Learn Hardcore Hausa: Idan duhu ya yi a waje, fitilar titi tana ba mu haske. - When it is dark outside, the streetlight gives us light.

Idan duhu ya yi a waje, fitilar titi tana ba mu haske.

When it is dark outside, the streetlight gives us light.

Breakdown of Idan duhu ya yi a waje, fitilar titi tana ba mu haske.

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Questions & Answers about Idan duhu ya yi a waje, fitilar titi tana ba mu haske.

What does idan mean here, and is it “if” or “when”?

Idan is a conjunction that can mean “if” or “when(ever)”, depending on context.

In this sentence:

Idan duhu ya yi a waje, fitilar titi tana ba mu haske.
When it is dark outside, the streetlight gives us light.

the whole sentence describes a regular, predictable situation, so idan is best understood as “when(ever)” rather than a doubtful “if”.

In a more uncertain situation, idan would be “if”:
- Idan ya zo, ka kira ni. – If he comes, call me.
In a general or habitual situation, it’s often “when/whenever”:
- Idan ina da lokaci, ina karatu. – When(ever) I have time, I study.

Why do we say duhu ya yi? What does ya yi do here?

Duhu means “darkness” or “dark”.
Yi is a very common verb meaning “to do / to become / to be in a certain state”.
Ya yi is the 3rd person masculine singular perfective form: “he/it has done/has become/has become X”.

So duhu ya yi literally feels like “darkness has happened / it has become dark”.

Hausa often uses [noun/adjective] + ya yi to express that a certain condition now holds or has set in:

Sanyi ya yi. – It is (has become) cold.
Zafi ya yi. – It is (has become) hot.
Dare ya yi. – It is (has become) night / it’s late at night.

Duhu ya yi fits exactly into this pattern: “It has become dark.” Here it is put inside the idan clause:
Idan duhu ya yi a waje – When it becomes / is dark outside…

Is ya yi here the same as the English verb “to be”? Do Hausa adjectives and nouns always need yi like this?

In this kind of sentence, ya yi overlaps with English “to be / to become”, but it’s not a straight one‑to‑one equivalent.

With words expressing states (heat, cold, darkness, etc.), Hausa often uses “X + ya yi” to mean “it is/has become X”:
- Sanyi ya yi. – It is very cold.
- Duhu ya yi. – It is dark.
But Hausa does not always use yi to say “is”:
- Shi malami ne. – He is a teacher. (no yi)
- Gida babba ne. – The house is big. (no yi)

So:

duhu ya yi is a special idiomatic pattern for states that “set in” (darkness, cold, heat, etc.).
You don’t attach yi to every adjective or noun to say “is”. The use of yi here is more like “has become / has turned X” in English.

What does a waje mean exactly, and how is it different from just waje?

waje – literally “outside / the outside / outside place”
a – a common preposition meaning “in / at / on” (location)

So a waje literally means “at/outside”, usually translated simply as “outside”.

Difference:

waje by itself can function as a location word, but Hausa very often uses the preposition a with locations:
- Ina a gida. – I am at home.
- Yana a kasuwa. – He is at the market.
- Duhu ya yi a waje. – It is dark outside.

You could hear just waje in some contexts, but a waje is the normal, clear way to say “outside” as a location.

What is fitilar titi made of? What do fitila, -r, and titi each mean?

Fitilar titi is a genitive (possessive) construction meaning “street lamp / streetlight”.

Breakdown:

fitila – lamp, light, torch (a physical light source)
titi – road, street
-r – a linking suffix that connects two nouns in a “X of Y” relationship, used after many feminine nouns

So:

fitila + -r + titi → fitilar titi
Literally: “lamp-of street” → streetlamp / streetlight.

This linking -r/-n changes depending on the noun:

Feminine noun ending in -a: fitila → fitilar titi – street’s lamp
Masculine noun: mota + -r → motar soja – soldier’s car
Masculine ending in consonant might take -n: gidan malam – the teacher’s house

So fitilar titi is simply the Hausa way of saying “the lamp of the street” = the streetlight.

Why is it tana ba mu haske? Does that mean the streetlight is grammatically feminine?

Yes. In Hausa, fitila is grammatically feminine, and that determines the form of the subject pronoun.

3rd person singular masculine: ya / shi
3rd person singular feminine: ta / ita

For the progressive/habitual form with na:

yana – he/it (masculine) is …‑ing / does regularly
tana – she/it (feminine) is …‑ing / does regularly

Since fitila is feminine, we use tana:

Fitilar titi tana ba mu haske.
Literally: The street’s lamp she‑is giving us light
→ The streetlight gives us light.

If the subject were something grammatically masculine, we would use yana instead:

Fitilin ɗaki yana ba mu haske. – The room lamp gives us light. (if that noun is masculine)

What does ba mean in tana ba mu haske? Is this the same ba as the negative “ba … ba”?

In tana ba mu haske, ba is a verb meaning “to give”, not a negative marker.

ba (verb) – to give
- Ya ba ni littafi. – He gave me a book.
- Tana ba mu haske. – She/it gives us light.

The negative ba is a different word that appears in structures like ba … ba:

Ba ta ba mu haske ba. – She did not give us light.
Ba zan je ba. – I will not go.

