Learn Hardcore Hausa: Yara shida suna cikin ɗaki yanzu. - Six children are inside the room now.

Hausa doesn’t use a separate verb like English to be for location.
Instead, it uses a special set of subject+aspect forms:
ina, kana, kina, yana, tana, muna, kuna, suna
These roughly mean “I am, you are, he is, she is, we are, you (pl.) are, they are” in a continuous / currently true sense.

So:

suna cikin ɗaki ≈ they are (currently) in the room

Without suna, yara shida cikin ɗaki would not be a normal, complete sentence in standard Hausa.

What exactly is suna made of? Is it su + na?

Historically, yes: su (they) + a marker -na for continuous aspect. Over time, these fused into single forms that you learn as one unit.

The full set is:

ina – I am (doing / being)
kana / kina – you (m.) are / you (f.) are
yana / tana – he is / she is
muna – we are
kuna – you (pl.) are
suna – they are

In modern usage, you generally don’t split them as su + na in normal sentences. Just memorize suna as the 3rd person plural “are” in this kind of structure:

Yara suna cikin ɗaki. – The children are in the room.
Yara suna wasa. – The children are playing.

Why does shida come after yara? Why not “shida yara” like English “six children”?

In Hausa, cardinal numbers usually come after the noun they count:

yara shida – six children
gidaje uku – three houses
mutane goma – ten people

So the normal pattern is:

NOUN + NUMBER

Putting the number before the noun (e.g. shida yara) is not standard in Hausa for plain counting.

Does yara shida suna cikin ɗaki yanzu mean “six children” (any six), or “the six children” (a specific group)?

By itself, yara shida is indefinite: it just says “six children”, without specifying which ones.

Hausa usually has no separate word for “a/the” like English. Definiteness is mostly understood from context or by adding other words:

yara shida – six children (could be any six)
yaran nan – these/the children (specific, “these children here”)
yara shidan nan – these six children / the six children (here)

So your sentence can be translated as:

“Six children are in the room now.”
and in the right context, it could be understood as “The six children are in the room now,” but nothing in the Hausa sentence itself forces the.

Why is it cikin ɗaki and not just a ɗaki? What’s the difference between cikin and a?

Both are used for location, but they’re slightly different:

a – very general preposition: in, at, on, to
- a ɗaki – in/at the room
ciki / cikin – literally inside / inside of
- cikin ɗaki – inside the room
- a cikin ɗaki – in(side) the room

In your sentence:

suna cikin ɗaki emphasizes being inside the room, not just associated with the room.

In everyday speech:

suna a ɗaki and suna cikin ɗaki can often be used in very similar contexts, though cikin feels a bit more like “inside.”

How do I pronounce ɗaki, and what is the difference between ɗ and d?

ɗaki is pronounced roughly like:

DAH-kee, but with a special kind of d.

The letter ɗ in Hausa is an implosive d:

You start as if you’re going to say d,
But you slightly pull the tongue inward (and a bit of air “in”) instead of pushing air out strongly.

Contrast:

d – an ordinary “d” sound, like in English day.
ɗ – a “softer,” implosive d, unique to certain languages.

If you can’t produce the implosive exactly, a plain English d is usually understood by Hausa speakers, but it’s good to aim for the correct ɗ over time.

Can I move yanzu (now) to the beginning or middle? For example, is Yanzu yara shida suna cikin ɗaki correct?

Yes, you can move yanzu. All of these are possible, with slight differences in emphasis:

Yanzu yara shida suna cikin ɗaki.
- Now, six children are in the room.
- Emphasis on the time (“right now”).
Yara shida suna cikin ɗaki yanzu.
- Six children are in the room now.
- Very natural; neutral emphasis.
Yara shida yanzu suna cikin ɗaki.
- Six children now are in the room.
- Can sound like you’re contrasting now vs another time or now vs somewhere else.

So yes, Yanzu yara shida suna cikin ɗaki is correct and common.

How would I say “There are six children in the room now” using akwai? Is there a difference from the original sentence?

Using akwai (“there is / there are”), you can say:

Akwai yara shida cikin ɗaki yanzu.
There are six children in the room now.

Difference in nuance:

Yara shida suna cikin ɗaki yanzu.
Focuses on the children and their location.
Literally: Six children are in the room now.
Akwai yara shida cikin ɗaki yanzu.
Focuses on existence / presence of such children there.
Literally: There exist six children in the room now.

In many contexts, both can translate as “There are six children in the room now,” but:

Use akwai when you’re emphasizing that such children exist / are present.
Use yara shida suna… when you’re talking about those children themselves and where they are.

Can I drop suna and just say Yara shida cikin ɗaki yanzu?

As a full, neutral sentence, you normally cannot drop suna here. You need it to make a proper present-time statement:

✅ Yara shida suna cikin ɗaki yanzu. – correct
❌ Yara shida cikin ɗaki yanzu. – not a standard complete sentence

Without suna, it sounds like:

a fragment, or
part of a longer noun phrase (for example inside a relative clause).

Learners should treat suna as required for this kind of “X is/are in Y” statement in the present.

Why do we say yara for “children”? What is the singular, and how is the plural formed?

The singular is:

yaro – child, boy, kid

The plural is:

yara – children, kids

This is an irregular plural (you don’t just add a simple ending). Some patterns in Hausa:

yaro → yara – child → children
gida → gidaje – house → houses
mutum → mutane – person → people

So:

yaro ɗaya – one child
yara biyu – two children
yara shida – six children

Learners just have to memorize yaro → yara as a pair.

How would I turn this into a yes–no question like “Are there six children in the room now?”

For yes–no questions, Hausa usually keeps the same word order and uses question intonation (rising at the end):

Yara shida suna cikin ɗaki yanzu?
With rising tone on yanzu, means:
“Are six children in the room now?” / “Are there six children in the room now?”

You don’t have to add any extra particles to make it a question; intonation does the job in everyday speech.