Learn Hardcore Hausa: Ni ina aiki domin in sami kuɗi.

You are contrasting with others:
Ni ina aiki, amma shi baya aiki. – I am working, but he is not.
You are replying to a “who?” type question:
Wane ne yake aiki? – Who is working?
Ni ina aiki. – I am working.

In many everyday sentences, Ni is optional and often omitted.

What exactly does ina aiki mean? Is it “I work” or “I am working”?

Ina aiki can cover both meanings, depending on context:

Progressive: “I am working (right now).”
– e.g. Someone calls you and asks what you are doing:
Ina aiki. – I’m working.
Habitual/ongoing: “I work / I have a job / I am employed.”
– e.g. Talking about your situation in general:
Ina aiki a asibiti. – I work / I am employed at a hospital.

Hausa doesn’t always make a sharp distinction between simple present (“I work”) and present continuous (“I am working”) the way English does. Ina + noun/verb often covers both.

Is aiki in ina aiki a verb or a noun? How does this structure work?

Aiki is originally a noun meaning “work, job, task.”

The structure ina + [noun of action] is very common in Hausa and often translates like a verb in English:

Ina aiki. – literally “I am in work / I am at work” → “I am working / I work.”
Ina karatu. – literally “I am in study” → “I study / I am studying.”
Ina cin abinci. – “I am (in) eating food” → “I am eating.”

So ina aiki uses a noun (aiki) in a construction that functions like a verb phrase in English.

What does domin mean in this sentence, and when do we use it?

domin introduces purpose or reason. Here it means roughly:

“in order to”
“so that”
“for the purpose of”

In Ni ina aiki domin in sami kuɗi, it links the main action and the purpose:

Ni ina aiki – I am working
domin in sami kuɗi – in order that I get money

So the whole sentence is: “I am working in order to get money.”

You can also use domin in other sentences of purpose:

Na je kasuwa domin in sayi abinci. – I went to the market to buy food.
Na koya Hausa domin in fahimci mutane. – I learned Hausa in order to understand people.

Colloquially, people often shorten domin to don with the same meaning.

What is the in in domin in sami kuɗi? Is it the same as English “in”?

No, it has nothing to do with English in.

Here in is a subjunctive pronoun meaning “I (should)”. It appears in purpose or similar clauses:

domin in sami kuɗi – literally: “so that I should get money”
domin in je – so that I go / so that I can go

Other subjunctive pronouns are:

in – I (should)
ka – you (m.sg.) (should)
ki – you (f.sg.) (should)
ya – he (should)
ta – she (should)
mu – we (should)
ku – you (pl.) (should)
su – they (should)

Examples:

Na zo nan domin in taimake ka. – I came here to help you.
Sun yi shiru domin ya yi magana. – They kept quiet so that he could speak.

So in is actually “I” in a special subjunctive form, used after words like domin.

Why is it sami and not samu here? What’s the difference?

The basic verb is often given as samu – “to get, to obtain.”
However, in many forms the vowel changes, and you will hear sami very often:

Na sami kuɗi. – I got (some) money.
Ina samun kuɗi. – I am getting / I get money.
Domin in sami kuɗi. – (so) that I get money.

You don’t choose sami vs samu freely; it depends on the grammatical pattern:

With ina (progressive), you commonly get samun (verbal noun) or sam- with another ending:
Ina samun kuɗi. – I (regularly) get money.
With in (subjunctive pronoun) in a purpose clause, the form sami is used:
Domin in sami kuɗi.

For now, it’s enough to memorize common combinations like:

na sami… – I got…
in sami… – (so that) I get…
ina samun… – I get / I am getting…

Could I say Ni ina aiki domin samun kuɗi instead of domin in sami kuɗi?

Yes, that is also correct, and it’s a slightly different but very natural structure:

domin in sami kuɗi – “so that I get money” (finite verb with subjunctive pronoun)
domin samun kuɗi – “for getting money / for the getting of money” (verbal noun samun)

So:

Ni ina aiki domin in sami kuɗi.
Ni ina aiki domin samun kuɗi.

Both can be translated “I am working in order to get money,” and both are normal Hausa.

Subtle nuance:

domin in sami kuɗi sounds more like a specific result you want to achieve (“so that I will get money”).
domin samun kuɗi is slightly more general or abstract (“for the purpose of getting money / as a means of income”).

But in everyday speech, the difference is small and both are used.

Can I move the domin… part to the beginning, like “In order to get money, I am working”?

Yes, that is possible in Hausa too. You can say:

Domin in sami kuɗi, ni ina aiki.
Domin in sami kuɗi, ina aiki.

This sounds a bit more formal or rhetorical, but it is grammatical and clear:

“In order to get money, I am working.”

The most neutral everyday order, however, is still:

Ni ina aiki domin in sami kuɗi.

How would I say “I am not working to get money” using this structure?

To negate the sentence, you mainly need to negate the main verb ina aiki. One natural way is:

Ba ni aiki domin in sami kuɗi.
Literally: “It is not me (that) is working in order to get money.”

Or, a fuller version with the sentence-final ba:

Ba ni ne ina aiki domin in sami kuɗi ba. – “It’s not me who is working to get money.”

Negation patterns in Hausa are quite varied and can be tricky, but the key points here are:

Ba … at the beginning marks negation.
The domin in sami kuɗi part itself does not need to change; you are denying the working, not the purpose clause.

At a beginner level, it’s fine to focus first on the affirmative pattern and learn more detailed negation later.

Is kuɗi singular or plural? In some places I see it behaving like a plural.

Kuɗi is grammatically treated as plural in Hausa, even though in English we usually think of “money” as a mass/singular noun.

You see this in agreement:

Kuɗi sun ƙare. – The money (they) has/ have finished / run out.
(sun is a 3rd person plural verb marker.)

There is a rarer, more technical singular form kuɗi (or historical kuɗi-Ƙuɗi), but in modern everyday Hausa, kuɗi is basically always used as the standard word for “money,” with plural agreement, and can mean:

money (general)
funds
cash
sometimes “fee” or “price” (depending on context)

In translations, you can treat kuɗi as “money” without worrying too much about its grammatical number.

Does kuɗi only mean “money,” or can it also mean “fees,” “price,” etc.?

Kuɗi primarily means “money,” but by extension it can refer to:

fees:
- Kuɗin makaranta – school fees
- Kuɗin mota – bus fare
price:
- Kuɗin littafin nawa ne? – What is the price of the book? / How much is the book?
payment / cost:
- Kuɗin aikin yawa ne? – How much is the cost of the work?

In Ni ina aiki domin in sami kuɗi, it simply means money in a general sense: “I work in order to get money (income).”

Why doesn’t Hausa say “to get money” using something like an infinitive, the way English does? Why do we have a full clause in sami kuɗi instead?

Hausa doesn’t use an English-style “to + verb” infinitive in this context. Instead, it typically uses:

A purpose conjunction (like domin / don)
Followed by a subjunctive clause with its own subject pronoun:

domin in sami kuɗi – “so that I get money”
domin ya tafi – “so that he goes / so that he can go”
don su ga shi – “for them to see him”

So, where English uses an infinitive:

“I work to get money.”

Hausa prefers either:

Ina aiki domin in sami kuɗi. – literally “I am working so that I get money.”
or
Ina aiki domin samun kuɗi. – “I am working for (the) getting of money.”

It’s just a different grammatical strategy for expressing purpose.