Learn Hardcore Hausa: Fim mai ban sha'awa yana da amfani sosai.

fim – film, movie
mai – literally “having / one that has / the kind that…”, used to turn nouns/expressions into something like adjectives
ban sha'awa – literally “causing interest/desire”; as a set phrase it means “interesting”
- sha'awa – interest, desire, attraction
yana – “he/it is (in a state of) / he/it has”; 3rd person singular masculine subject (ya-) + progressive/existential marker (-na)
da – with, having
amfani – use, usefulness, benefit
sosai – very, extremely, a lot

Put very literally, the sentence is something like:
“A film having (something that) causes interest, it has very much usefulness.”
Which is why it’s naturally understood as: “An interesting film is very useful.”

What exactly does mai do in the phrase mai ban sha'awa?

mai is a very common Hausa word used to form “descriptive” phrases. Its core idea is “one that has / that possesses / that does…”.

In mai ban sha'awa:

mai attaches to ban sha'awa (“causing interest”)
Together, mai ban sha'awa means “that which causes interest / that which is interesting.”

You can think of it as a way to make an adjective-like phrase out of a noun or verbal idea:

mutum mai ilimi – a person with knowledge → an educated person
mota mai sauri – a car with speed → a fast car
labari mai ban dariya – a story that causes laughter → a funny story

So fim mai ban sha'awa is literally “a film that has interest-causing (quality)”, i.e. “an interesting film.”

Is mai ban sha'awa like an adjective? Why does it come after fim, not before like in English?

Yes, mai ban sha'awa behaves like an adjective phrase that describes fim.

In Hausa, descriptive words and phrases that modify a noun normally come after the noun, not before it:

mace kyakkyawa – beautiful woman (literally “woman beautiful”)
gida babba – big house (literally “house big”)
mutum mai hankali – sensible person (literally “person with sense”)

So:

English: interesting film
Hausa: fim mai ban sha'awa (literally “film interesting”)

Structurally:

fim – noun being described
mai ban sha'awa – describing phrase that follows it

What is ban here? Is it the same as the negative word ba?

No, the ban in mai ban sha'awa is not the same as the negative ba.

ba = the main negative particle in Hausa (e.g. Ba ni da kudi. – “I don’t have money.”)
ban in ban sha'awa is part of an old verbal expression related to ba da (“to give”). In expressions like ban sha'awa, it’s best just to treat ban sha'awa as a fixed chunk meaning “to cause interest / to be interesting.”

So for learning purposes:

ba → negative marker (“not”)
ban sha'awa → “interesting / causing interest” (fixed idiomatic phrase)

Don’t try to interpret ban here as a negative; it isn’t.

How does yana da work? Is it “has” or “is”? How would it change with other subjects?

yana da literally means “he/it is with” or “he/it has”. It’s used:

For possession
- Yana da kudi. – He has money.
For something like “to be X-ish / to have X-ness”
- Fim mai ban sha'awa yana da amfani sosai.
  Literally: “The interesting film has a lot of usefulness,”
  which is understood as: “The interesting film is very useful.”

So grammatically it’s closer to “has”, but in English we often translate it as “is …” when the “thing had” is an abstract noun like amfani (“use, usefulness”).

Conjugation with different subjects:

Ina da – I have
Kana da – You (m. sg) have
Kina da – You (f. sg) have
Yana da – He/it has
Tana da – She/it has
Muna da – We have
Kuna da – You (pl) have
Suna da – They have

So you could say, for example:

Fina-finai masu ban sha'awa suna da amfani sosai.
“Interesting films are very useful.” (literally: “they have a lot of usefulness”)

Why do we use the noun amfani (“use”) instead of an adjective meaning “useful”?

Hausa often expresses ideas like “X is useful” using the pattern:

subject + (pronoun) + da + [abstract noun]

Literally: “X has usefulness / X is with benefit”, which we translate as “X is useful / beneficial.”

