Learn Hardcore Hausa: Uwa tana so ta samu sabuwar tanda domin ta gasa burodi. - Mother wants to get a new oven so that she can bake bread.

Uwa tana so ta samu sabuwar tanda domin ta gasa burodi.

Mother wants to get a new oven so that she can bake bread.

Breakdown of Uwa tana so ta samu sabuwar tanda domin ta gasa burodi.

Elon.io is an online learning platform

We have an entire course teaching Hausa grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning Hausa now

Questions & Answers about Uwa tana so ta samu sabuwar tanda domin ta gasa burodi.

In "Uwa tana so ta samu sabuwar tanda domin ta gasa burodi", why is there no separate word for "the" or "a" like in English?

Hausa does not use articles like English "the" and "a/an".

A bare noun can mean a, the, or even something more general, depending on context:

uwa = a mother / the mother / (in general) mother
sabuwar tanda = a new oven / the new oven

Definiteness is usually understood from:

context,
demonstratives (wannan = this, waccan = that),
possessives (uwata = my mother),
or other modifiers.

So Hausa does not need to add a separate word where English has "the" or "a"; the noun by itself is enough.

What exactly does tana mean here in "Uwa tana so", and why not just "Uwa ta so"?

tana is a combination of:

ta = she (3rd person feminine subject pronoun)
-na = marker of progressive / ongoing aspect

So tana so literally is “she is-wanting / she wants (now / generally)”.

Contrast:

Uwa tana so... = Mother wants / is wanting... (present, ongoing or general)
Uwa ta so... = usually completed past: Mother wanted / liked (at some point)

In this sentence, the idea is a present desire, so tana so is more natural than ta so.

Why do we see ta again in "ta samu" and "ta gasa" if we already know we’re talking about the mother?

Hausa normally requires a subject marker in each clause, even if the subject is understood from context.

Your sentence has several clauses:

Uwa tana so – Mother (she) wants...
ta samu sabuwar tanda – that she get a new oven
domin ta gasa burodi – so that she bake bread

English often drops the second subject in these cases:

Mother wants *(she) to get a new oven → *Mother wants to get a new oven.

Hausa does not drop it. Each finite verb typically has its subject pronoun:

tana (she-is) – subject of so
ta – subject of samu
ta – subject of gasa

So the repetition of ta is normal and required grammar, not redundancy.

Why isn’t there a word like the English “to” before samu and gasa (“to get”, “to bake”)?

English uses "to" as an infinitive marker (to get, to bake). Hausa does not have a direct equivalent of this "to".

Instead, Hausa:

Uses a finite clause with its own subject pronoun as the complement of verbs like so (to want).

So:

Uwa tana so ta samu sabuwar tanda
= Mother wants *(that she) get a new oven
→ Naturally translated: *Mother wants to get a new oven.
domin ta gasa burodi
= so that she bake bread
→ so that she can bake bread / in order to bake bread.

The idea of English "to" is carried by the structure (subordinate clause with ta) and by words like domin, not by a separate infinitive word.

What does samu really mean here? Is it “get”, “find”, or “receive”?

samu is quite flexible and can mean:

to get / obtain
to find
to receive / come into possession of

The exact English translation depends on context. Here:

ta samu sabuwar tanda
could be she gets / she obtains / she manages to get a new oven.

In everyday English we’d most naturally say “get a new oven”, but the Hausa samu itself doesn’t force you to choose between “get”, “find”, or “receive”; it just means to come to have something.

How does sabuwar work here, and why does it end in -r in "sabuwar tanda"?

The base adjective is:

sabo (masculine) / sabuwa (feminine) = new

In Hausa, when certain adjectives come before the noun, they take a special linking ending (-n or -r) that agrees with the gender of the noun:

Masculine noun: sabon littafi – a new book
Feminine noun: sabuwar mota – a new car

Here, tanda is feminine, so we use the feminine preposed form:

sabuwar tanda
- sabuwa (new, feminine)
- -r
  linking to a feminine noun
  → new-*(fem.) oven = *a new oven

So sabuwar is just the feminine form of sabo/sabuwa in this “adjective-before-noun” pattern, with -r showing it’s linked to a following feminine noun.

Is tanda feminine? How do we know, and why does that matter for sabuwar?

Yes, tanda (oven, stove/oven) is treated as feminine in Hausa.

You can often guess a noun is feminine when:

it ends in -a, and
native usage confirms it (this is something you mostly learn by exposure).

Adjectives and some other agreeing words change form depending on the gender of the noun:

Masculine: sabon littafi – new book
Feminine: sabuwar tanda – new oven

If you wrongly treated tanda as masculine, you might say *sabon tanda, which is ungrammatical. Because tanda is feminine, the adjective must match it: sabuwar tanda.

What exactly does domin mean here? Is it “because” or “so that”?

domin can mean several related things depending on context:

because of, for the sake of
in order to, so that

In your sentence:

domin ta gasa burodi
is best understood as “so that she can bake bread / in order to bake bread”.

So the structure is:

tana so ta samu sabuwar tanda domin ta gasa burodi
= She wants to get a new oven *so that she can bake bread.*

In other contexts, domin can lean more towards “because”, but here the natural reading is purpose (“in order to”).

Could we leave out the second ta and just say "domin gasa burodi"?

Standardly, you keep the subject pronoun:

domin ta gasa burodi – so that *she bakes bread*

Hausa normally wants a subject marker before a finite verb in each clause. If you drop ta and say only domin gasa burodi, it sounds incomplete or non‑standard in careful speech, as if the subject were missing.

In fast or very casual speech some people may omit it, but as a learner you should keep the pronoun:

domin ta gasa burodi = correct, natural
domin gasa burodi = best avoided in standard usage

Does "gasa burodi" literally mean “roast bread”? Is that normal in Hausa?

The verb gasa broadly means:

to roast, grill, toast, or bake with dry heat

So, yes, historically it’s closer to “roast/grill”, but in Hausa it is also the normal verb for baking bread, cakes, etc. in an oven or over heat.

Therefore:

ta gasa burodi
= literally she roasts/bakes bread
= idiomatically “she bakes bread”

It is perfectly normal Hausa to use gasa for baking bread.

Could we also say "Uwa tana son samun sabuwar tanda domin ta gasa burodi" instead of "tana so ta samu"? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can say:

Uwa tana son samun sabuwar tanda domin ta gasa burodi.

Here’s what’s going on:

so = verb to want / like / love
son = its verbal noun (roughly “wanting / liking / love”)
samu = verb to get
samun = its verbal noun (“getting / obtaining”)

So:

tana so ta samu...
= she wants (that she) get... (finite verb + finite verb)
tana son samun...
= she is in the wanting of getting... (verbal noun + verbal noun)

Both are correct. Differences:

tana so ta samu...
- slightly more direct, clause-like
- very common in everyday speech
tana son samun...
- uses two verbal nouns
- can feel a bit more nominal / heavy, sometimes more formal or written

As a learner, you can safely use either, but tana so ta samu... is slightly simpler structurally.

How would I say “My mother wants to get a new oven so that she can bake bread” using this structure?

You can say:

Uwata tana so ta samu sabuwar tanda domin ta gasa burodi.

Breakdown:

Uwata = my mother (uwa
- -ta “my”)
tana so = she wants
ta samu sabuwar tanda = to get a new oven
domin ta gasa burodi = so that she can bake bread

Note that ta in ta samu and ta gasa still refers back to Uwata (my mother).