Learn Hardcore Hausa: Kaka ta zo daga ƙauye ta zauna da mu mako guda. - Grandmother came from the village and stayed with us for one week.

In this sentence, the verb marker ta (feminine “she”) shows that Kaka is being treated as female, so the natural translation is “Grandmother”.
If it were “grandfather,” you’d expect ya zo instead of ta zo.

Why do we need the ta after Kaka? Why not just say Kaka zo daga ƙauye?

In Hausa, you normally need a subject pronoun before the verb, even if you already named the subject:

Kaka ta zo – Grandma came
Ali ya tafi – Ali went

Kaka is like a topic (“as for Grandma”), and ta is the real grammatical subject that also carries tense/aspect information.
So Kaka zo daga ƙauye is ungrammatical in standard Hausa; you must say Kaka ta zo.

Why is ta repeated twice: Kaka ta zo daga ƙauye ta zauna da mu mako guda?

There are actually two clauses:

Kaka ta zo daga ƙauye – Grandma came from the village
(Kaka) ta zauna da mu mako guda – (she) stayed with us for a week

Instead of using a separate word for “and”, Hausa often just starts the next verb with another subject marker:

Ta zo daga ƙauye ta zauna da mu…
≈ “She came from the village and stayed with us…”

You’re allowed (and expected) to repeat ta for each new verb in a sequence of actions by the same subject.

Where is the word “and” in this sentence? How do we know it means “came and stayed”?

There is no separate word for “and” here. The sequence is shown by:

repeating the subject marker ta
putting the verbs one after another: ta zo … ta zauna …

This is a very common pattern in Hausa: two verb phrases with the same subject simply follow one another, and the second one starts with the subject marker again. The “and” is understood from the structure, not from a specific word.

How can we tell that the sentence is in the past tense?

The past/perfective meaning mainly comes from the form of the subject pronoun:

ta zo – she came (perfective / completed action)
ta zauna – she stayed / sat (completed action)

If it were present/continuous, you’d see something like:

Kaka tana zuwa daga ƙauye – Grandma is coming from the village
Kaka tana zaune da mu – Grandma is staying / lives with us

So the bare ta + verb here is the perfective form, usually translated as simple past in English.

What does daga mean in daga ƙauye?

daga is a preposition meaning “from”:

daga ƙauye – from the village
daga Lagos – from Lagos
daga gida – from home

You can’t drop it here; ƙauye on its own just means “village”, not “from the village.”

What is ƙauye, and how is it different from words like gari?

ƙauye means “village”, usually a rural settlement.

ƙauye – village, countryside place
gari – town, city, or a more urban settlement

So:

ta zo daga ƙauye – she came from the village / countryside
ta zo daga gari – she came from town / the city

The letter ƙ is a special sound in Hausa (an ejective k), and it’s important to distinguish it from k, because it can change word meanings in other cases.

Does zauna here mean “sit” or “stay/live”?

zauna literally means “to sit”, but it very often extends to:

to stay
to live / reside
to remain

In context:

Kaka ta zo daga ƙauye ta zauna da mu mako guda.
= Grandma came from the village and *stayed with us for a week.*

You wouldn’t translate it as “she sat with us for a week” in English; “stayed” is the natural choice.

What does da mean in ta zauna da mu?

da is a very flexible word. Here it means “with”:

ta zauna da mu – she stayed with us
Ina magana da shi – I’m talking with him

Other common uses of da:

as “and”:
Ali da Aisha – Ali and Aisha
in “have” constructions:
Ina da mota – I have a car (literally “I am with a car”)

In this sentence, only the “with” meaning is relevant.

Does mu mean “we” or “us” in English?

Hausa mu covers both “we” and “us”, depending on position:

as subject pronoun: mu – we
as object pronoun: mu – us

In ta zauna da mu, mu is the object of the preposition da, so it means “us”:
she stayed with us.

Hausa doesn’t distinguish “we” vs “us” forms like English does.

How do mako and guda work together in mako guda?

mako = week
guda = one, a single (item) in counting expressions

So mako guda literally means “one week”, and in context it corresponds to “for a week” / “a whole week”.

Hausa doesn’t need a preposition like “for” for a time duration:

ta zauna da mu mako guda – she stayed with us one week / for a week
ya yi aiki shekara uku – he worked three years / for three years

Can we say mako ɗaya instead of mako guda? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say:

mako guda
mako ɗaya

Both can mean “one week”.

Nuance (often very slight):

guda often feels like “a single / a whole” item (slightly more emphatic or counting-style).
ɗaya is the basic numeral “one”.

In everyday speech, the difference here is minimal; both are acceptable.

Is the word order fixed? Could we move mako guda earlier in the sentence?

The neutral, most natural order is:

… ta zauna da mu mako guda.
(stayed with us for a week)

You could say something like:

… ta zauna mako guda da mu.

This is possible, but less common and can sound a bit marked. Duration phrases like mako guda, shekara biyu, kwana uku, etc., very typically come at the end of the clause:

Zan tsaya nan kwana uku. – I’ll stay here three days.
Sun yi aiki shekara biyu. – They worked two years.

So “… da mu mako guda” is the most natural order.

Is there any implied politeness or respect in using Kaka here?

Yes. Kaka is not just a neutral kinship term; it usually carries a sense of respect and affection:

It can be used both for your actual grandmother/grandfather and for respected elders you’re close to.
Using the kinship term instead of a name is a common way of showing warmth and respect.

So the sentence naturally feels warm and family‑oriented, not cold or purely factual.