Learn Hardcore Hausa: Likita koyaushe yana gaya mana cewa mu kula da jikinmu, musamman ido, kunne da kafa. - The doctor always tells us that we should take care of our bodies, especially the eyes, ears and legs.

Hausa doesn’t have a separate definite article like English “the.”
Definiteness is usually understood from context or marked in other ways (like with demonstratives, possessives, or suffixes).

Likita here is understood as “the doctor” from context. If you needed to be more specific, you could say:
- likitan nan – this doctor
- likitanmu – our doctor
Jikinmu already has -n- + mu (our), which makes it specific: literally “the body of us = our body”. There’s no need for a separate word meaning “the.”

What exactly does koyaushe mean, and where can it go in the sentence?

Koyaushe means “always” or “all the time.”

In your sentence:

Likita koyaushe yana gaya mana…
= The doctor always tells us…

Common positions:

Before the verb phrase (as in your sentence):
- Likita koyaushe yana gaya mana…
At the end of the clause (a bit less common here, but possible in speech):
- Likita yana gaya mana koyaushe…

Meaning doesn’t really change; it just sounds slightly more natural in the pre‑verb position in this kind of sentence.

What is the difference between yana gaya mana and just ya gaya mana?

Both use gaya = “to tell (someone something).”
The difference is aspect (how the action unfolds in time):

ya gaya mana
- Perfect/completed: he told us (one time, or as a finished event).
yana gaya mana
- Progressive/imperfective: he is telling us / he tells us (regularly, habitually).

In your sentence, “always tells us” refers to a habit, so the progressive/imperfective yana gaya mana is appropriate.

Another very natural way to mark habitual is:

Likita kullum yakan gaya mana…
The doctor always (usually) tells us…
Here yakan is a special habitual marker.

What does mana mean exactly, and how is it different from mu?

Both relate to “we / us,” but they have different roles:

mu – independent subject pronoun: we
mana – indirect object pronoun: to us / for us

In the sentence:

yana gaya mana = he tells to us
- yana = he is
- gaya = telling
- mana = to us

Later in the sentence:

cewa mu kula… = that *we should take care…
*mu
is now the subject of the verb kula (we are the ones who take care).

So:

mana = to us (object)
mu = we (subject)

What does cewa do here? Is it like English “that” in “He tells us that we should…”?

Yes. Cewa is a complementizer and works very much like English “that” introducing a clause:

Likita koyaushe yana gaya mana cewa mu kula da jikinmu…
= The doctor always tells us *that we should take care of our body…*

You can often omit “that” in English; in Hausa cewa is more commonly kept, but in casual speech you may hear it dropped:

Likita koyaushe yana gaya mana mu kula da jikinmu…
(still understandable, but cewa is clearer and more standard).

Why is it mu kula and not something like muna kula in “that we should take care”?

Inside a cewa‑clause that expresses advice, commands, or wishes, Hausa normally uses the subjunctive/imperative form with mu:

cewa mu kula da jikinmu
= literally: that we take care of our body
(understood in English as: that we should take care…)

Compare:

mu kula! – let’s take care! / we should take care! (direct exhortation)
cewa mu kula… – that we should take care… (reported advice)

If you said cewa muna kula da jikinmu, it would mean:

that we are (currently) taking care of our body

That describes an ongoing situation, not advice or instruction, so the meaning changes.

What does the phrase kula da mean? Why is da there?

Kula da is a common verb phrase meaning “to take care of / to look after / to pay attention to.”

kula by itself has the idea “be careful, pay attention.”
da is a preposition with many uses, often “with, and, by, about.”

When combined:

kula da jikinmu
= take care of our body / pay attention to our body

You normally need the da with this verb when it takes an object:

Ka kula da kansa. – Take care of yourself.
Su na kula da yara. – They are taking care of the children.

How is jikinmu formed, and is it the same as writing jikin mu as two words?

