Learn Hardcore Hausa: Yau malami yana magana da Turanci da Hausa a aji. - Today the teacher is speaking English and Hausa in class.

Hausa normally doesn’t use separate words for “a” or “the”.
The bare noun malami can mean “a teacher” or “the teacher”, depending on context.

If you’re just introducing someone, it can be understood as “a teacher”:
Malami yana magana… → A teacher is speaking…
If both speakers already know which teacher you mean (for example, the class teacher), malami will be understood as “the teacher”.

You can make it clearly definite by adding something, e.g.:

malamin nan – this (particular) teacher
malaminmu – our teacher

What exactly does yana mean here? Is it like English “is”, or “is speaking”, or something else?

Yana is a combination of:

ya – 3rd person singular subject (he / she / it), and
na – an imperfective/progressive marker.

Together, yana magana most naturally means “he is speaking / he is talking” (an action in progress or repeated over some period).
In the sentence Yau malami yana magana…, yana tells you the action is ongoing today, not a completed, one‑time event.

Why do we say yana magana instead of just a single verb for “speaks” or “talks”?

Hausa often uses a verb + verbal noun pattern to express actions like speaking, reading, walking, etc.

magana is a noun meaning speech, talk, speaking.
yana magana literally is he is in (a state of) speech, which corresponds to English “he is speaking / talking”.

You’ll see the same pattern with many verbs:

yana karatu – he is reading / studying (literally he is in reading/study)
suna tafiya – they are walking / travelling

So yana magana is the standard, natural way to say “he is speaking” in Hausa.

What does da mean in yana magana da Turanci da Hausa? Is it “with”, “in”, or “and”?

The word da in Hausa has several related uses, and in this sentence it does two jobs at once:

After magana, da often means “in / using (a language)”:
- yana magana da Turanci – he is speaking in English / using English.
The second da is working like “and”, joining the two languages:
- da Turanci da Hausa – in English and (in) Hausa.

So yana magana da Turanci da Hausa is best understood as “he is speaking in English and Hausa”.

Why is da repeated: da Turanci da Hausa? Could I just say da Turanci Hausa?

You normally repeat da when you are joining two similar items:

da Turanci da Hausa – in English and Hausa
da uwa da uba – with (both) mother and father

Leaving out the second da (✗ da Turanci Hausa) is not standard; it sounds incomplete or wrong.
The repetition makes the coordination clear and is the normal pattern in Hausa.

Can I reverse the order and say yana magana da Hausa da Turanci instead? Does that change the meaning?

Yes, you can say:

Yau malami yana magana da Hausa da Turanci a aji.

This still means “Today the teacher is speaking Hausa and English in class.”
The meaning doesn’t change; you’ve just switched which language you mention first.
In practice, speakers may choose the order based on what they want to emphasize or what comes more naturally in that context.

What does a aji mean, and why are there two a sounds next to each other?

Here, a is a preposition meaning “in / at / on”, and aji means “class / classroom”.
So a aji literally is “in class / in the classroom”.

In writing, you see the two a’s: a aji.
In speech, they often run together and sound like a long a (something like aaji), but grammatically it’s preposition a + noun aji.
You’ll see a used this way with many places:

a gida – at home
a makaranta – at school

Why does the sentence start with Yau? Can I move yau to another position?

Putting Yau (today) at the beginning is a very common way in Hausa to set the time frame first:

Yau malami yana magana… – Today, the teacher is speaking…

You can also say:

Malami yau yana magana da Turanci da Hausa a aji.

That is still correct and understandable; it just changes the rhythm slightly.
Starting with Yau makes the “today” part more prominent, a bit like English “Today, the teacher is speaking…”

How would the sentence change if it were plural, like “Today the teachers are speaking English and Hausa in class”?

You need to change both the noun and the verb form:

malami (teacher) → malamai (teachers)
yana (he/she is) → suna (they are)

So you get:

Yau malamai suna magana da Turanci da Hausa a aji.
Today the teachers are speaking English and Hausa in class.

How would I say “Yesterday the teacher spoke English and Hausa in class” instead of “Today the teacher is speaking…”?

You change both the time word and the verb aspect:

yau (today) → jiya (yesterday)
yana magana (is speaking – ongoing) → ya yi magana (spoke – completed action)

So the sentence becomes:

Jiya malami ya yi magana da Turanci da Hausa a aji.
Yesterday the teacher spoke English and Hausa in class.

Here ya yi magana is the perfective form, used for completed actions in the past.