Yara suna wasa da itace a waje.

The children are playing with wood outside.

Breakdown of Yara suna wasa da itace a waje.

• ne: to be
• da: with
• a: at
• yaro: the child

Questions & Answers about Yara suna wasa da itace a waje.

Does yara mean “the children” or just “children” in general?

In Hausa, yara can mean either “children” or “the children”, depending on context.

• Hausa does not use separate words for “a / an / the” like English does.
• yara is simply the plural of yaro (child).
• If you have already been talking about specific children, yara will be understood as “the children”.
• If you are speaking generally, it will be understood as “children” in general.

If you really want to make it clear that you mean these particular children, you can say:

• Yaran nan suna wasa da itace a waje. – These children are playing with wood outside.

What exactly does suna mean? Is it just like English “are”?

suna is more than just “are”. It is actually two pieces combined:

• su = they (3rd person plural pronoun)
• na = marker often used for ongoing / progressive actions

In practice, they are almost always written together as suna.

So:

• suna wasa = literally “they (are) in a state of playing”, i.e. “they are playing.”

You don’t usually say su na wasa as two separate words in normal writing; it appears as suna.