Jikinmu is a combination of:

jiki – body
-n – linker/definite suffix (often written as -n after a vowel)
mu – our

So: jiki + n + mu → jikinmu = our body (literally the body of us).

You may see it written either:

jikinmu (joined)
jikin mu (separated)

Joining it is very common in modern writing, especially for noun + (linker) + pronoun possessives. The pronunciation is the same either way.

Why are ido, kunne, kafa all singular, even though the English translation is “eyes, ears, and legs/feet”?

In Hausa, body parts are very often used in the singular when speaking generally about that part of the body:

ido – eye (but can also mean eyes in a generic sense)
kunne – ear (again, also ears generically)
kafa / ƙafa – foot/leg (commonly used generically: feet/legs)

Plural forms exist:

ido → idanu (or idanuwa) – eyes
kunne → kunnuwa – ears
ƙafa → ƙafafu – feet/legs

But in sentences like this, Hausa prefers the singular for each part when you mean “one’s eyes, ears, legs in general.” English then naturally translates with plurals.

Is there a difference between kafa and ƙafa?

Yes, the dot under ƙ marks a different consonant:

k – plain “k” sound.
ƙ – an ejective k sound (pronounced with a small “pop” in the throat).

For “leg/foot” the standard spelling is:

ƙafa – leg/foot

If you see kafa without the dot under k, it might be:

a spelling simplification (people often omit the dot in informal writing), or
a different word (e.g. kafa meaning to establish, found as a verb in some contexts).

In your sentence, from context, it clearly means “leg/foot”, so it should properly be ƙafa.

What does musamman mean, and where should it go in relation to the nouns?

Musamman means “especially, particularly.”

In the sentence:

…mu kula da jikinmu, musamman ido, kunne da ƙafa.
= …take care of our body, especially the eyes, ears, and legs/feet.

Typical positions:

Before the phrase it singles out (as here):
- musamman ido, kunne da ƙafa – especially the eyes, ears, and feet
Sometimes after the noun phrase it modifies (more like a comment):
- ido, kunne da ƙafa musamman – the eyes, ears, and feet especially

Position before the phrase is the most straightforward and common.

Why is there a comma before musamman, and why is there da only before the last noun?

The comma before musamman marks a slight break: we finish the general idea (take care of our body), then add a more specific remark (especially these parts).

As for the list:

ido, kunne da ƙafa

In Hausa lists:

You can say A, B da C for “A, B and C.”
Da is usually placed only before the last item in the list, not between every item.

So:

ido, kunne da ƙafa
= eyes, ears, and legs/feet

Can the word order of koyaushe change, like saying “Likita yana gaya mana koyaushe”?

Yes, that is possible:

Likita koyaushe yana gaya mana…
Likita yana gaya mana koyaushe…

Both are understandable and grammatical.
With adverbs of frequency like koyaushe, many speakers prefer them near the start of the verb phrase, so the original order “Likita koyaushe yana…” sounds slightly more natural for “The doctor always tells us…”, but the alternate order is not wrong.

Is there another common way to say “always tells us” in Hausa?

Yes. Besides koyaushe + yana, Hausa often uses kullum and/or the habitual marker yakan:

Likita koyaushe yana gaya mana…
– The doctor always tells us…
Likita kullum yana gaya mana…
– The doctor always/always, every day, tells us…
Likita kullum yakan gaya mana…
– The doctor usually/always tells us… (strong habitual sense)
Likita yakan gaya mana cewa…
– The doctor tends to/usually tells us that…

All are natural; nuance differs slightly, but all can match English “always tells us” depending on context.

Is there a noun form related to kula meaning “care” as in “to give care to our body”?

Yes. The related verbal noun is kulawa:

kula da jikinmu – to take care of our body
kulawa da jikinmu – care for our body

Examples:

Likita koyaushe yana ƙarfafa mu mu yi kulawa da jikinmu.
– The doctor always encourages us to give care to our body.

So:

kula da … – (verb phrase) take care of …
kulawa da … – (noun phrase) care/attention to …