So:

In the lesson sentence, ba = “give”.
Negative ba = “not”, and it would show up in different positions (usually at the beginning of the clause and sometimes also at the end).

They are written the same in standard spelling but function very differently; context tells you which is which.

What does mu do in ba mu haske? Where do other object pronouns go with ba?

In ba mu haske, mu is the object pronoun meaning “us”.

The structure is:

[subject] + [progressive marker] + ba + [indirect object pronoun] + [direct object]

So:

Fitilar titi tana ba mu haske.
- fitilar titi – the streetlight (subject)
- tana – (she/it) is (progressive/habitual)
- ba – give
- mu – us
- haske – light
  → The streetlight gives us light.

With other pronouns, the pattern is similar:

tana ba ni haske – she/it gives me light
tana ba ka haske – she/it gives you (m.sg) light
tana ba ki haske – she/it gives you (f.sg) light
tana ba shi haske – she/it gives him light
tana ba ita haske – she/it gives her light
tana ba mu haske – she/it gives us light
tana ba ku haske – she/it gives you (pl) light
tana ba su haske – she/it gives them light

What exactly does haske mean here? Is it a verb or a noun?

Haske is a noun meaning “light, brightness, illumination”.

In our sentence, haske is the thing being given:
tana ba mu haske – she/it gives us light.

Other uses:

Ina son haske. – I like light / brightness.
Babu haske a ɗakin. – There is no light in the room.

There is also a related verb haskaka (to illuminate, to enlighten), but haske itself here is simply a noun, not a verb.

Why is it tana ba mu haske (a progressive-looking form) instead of a simple form meaning “gives us light”?

The Hausa form tana ba mu haske uses tana (ta + na) which is often called the progressive/imperfective. However, in practice it covers both:

ongoing actions (is giving), and
habitual/general facts (gives / usually gives),

depending on context.

Here we have a general, habitual statement: whenever it’s dark outside, the streetlight (always) gives us light. For such sentences, Hausa commonly uses this same “na” form:

Yana zuwa nan kowace rana. – He comes here every day.
Muna cin abinci da yamma. – We eat in the evening (as a habit).

So:

tana ba mu haske in this context is best translated as “gives us light”, not “is giving us light right now”.
The aspect in Hausa is more flexible than in English; the same form often handles both progressive and habitual meanings.

Can I rearrange ba mu haske to something like tana ba haske mu?

No, that would be ungrammatical or at least very strange.

With ba meaning “give”, the usual order is:

[subject] + (aspect) + ba + [indirect object pronoun] + [direct object]

So:

tana ba mu haske – correct: she/it gives us light
tana ba haske mu – incorrect / unnatural

Examples with the same pattern:

Ya ba ni kuɗi. – He gave me money.
Sun ba shi labari. – They gave him the news.

So keep ba + (indirect object pronoun) + (thing given) in that order.

Can I leave out or move a waje? How flexible is the sentence around that phrase?

You have some flexibility with a waje, but it slightly changes the nuance:

With “a waje” (as in the original):
- Idan duhu ya yi a waje, fitilar titi tana ba mu haske.
  – When it is dark outside, the streetlight gives us light.
  Emphasizes that the darkness is specifically outside.
Without “a waje”:
- Idan duhu ya yi, fitilar titi tana ba mu haske.
  – When it is dark, the streetlight gives us light.
  More general; doesn’t explicitly mention “outside”.
Position:
You typically keep a waje near the part it describes, so after duhu ya yi is natural.
Putting it at the very end is possible but less clear and not as common:
- ?Idan duhu ya yi, fitilar titi tana ba mu haske a waje.
  This could be interpreted as “gives us light outside” (as a location of the action), which is different from “it is dark outside”.

So the most natural and clear placement for this meaning is exactly as given:

Idan duhu ya yi a waje, … – When it is dark outside, …

How would the sentence change if I wanted to say “When it is dark outside, the streetlights give us light” (plural streetlights)?

To make “streetlights” plural, you pluralize fitila and adjust agreement:

Plural noun:
- fitila (sing.) → fitilu (pl.)
  Then add the linking -n for genitive:
- fitilu + -n + titi → fitilun titi – streetlights
Plural verb agreement:
Use suna (3rd person plural progressive/habitual) instead of tana.

Full plural sentence:

Idan duhu ya yi a waje, fitilun titi suna ba mu haske.
When it is dark outside, the streetlights give us light.

Changes from the original:

fitilar titi → fitilun titi (lamp → lamps)
tana → suna (she/it → they)

Can you give a very literal word‑for‑word breakdown of the whole sentence?

Original sentence:

Idan duhu ya yi a waje, fitilar titi tana ba mu haske.

Literal breakdown:

Idan – if / when(ever)
duhu – darkness / dark
ya – he/it (3rd person masc. subject pronoun)
yi – did / became (here: has become / is)
a – at / in
waje – outside
fitilar – the lamp‑of (fitila + -r)
titi – (the) street / road
tana – she/it (feminine) + progressive/habitual “na” → she/it is/does
ba – give
mu – us
haske – light / brightness

Very literal gloss:

Idan duhu ya yi a waje, fitilar titi tana ba mu haske.
When darkness has‑become at outside, lamp‑of street she‑is giving us light.

Natural English:

When it is dark outside, the streetlight gives us light.