Learn Hardcore Hausa: Lokacin damina ruwa yana yawa kusa da koginmu. - In the rainy season there is a lot of water near our river.

In the sentence Lokacin damina ruwa yana yawa kusa da koginmu,
Lokacin damina literally means the time of rainy season, and functions like an adverbial phrase “during the rainy season / in the rainy season.”

What exactly does damina mean, and why is it next to Lokacin?

Damina means the rainy season (the wet season).

When you put it after lokacin, you get:

lokacin damina = the time of the rainy season → during the rainy season

This is a common Hausa pattern:

lokacin sanyi – the time of cold → during the cold season
lokacin girbi – the time of harvest → during harvest time

So damina is specifying which time we are talking about.

Why is there no word like “in” or “during” before Lokacin damina?

Hausa often uses a time-noun phrase by itself (without a separate preposition) to express “in/during/at [that time]”.

So:

Lokacin damina … ≈ During the rainy season …
Ranar Lahadi zan tafi. – On Sunday I will go.
Safiya nake aiki. – I work in the morning.

English needs a preposition (in / on / during), but Hausa can express this idea simply with the time expression at the start of the sentence.

What does ruwa mean, and is it always just “water”?

Ruwa primarily means water.

Depending on context, it can also refer to rainwater or flood water, but by default it is simply water.

In this sentence, ruwa is the subject of the verb phrase yana yawa:

ruwa – water
ruwa yana yawa – the water is abundant / there is a lot of water

What is the role of yana here, and what tense/aspect does it show?

Yana is the 3rd person masculine singular progressive/continuous marker.

Structure:

ya – he/it (3rd person masculine singular subject)
na – progressive/continuous marker (often written together as yana)

In this sentence:

ruwa yana yawa
literally: water it-is (in a state of) being a lot
functionally: there is a lot of water / the water is plentiful

The progressive form (yana) often expresses an ongoing or current state, which in English we show simply with the present simple (there is a lot of water).

Why is it yana and not suna or something else?

Yana agrees with the grammatical subject ruwa.

Hausa subject agreement:

ya / yana – he/it (masculine singular)
ta / tana – she/it (feminine singular)
suna – they (plural)

In Hausa, many inanimate nouns, including ruwa, behave grammatically as masculine singular, so you use ya / yana with them.

So:

ruwa yana yawa – water is much / there is a lot of water
mutane suna yawa – people are many / there are a lot of people

What does yawa mean, and how is it used with yana?

Yawa means a lot / much / many / abundance.

With uncountable or mass nouns like ruwa (water), a common pattern is:

[noun] yana yawa – there is a lot of [noun] / [noun] is abundant

For example:

abinci yana yawa – there is plenty of food
aiki yana yawa – there is a lot of work

With countable nouns, you often see da yawa:

mutane da yawa – many people
gidaje da yawa – many houses

So here, ruwa yana yawa = water is abundant / there is a lot of water.

Could I say Akwai ruwa da yawa instead of ruwa yana yawa? What’s the difference?

Yes, Akwai ruwa da yawa is also correct and natural. Both are commonly used, but there can be small nuances:

ruwa yana yawa – the water is plentiful / water (generally) is much
- Slight flavor of “the state now is that water is abundant.”
Akwai ruwa da yawa – there is a lot of water (there exists plenty of water)
- More explicitly existential, like English “there is a lot of water.”

In most everyday contexts, they can be used interchangeably without a big change in meaning.

What does kusa da mean, and why do we need da after kusa?

Kusa da means near / close to.

kusa – near, close
da – a preposition that often means with, but in this fixed expression kusa da it works like English “near to”

Some examples:

kusa da gida – near the house
kusa da kasuwa – near the market
kusa da koginmu – near our river

You normally don’t say kusa koginmu; you need da to link it: kusa da koginmu.

How is koginmu formed, and what does each part mean?

Koginmu is made up of:

kogi – river
-n – linker/genitive marker (often written attached to the noun)
mu – we/our

So:

kogi – river
kogin mu / koginmu – our river

This pattern is very common:

gidanmu – our house (gida
- -n
  - mu)
motarku – your (pl.) car (mota
- -r
  - ku)
littafinsa – his book (littafi
- -n
  - sa)

In speech it flows together, so it is usually written as one word: koginmu.

Why does kogi become kogin- before mu? Is that always necessary?

Yes, this is the normal linker (sometimes called the genitive marker) that connects a noun to a following possessor or qualifier.

The basic noun is kogi. When it is followed by another noun or pronoun, it typically adds a linker:

kogi + -n + mu → koginmu (our river)
kogi + -n + su → koginsu (their river)
kogi + -n + Kano → kogin Kano (the river of Kano, the river in Kano)

So the -n- is required in this possessive/“of” construction.

Is the word order fixed? Could I move kusa da koginmu earlier in the sentence?

Hausa word order is fairly flexible with adverbial phrases, though the basic Subject – Verb – (Other elements) order remains.

The original sentence:

Lokacin damina ruwa yana yawa kusa da koginmu.

You could also hear, for example:

Lokacin damina, kusa da koginmu ruwa yana yawa.
Kusa da koginmu, lokacin damina ruwa yana yawa.

The most neutral version is usually:

Time expression (if used): Lokacin damina
Subject: ruwa
Verb phrase: yana yawa
Place expression: kusa da koginmu

So the given sentence is a very natural word order.

How would I say “Our river has a lot of water in the rainy season” more literally, keeping koginmu as the subject?

You could make koginmu the subject like this:

Lokacin damina koginmu yana da ruwa da yawa.

Breakdown:

Lokacin damina – in the rainy season
koginmu – our river
yana da – has (literally it is with …)
ruwa da yawa – a lot of water

So:

Lokacin damina koginmu yana da ruwa da yawa.
= In the rainy season our river has a lot of water.