Dalibi ya zo aji da jaka, littafi, takarda da fensir.

A student came to class with a bag, a book, paper and a pencil.

Breakdown of Dalibi ya zo aji da jaka, littafi, takarda da fensir.

• zo: to come
• da: and
• da: with
• littafi: the book
• dalibi: the student
• aji: the class
• jaka: the bag
• takarda: the paper
• fensir: the pencil

Questions & Answers about Dalibi ya zo aji da jaka, littafi, takarda da fensir.

Why is there ya after Dalibi? Isn’t Dalibi already the subject?

In Hausa, a subject pronoun is normally required in addition to the noun.

• Dalibi = student (a noun)
• ya = 3rd person singular masculine subject pronoun in the perfective (roughly “he”)

So Dalibi ya zo is literally like saying “Student, he came.”

This is normal Hausa structure:

• Dalibi ya zo. = The student came.
• Malam ya tafi. = The teacher went.
• Yara sun zo. = The children came. (here sun = “they”)

Leaving out ya would sound ungrammatical in standard Hausa except in some special contexts (like headlines).

What tense/aspect is ya zo? Does it mean “came” or “has come” or “comes”?

Ya zo is the perfective aspect, which usually corresponds to a completed past action in English.

In this sentence it’s best translated as:

• The student *came to class with a bag, a book, paper and a pencil.*

Depending on context, ya zo can also sometimes be translated as “has come,” but the core idea is: the coming is finished.

To say something habitual like “The student comes to class (every day),” you’d use a different construction:

• Dalibi yana zuwa aji. = The student comes/goes to class (habitually).

Why is it ya zo and not ta zo?

Ya is used because dalibi (male student) is grammatically masculine.

• ya = “he” (3rd person singular masculine)
• ta = “she” (3rd person singular feminine)

If you were talking about a female student:

• Daliba ta zo aji da jaka, littafi, takarda da fensir.
  = The (female) student came to class with a bag, a book, paper and a pencil.

There’s no word for “the” or “a” in the sentence. How does Hausa show “the student”, “a bag”, etc.?

Hausa normally doesn’t use separate words for “the” or “a/an”. Definiteness and indefiniteness are usually understood from context.

In this sentence:

• Dalibi → “the student” (because it’s clear we’re talking about a particular student)
• jaka, littafi, takarda, fensir → can be understood as “a bag, a book, (some) paper and a pencil”

If you really need to emphasize “a certain/specific X,” Hausa often uses other strategies (like possessive, demonstratives, or word order), but there is no direct equivalent of English “the / a / an.”

What exactly does aji mean? Why isn’t there a word for “to” like zuwa aji?

Aji means class (as in “school class / classroom / grade”).

The verb zo (come) very often takes a location directly without a separate preposition:

• ya zo aji = he came (to) class
• mun zo gida = we came (home) / we came to the house
• sun zo makaranta = they came to school

You can see zuwa (to/towards) in some contexts, but with zo it’s usually omitted and the place follows directly:

• ya zo zuwa aji is possible but feels more marked or formal; everyday Hausa just says ya zo aji.

Could the sentence be Dalibin ya zo aji instead of Dalibi ya zo aji?

Yes, and there’s a slight nuance:

• Dalibi ya zo aji…
  → A student / the student came to class… (neutral; “student” as a simple subject)

• Dalibin ya zo aji…
  → The student came to class… (the -n often signals that we are talking about a specific, known student, or it may link to something that follows, e.g. dalibin nan “this student”)

In many everyday contexts, the difference is subtle and both can translate as “the student.” Learners can safely use Dalibi ya zo… as the basic pattern.

What does da mean in this sentence? It seems to appear twice.

In this sentence, da is doing two related jobs:

1. After aji:

   • …ya zo aji da jaka, littafi, takarda da fensir.
     Here da means “with” (comitative):
   • He came to class *with a bag, a book, paper and a pencil.*

2. Between takarda and fensir:

   • …takarda da fensir.
     Here da means “and” (coordinating conjunction):
   • paper *and a pencil*

So da can mean “with” or “and”, depending on context. The form is the same; the meaning is understood from how it’s used.

Why is there only one da in the list “jaka, littafi, takarda da fensir”? Why not da before every item?

In writing, Hausa commonly uses commas for list items, and da only before the last item:

• jaka, littafi, takarda da fensir
  = a bag, a book, paper and a pencil

You might also hear da repeated more in natural speech, especially in slower or emphatic listing, but the standard written style is:

• item 1, item 2, item 3 da item 4

Similar to English:

• “a bag, a book, paper and a pencil” (only one “and” at the end).

Is takarda “paper” singular or plural here?

Takarda is singular in form, meaning “a sheet of paper / a piece of paper / document,” but in many contexts it effectively means “paper” in general.

In this sentence:

• takarda can be understood as paper or a sheet of paper; Hausa doesn’t always force a clear singular vs. mass-noun distinction like English does.

For explicit plural “papers,” you could see:

• takardu = “papers/documents” (plural form), but it’s not necessary here.

What is the difference between jaka, littafi, takarda, and fensir in terms of origin or type of word?

All four are nouns, but they differ in origin:

• jaka = “bag” (native Hausa word)
• littafi = “book” (from Arabic kitāb, adapted into Hausa as littafi)
• takarda = “paper / document” (ultimately from Arabic waraqa, but via older borrowings; now fully “Hausa-ized”)
• fensir = “pencil” (a borrowing from English “pencil,” adapted to Hausa phonology as fensir)

For you as a learner, it mainly matters how to spell and pronounce them; they all behave like regular nouns in Hausa grammar.

Can I change the word order, like putting the objects before aji?

No, not in a simple sentence like this. The natural order is:

1. Subject: Dalibi
2. Subject pronoun + verb: ya zo
3. Place: aji (class)
4. Comitative phrase: da jaka, littafi, takarda da fensir

So:

• Dalibi ya zo aji da jaka, littafi, takarda da fensir.

Putting the “with…” part before aji would sound wrong:

• ✗ Dalibi ya zo da jaka, littafi, takarda da fensir aji. (unnatural)

Basic pattern to remember:
[Subject] + [subject pronoun + verb] + [place] + [with X].

How would I say “The student did not come to class with a bag, a book, paper and a pencil”?

You negate ya zo with ba … ba:

• Dalibi bai zo aji da jaka, littafi, takarda da fensir ba.
  = The student did not come to class with a bag, a book, paper and a pencil.

Structure:

• ba(i)
  • ya
    • zo → bai zo = “he did not come”
• final ba closes the negative clause

So the frame is: Ba + pronoun-verb … ba.

How would I make this sentence plural, like “The students came to class with bags, books, paper and pencils”?

You need a plural noun and a plural subject pronoun:

• Dalibai sun zo aji da jakunkuna, littattafai, takarda da fensirori.

Breakdown:

• Dalibai = students (plural of dalibi)
• sun = they (3rd person plural perfective)
• jakunkuna = bags (plural of jaka)
• littattafai = books (plural of littafi)
• takarda = paper (can still be generic/mass)
• fensirori = pencils (plural of fensir)

You don’t always have to mark every item as explicitly plural in casual speech, but this is the fully plural version.