Learn Hardcore Hausa: Ni ina so in tafi ƙauye a hutun rani. - I want to go to the village in the dry-season holiday.

Ni is the independent pronoun: “I / me” (used for emphasis, contrast, answers, etc.).
ina is a subject pronoun + aspect marker meaning roughly “I am …-ing / I (habitually) …”.

So:

Ina so in tafi… = I want to go… (normal, neutral)
Ni ina so in tafi… = I want to go… (with extra emphasis on I, like “As for me, I want to go…”)

You can usually drop Ni and just say Ina so in tafi ƙauye a hutun rani.
Adding Ni makes the subject more emphatic or contrastive.

What exactly does ina mean here? Is it like the English “am”?

ina bundles together two ideas:

Subject = I
Continuous / present-time aspect

So in this sentence:

ina so literally: I am wanting / I want (now / generally)

It’s not a separate verb like English “am”; it’s a subject marker that also carries aspect.
Compare:

na so – I liked / I loved / I wanted (past perfective)
ina so – I like / I love / I want (present / ongoing / general)

Why is it so in tafi and not just so tafi?

In Hausa, when “want” (so) is followed by a verb, that second verb is usually put in a subjunctive form, introduced by in (or na, ya, etc., depending on the subject).

ina so in tafi = I want *(that) I go* → I want to go
ina so ya tafi = I want *(that) he go* → I want him to go

So in here is basically a subjunctive marker meaning “that I (should)”.
You don’t normally say so tafi by itself; you need that subjunctive pronoun in.

What does the little word in actually mean?

in is the 1st person singular subjunctive pronoun: “that I (should)”.

It appears before a verb when:

the action is desired, planned, ordered, possible, etc.
often after verbs like so (want), ƙudura (decide), iƙirari (claim), or in certain subordinate clauses.

In this sentence:

ina so in tafi…
= I want *that I should go…*
= I want to go…

So in is not a preposition like English in; it’s a special verb form for “I” in subjunctive/irrealis contexts.

Is tafi here an infinitive, like English “to go”?

Functionally, yes, but grammatically it’s a bare verb in the subjunctive/irrealis environment, controlled by in.

English: to go
Hausa: in tafi (literally: that I go)

Hausa doesn’t have a separate infinitive form like “to go”. Instead, it typically uses these subjunctive pronouns (in, ka, ya, etc.) + bare verb to express meanings often translated with English “to …” or “that …”.

What does ƙauye mean exactly? Is it “a village” or “the village”?

ƙauye means “village” in a general sense.

Hausa doesn’t use articles like “a” or “the”.
So ƙauye on its own can be translated as either:

a village
the village
just “village” as a concept

The exact English article depends on context.
In this sentence, in tafi ƙauye will naturally be understood as “go to the village / go to a village (the countryside)”, depending on what the speaker has in mind.

Why is there no “to” before ƙauye? Why not in tafi zuwa ƙauye?

You can say in tafi zuwa ƙauye, and it’s perfectly correct:

in tafi ƙauye
in tafi zuwa ƙauye

Both can mean “go to the village”.

For many verbs of motion like tafi (go), Hausa often omits a preposition before the destination noun; the direction is understood:

na tafi gida – I went home
sun tafi makaranta – they went to school

Adding zuwa is often a bit more explicit or formal, but not required.

What does a hutun rani mean literally, and why do we use a here?

Literally:

hutu – rest, break, holiday
hutun rani – the holiday/break of heat, i.e. the summer holiday
a hutun rani – “in/during the summer holiday”

The preposition a is very flexible; here it has a time meaning:

a safiya – in the morning
a daren jiya – last night
a hutun rani – during the summer holiday

So a here is best translated as “in / during”.

Could I say this sentence in a different, but still correct, way?

Yes, several natural variants exist. For example:

Ina so in tafi ƙauye a hutun rani.
(without Ni, more neutral)
Ina son tafiya ƙauye a hutun rani.
- son tafiya = “liking/wanting of going” → I want to go / I feel like going
Ina so in tafi zuwa ƙauye a hutun rani.
- explicit zuwa (to) before ƙauye

All are grammatical; the original Ni ina so in tafi ƙauye a hutun rani. is polite and natural, with the added emphasis on Ni (“I”).

Is Ni always necessary at the beginning of a sentence like this?

No. Ni is optional in most neutral statements.

Ina so in tafi ƙauye a hutun rani. – perfectly fine and very common.
Ni ina so in tafi ƙauye a hutun rani. – adds emphasis/contrast.

You especially keep Ni when:

answering a question:
– Su fa? “What about them?”
– Ni ina so in tafi ƙauye… “As for me, I want to go to the village…”
making a contrast:
Ni ina so in tafi ƙauye, kai kuma kana so ka zauna birni.
“I want to go to the village, but you want to stay in the city.”

How would this sentence change if I wanted to say “I will go to the village in the summer holiday” instead of “I want to go…”?

You’d replace the “want” part with a future form, e.g.:

Zan tafi ƙauye a hutun rani.
= I will go to the village in the summer holiday.

Breaking it down:

zan = za + ni, future marker for I
tafi = go
ƙauye = village
a hutun rani = in/during the summer holiday

So the basic structure shifts from:

Ina so in tafi… – I want to go… to
Zan tafi… – I will go…

How do I correctly pronounce ƙauye and rani?

Approximate pronunciation:

ƙauye
- ƙ: an ejective k-sound, a bit sharper and tenser than English k.
- ƙa: like ka in car (without the English “r” coloring).
- uye: roughly oo-yeh: u as in put (but often a bit longer), ye like ye in yes.
- Whole word: something like KKAU-yeh, with a clear two-syllable feel: ƙa-u-ye (often pronounced smoothly as ƙau-ye).
rani
- ra: trilled or tapped r, ra as in Spanish rá.
- ni: like English nee.
- Whole word: RA-nee, with a tapped/trilled r.

Getting ƙ and the trilled r right is one of the main pronunciation challenges for English speakers in this sentence.