business…”.
It is also used as a male personal name or nickname in Hausa-speaking areas.

Since Hausa doesn’t mark this differently in writing, only the wider context (earlier sentences, conversation) tells you whether it’s “father” or a person named Baba. The capital letter in English transcription makes it look like a name, but in pure Hausa writing you don’t rely on that alone.

Why do we use “yana” here? What does “Baba yana son kasuwanci” literally mean grammatically?

“Yana” is the 3rd person masculine singular progressive form:

ya = he
-na = is (in the sense of “is doing (right now) / does (habitually)”)

So “yana son kasuwanci” literally is:

Baba – Baba / father
yana – he is (doing)
son kasuwanci – liking/love-of business

A close literal gloss is: “Baba is in the state of liking business.”
Functionally in normal English, you translate it as: “Baba likes business” / “Baba loves business.”

Why is it “son kasuwanci” and not “so kasuwanci”?

The verb is “so” (“to like / to love / to want”), but in this structure Hausa uses a verbal noun + genitive marker:

The verbal noun is “so” (liking, love, desire).
When it links to its object, it takes -n (a genitive linker) and becomes “son”:
- son kasuwanci = love/liking of business

So the pattern is:

Ina son kasuwanci. – I like business.
Baba yana son kasuwanci. – Baba likes business.

Using bare “so kasuwanci” here would be ungrammatical in standard Hausa.

Does “yana son kasuwanci” mean “he is liking business (right now)” or “he likes business (in general)”?

In Hausa, the progressive form (yana) often covers both ongoing and habitual/general meaning. With a verb like “so” (to like/love), it normally expresses a general, stable preference:

Baba yana son kasuwanci.
→ He likes / loves business. (general habit or character trait)

So in natural English you translate it as simple present (“likes”), not as “is liking”.

Why is “yana” repeated in “yana saye da sayarwa”? Could we just say “yana saye da sayarwa” once for both parts of the sentence?

In the given sentence:

Baba yana son kasuwanci, yana saye da sayarwa a kasuwa kowace rana.

The second “yana” starts a new clause:

First clause: Baba yana son kasuwanci. – Baba likes business.
Second clause: (Baba) yana saye da sayarwa… – He buys and sells…

You can’t normally drop “yana” from the second clause; you would then lose the verb/aspect marker for that clause.

However, you can optionally add “kuma” (also/and):

Baba yana son kasuwanci, kuma yana saye da sayarwa…
= Baba likes business, and he (also) buys and sells…

What is often dropped is the explicit pronoun “shi” (he) before “yana”; Hausa usually does not repeat the pronoun when the subject is clear:

✗ Baba shi yana saye da sayarwa… (strange / redundant)
✓ Baba yana saye da sayarwa… (normal)

What exactly does “kasuwanci” mean, and how is it related to “kasuwa”?

kasuwa = market (the physical marketplace)
kasuwanci = business, trade, commerce (the activity of doing business)

Morphologically, “kasuwanci” is derived from “kasuwa” and refers to the commercial activity rather than the place. So:

Baba yana son kasuwanci. – Baba likes doing business.
Yana a kasuwa. – He is at the market.

In this sentence, “son kasuwanci” is about his interest in doing business, not about liking the market as a location.

What are “saye” and “sayarwa”, and why are they not just “saya” and “sayar”?

“saya” and “sayar (da)” are the base verbs:

saya – to buy
sayar da – to sell (literally “cause to buy / sell to”)

Here, Hausa uses verbal nouns to talk about the activities in a general way:

saye – buying (the activity of buying)
sayarwa – selling (the activity of selling)

So:

yana saye da sayarwa
literally: “he is (engaged in) buying and selling.”

Using “saya” and “sayar” directly after “yana” would not express this same nominal, activity-like sense. The set phrase for doing trade is very commonly “saye da sayarwa”.

What does “da” mean in “saye da sayarwa”? Is it “and” or “with”?

The word “da” is versatile and can mean “and”, “with”, or mark other relations depending on context.

In “saye da sayarwa”, “da” functions as “and”:

saye da sayarwa = buying and selling

So the phrase is like a fixed expression meaning “buying and selling (as a trade activity)”.

In other contexts:

Ina tafiya da shi. – I’m going with him.
ruwa da gishiri – water and salt.

Why is it “a kasuwa”? Does “a” mean “in” or “at”, and could we say something like “cikin kasuwa” instead?

“a” is a basic locative preposition, usually translated as “in / at / on” depending on context.

a kasuwa = at the market / in the market

You can say “a cikin kasuwa”, which is more explicitly:

a cikin kasuwa – inside the market

But “a kasuwa” is the normal, simple way to say “at the market / in the market”. In this sentence:

yana saye da sayarwa a kasuwa
= he buys and sells at the market.

What does “kowace rana” mean, and why is it “kowace” and not “kowane”?

rana = day, and in Hausa it is grammatically feminine.
kowane / kowanne = every (masculine)
kowace = every (feminine)

Because “rana” is feminine, the word for “every” must also take the feminine form:

kowace rana = every day

If the noun were masculine, you would use “kowane” / “kowanne” instead. So the agreement here is:

kowace (fem.) + rana (day, fem.) → every day

Is there any difference between “kowace rana” and other ways of saying “every day” in Hausa, like “kullum”?

Yes, they are close in meaning but not identical:

kowace rana – literally “every day”, focusing on each day separately.
kullum – literally “all-day / always”, often used as “always / every day / all the time”.

In many contexts they overlap:

Yana zuwa kasuwa kowace rana. – He goes to the market every day.
Yana zuwa kasuwa kullum. – He goes to the market every day / all the time.

“kowace rana” is more explicitly day-by-day, while “kullum” can be a bit more general (“always, constantly”) depending on context.

What is the basic word order of this sentence? Is Hausa like English (SVO)?

Yes, Hausa is basically SVO (Subject–Verb–Object), and this sentence follows that pattern:

Subject: Baba
Verb/Aspect: yana
Object / Complement: son kasuwanci

Then the second clause is:

(Subject understood): Baba / he
Verb/Aspect: yana
Objects / Complements: saye da sayarwa a kasuwa kowace rana

So structurally it parallels English quite closely:

Baba (S) yana (V) son kasuwanci (O)
Baba (S) yana (V) saye da sayarwa a kasuwa kowace rana (O/adjuncts)

Could I say “Baba yana son kasuwanci kuma yana saye da sayarwa…” instead of using a comma? Does it change the meaning?

Yes, that is perfectly natural:

Baba yana son kasuwanci, yana saye da sayarwa a kasuwa kowace rana.
Baba yana son kasuwanci, kuma yana saye da sayarwa a kasuwa kowace rana.

Adding “kuma” explicitly means “and / and also” and makes the connection between the two ideas a bit clearer:

He likes business, and he buys and sells at the market every day.

The basic meaning does not change; the version with “kuma” is just slightly more explicit and formal in linking the clauses.