In this sentence:

amfani = “use, usefulness, benefit” (a noun)
yana da amfani = “it has usefulness” → “it is useful.”

Other similar patterns:

Abin da ya faɗa yana da muhimmanci.
– What he said is important. (literally “has importance”)
Wannan littafi yana da tasiri.
– This book is influential / has impact. (literally “has effect/impact”)

So instead of an adjective “useful”, Hausa uses the noun amfani with yana da to get the same meaning.

What does sosai add, and where can it go in the sentence?

sosai is an intensifier meaning “very, extremely, really, a lot.”

In …yana da amfani sosai, it intensifies amfani:

yana da amfani – it is useful / has usefulness
yana da amfani sosai – it is very useful / has a lot of usefulness

Position:

The most common, natural place for sosai is at the end of the phrase or sentence:
- Yana da amfani sosai.
- Ya burge ni sosai. – “He impressed me a lot.”

It can sometimes appear right after the verb or another word, but for learners, putting sosai at the end is both safe and natural.

Synonyms/near-equivalents:

ƙwarai – very, extremely
matuƙa – very much, greatly

E.g.:

Fim mai ban sha'awa yana da amfani ƙwarai.
Fim mai ban sha'awa yana da matuƙar amfani.

How would this sentence change for a plural subject, like “Interesting films are very useful”?

You need to make fim plural, and adjust mai and yana to agree with the plural:

fim → fina-finai (films)
mai (singular) → masu (plural “those who/that have…”)
yana da (he/it has) → suna da (they have)

So:

Fina-finai masu ban sha'awa suna da amfani sosai.
= “Interesting films are very useful.”

Breakdown:

fina-finai – films
masu ban sha'awa – (those) that are interesting
suna da – they have / they are with
amfani sosai – a lot of usefulness → very useful

How do I say “The interesting film…” instead of just “An interesting film…”?

Hausa doesn’t have separate “the/a” words like English, but uses other strategies for definiteness. Two common ones here:

Add a definite suffix -n / -r / -ɗin to the noun
Use a demonstrative like wannan (“this”) or waccan (“that”)

Examples:

Using a definite suffix:
- Fim ɗin mai ban sha'awa yana da amfani sosai.
  → “The interesting film is very useful.”
Here:
- fim ɗin – “the film” (that we already know / have mentioned)
Using a demonstrative:
- Wannan fim mai ban sha'awa yana da amfani sosai.
  → “This interesting film is very useful.”

Both sound natural; fim ɗin is more like “the film (already known)” and wannan fim is “this particular film (near me/us).”

Is there another way to say “interesting and very useful film” without using yana da?

Yes. Instead of making a full sentence with yana da, you can keep everything inside the noun phrase and describe the film with two mai-phrases:

Fim mai ban sha'awa mai amfani sosai.
Literally: “film that causes interest, that has a lot of usefulness”
→ “A very useful, interesting film.”

Structure:

fim – film
mai ban sha'awa – that is interesting
mai amfani sosai – that is very useful

So you might contrast:

Fim mai ban sha'awa yana da amfani sosai.
– “The/A interesting film is very useful.” (full sentence)

vs.

Fim mai ban sha'awa mai amfani sosai.
– “A very useful, interesting film.” (just a noun phrase, no verb “is/has”)

Why is yana (he/it) used when fim is not a person? Does Hausa have grammatical gender like “he/she/it”?

Hausa does use gendered pronouns, but they are not restricted to humans:

ya-/shi / yana – 3rd person masculine (he/it)
ta-/ita / tana – 3rd person feminine (she/it)

Many inanimate nouns are treated as masculine or feminine in grammar, even though they’re not “male/female” in reality. Fim is typically treated as masculine, so you use yana da:

Fim mai ban sha'awa yana da amfani sosai.

If the noun were treated as feminine, you’d use tana da:

Mota mai sauri tana da amfani sosai.
– “A fast car is very useful.” (here mota is feminine)

So it’s normal in Hausa to use what looks like “he” or “she” for things; it’s just grammatical gender at work.