Learn Hardcore Hausa: Ba na son in karanta littafi a cikin duhu ba tare da haske ba. - I don’t like to read a book in the dark without light.

Hausa usually negates clauses with a “ba … ba” frame, but in this very common pattern “Ba na son …”, only the first ba appears; the second one is often left out because the phrase continues with an infinitive-like verb phrase (in karanta …).

A positive version would be:

Ina son in karanta littafi… – “I like / I want to read a book…”
(compared to Ba na son in karanta… – “I don’t like / don’t want to read…”)

Why is it “son” and not just “so” after “Ba na”?

So is the verb “to like / to want.”

When you say “Ina son …” or “Ba na son …”, Hausa turns this verb into a kind of verbal noun:

so (verb) → so / son (noun “liking, love, wanting”)
The -n at the end is a linking consonant (genitive marker) that connects it to what comes next.

So:

Ina son in karanta littafi…
literally: “I (am) in the state of liking that I read a book…”
Ba na son in karanta littafi…
“I am not in the state of liking that I read a book…”

This is why you see son (not bare so) after Ina / Ba na in this structure.

What is the function of “in” in “in karanta littafi”?

“in” here is a subjunctive pronoun meaning roughly “I (should)” / “that I” for a subordinate action, especially after verbs of wanting/liking such as so.

So:

Ina son in karanta littafi…
≈ “I like to read a book…” / “I want to read a book…”
Ba na son in karanta littafi…
≈ “I don’t like to read a book…”

If we gloss it very literally:

Ina son in karanta littafi = “I have liking that-I read a book.”
in marks that the subject is “I” and that this is a kind of “to do X” / “that I do X” clause.

Other persons use different forms:

ya karanta – “that he read”
su karanta – “that they read”

Could we say “Ba na son karanta littafi” without “in”? What difference would it make?

Yes, you can say:

Ba na son karanta littafi a cikin duhu…

Dropping “in” is common in speech, and the meaning is nearly the same:
“I don’t like reading a book in the dark…”

However, there is a subtle nuance:

with “in” – focuses on a specific action you would perform:
Ba na son in karanta littafi…
“I don’t like to read a book…” (more like “I don’t like to be in the situation where I read a book …”)
without “in” – makes “karanta littafi” feel more like a general activity or a noun phrase:
Ba na son karanta littafi…
“I don’t like reading a book…” (as an activity)

In daily conversation, both are acceptable and often interchangeable. The version with “in” is very standard with son / so.

What does “karanta” mean exactly? Is it “to read” or “to study”? And why no word for “a/the”?

Karanta is the verb “to read”, and it often also implies “to study” depending on context.

karanta littafi – “to read a book” / “to study (from) a book”

Hausa generally does not use a separate word for “a” or “the”. Those ideas are handled by context and sometimes by adding modifiers.

So:

littafi – can mean “a book” or “the book”, depending on context.
If you want to be more specific:
- littafin nan – “this book (here)”
- littafin da na saya – “the book that I bought”

In your sentence, littafi is naturally understood as “a book” / “books in general.”

What does “a cikin duhu” literally mean, and why use both “a” and “cikin” if they both seem to mean “in”?

“a cikin duhu” breaks down as:

a – a general preposition for “at, in, on”
cikin – “inside (of)”
duhu – “darkness / dark”

Literal sense: “at inside darkness” → “inside the dark / in the dark.”

Using both is a very common pattern:

a cikin gida – “in the house”
a cikin aljihu – “in the pocket”
a cikin duhu – “in the dark”

You can sometimes hear just “cikin duhu” or “a duhu”, but:

“a cikin duhu” sounds natural and slightly more explicit, and it’s often the default way to say “in the dark.”

What is the difference between “duhu” and words like “dare” in Hausa?

duhu – means “darkness” (lack of light). It can be dark at any time (a dark room, a blackout during the day, etc.).
dare – means “night” (the time of day after evening).

So:

a cikin duhu – “in the dark” (focus on light/dark condition)
da daddare – “at night”
a cikin dare – literally “in the night” (time frame)

Your sentence is about the absence of light, not specifically about the time, so “duhu” is the right word.

How does “ba tare da haske ba” work grammatically, and why are there two “ba”s?

“ba tare da haske ba” is a fixed “without …” construction. Breakdown:

ba … ba – a negative frame
tare da – “together with, along with” → in this structure, “with”
haske – “light”

Literally:

ba tare da haske ba ≈ “not (being) together with light” → “without light.”

Here the two “ba”s belong together as part of this idiom:

ba [tare da X] ba – “without X”

Examples:

ba tare da ruwa ba – without water
ba tare da kuɗi ba – without money

So the second ba is not a separate sentence-final “ba”, it’s just completing the “ba … ba” structure around “tare da haske”.

Is the “ba” at the very beginning and the “ba” in “ba tare da haske ba” one big double negation?

No, they belong to different negative structures:

First “ba” (at the beginning):
- Negates the main clause:
  Ba na son… – “I don’t like / I don’t want…”
The “ba … ba” in “ba tare da haske ba”:
- Forms the idiom “without X”:
  ba tare da haske ba – “without light”

So the sentence has two negatives, but they are not cancelling each other. Each one negates its own piece:

“I don’t like [to read a book in the dark without light].”

This is not like English double negatives where “I don’t like no books” might be interpreted as positive in formal grammar. In Hausa, stacking such structures is completely normal and stays negative.

Can “ba tare da haske ba” be shortened or moved in the sentence?

Shortening:
In careful or standard Hausa, you keep both “ba”s:
- ba tare da haske ba – correct and natural
  You may hear people in fast speech drop the final “ba”, but it is safer for learners to keep it.
Position:
You can move this phrase as a unit, for emphasis or style:
- Ba na son in karanta littafi a cikin duhu ba tare da haske ba.
  (normal)
- Ba na son, ba tare da haske ba, in karanta littafi a cikin duhu.
  (more contrastive, “I don’t like, without light, to read…”)

The key is that “ba tare da haske ba” must stay together as a chunk.

Could we say “Bana son in karanta…” instead of “Ba na son in karanta…”?

Yes. In everyday speech, many speakers contract:

Ba na → Bana
Ba ka → Baka, etc.

So:

Bana son in karanta littafi a cikin duhu ba tare da haske ba.

is a very natural spoken variant of:

Ba na son in karanta littafi a cikin duhu ba tare da haske ba.

Both are understood the same. The separated form (Ba na) is a bit clearer for learners and often preferred in more careful or written Hausa explanations.

How would the positive version of this sentence look?

You mainly remove the negation and the “without”:

Ina son in karanta littafi a cikin duhu tare da haske.

Breakdown:

Ina son – “I like / I want”
in karanta littafi – “to read a book”
a cikin duhu – “in the dark”
tare da haske – “with light”

Meaning: “I like to read a book in the dark with (some) light.”
More naturally in English, you might say “…in a dim room with a light on.”