Learn Hardcore Hausa: Musa ya share ƙasa a falo da safe. - Musa swept the floor in the living room in the morning.

In Hausa, when the subject is a full noun like Musa, you still usually must put the appropriate subject pronoun between the noun and the verb:

Musa ya share ƙasa – Musa he swept the floor → "Musa swept the floor."
Maryamu ta share ƙasa – Maryamu she swept the floor → "Maryam swept the floor."

So the pattern is:

[Full subject noun] + [subject pronoun] + [verb]

You generally cannot say ✗ Musa share ƙasa; it’s ungrammatical in standard Hausa. The pronoun ya is required for agreement and to carry tense/aspect information.

What tense or aspect is ya share? Is it just a simple past like “swept”?

Ya share is in the perfective aspect (often called "completed aspect") for 3rd person masculine singular.

share is the perfective form of the verb shara (to sweep).
ya is the subject pronoun marking 3rd person masculine and carrying the perfective marking in this type of clause.

In English, we usually translate this as a simple past:

Musa ya share ƙasa… → Musa swept the floor…

Depending on context, it could also correspond to “has swept”:

Musa has swept the floor (already).

But by default, think of ya share as “he swept / he has swept” – a finished, completed action.

Could I say Musa yana share ƙasa a falo da safe instead? What’s the difference from Musa ya share ƙasa…?

Yes, you can say that, but the meaning changes:

Musa ya share ƙasa a falo da safe.
→ Perfective (completed): Musa swept the floor in the living room in the morning.
Musa yana share ƙasa a falo da safe.
→ Progressive/continuous: Musa is sweeping the floor in the living room in the morning (right now) or Musa used to be in the process of sweeping… (depending on wider context).

Form:

ya share = completed action (he swept).
yana share = ongoing/progressive action (he is sweeping).

So ya share tells you the job is done; yana share focuses on the action in progress.

Is ƙasa really “floor” or more like “ground”? Can I also use it for outside ground?

ƙasa is a general word meaning ground, earth, floor. It can refer to:

the ground outside
the floor inside a room
the earth/soil in a more general sense

In this sentence:

Musa ya share ƙasa a falo…
→ context makes ƙasa mean the floor of the living room.

There is also bene, which more explicitly means floor (of a building, e.g., a storey) or paved/fixed floor:

Na share benen falon. – I swept the living-room floor.

But using ƙasa for the floor inside a house is very common and natural, especially in everyday speech.

Why is there no word for “the” before ƙasa or falo? How do I know it means “the floor” and “the living room”?

Hausa does not have a separate word like English “the” as a definite article.

Definiteness (the vs. a) is usually shown by:

context
possessive constructions (e.g., falonmu = our living room)
position in the sentence
sometimes tone or vowel length (in speech)

In Musa ya share ƙasa a falo da safe, context tells you:

ƙasa = the floor (of his house/the room, not just any random ground)
falo = the living room (the one both speaker and listener know about)

If you wanted to be more explicitly definite, you could also use a possessive:

Musa ya share ƙasa a falon su da safe. – Musa swept the floor in their living room in the morning.

But you almost never add a separate word like “the.” Hausa simply doesn’t use a standalone definite article.

What does the preposition a mean in a falo? Could I also say cikin falo or a falon?

a is a very common preposition and here it means “in / at” indicating location:

a falo – in the living room / at the living room (area).

Alternatives:

cikin falo
- literally: “inside the living room”
- slightly more explicit that the action is inside the room
- Musa ya share ƙasa cikin falo da safe.
a falon
- falon = falo + -n (genitive/possessive linker or definite/relational ending)
- often used when connecting to something else:
  - ƙasan falon – the floor of the living room
- But a falon alone can also feel more like “in the living room (that we have in mind)” – sometimes a bit more specific/definite.

All of these are possible, but:

a falo is the simple, very common way to say in the living room.
cikin falo adds the sense of inside.
a falon can feel somewhat more definite or relational in some contexts.

What does da mean in da safe? How does that end up meaning “in the morning”?

In da safe, da is a preposition that often means “with” or “and”, but in time expressions it functions like “in/at (a time)”.

Common time expressions:

da safe – in the morning
da rana – in the afternoon / during the day
da yamma – in the evening
da dare – at night

You can think of da + [time-of-day word] as a fixed pattern that means “at / during [that time]”.

So:

Musa ya share ƙasa a falo da safe.
→ Musa swept the floor in the living room in the morning.

Can I change the word order, like Da safe Musa ya share ƙasa a falo? Is that still correct?

Yes, that’s correct. Hausa allows some flexibility in the order of time and place phrases for emphasis.

Original:

Musa ya share ƙasa a falo da safe.
→ [Subject] [pronoun+verb] [object] [place] [time]

Possible re-orderings:

Da safe Musa ya share ƙasa a falo.
→ In the morning, Musa swept the floor in the living room. (emphasis on when)
A falo Musa ya share ƙasa da safe.
→ In the living room, Musa swept the floor in the morning. (emphasis on where)

The core clause order (Subject + pronoun + verb + object) normally stays the same:

Musa ya share ƙasa …

but the time and place expressions can move around for style or emphasis.

How do you pronounce ƙ in ƙasa compared to normal k?

ƙ in Hausa represents an ejective k, which is different from regular k:

k – a plain voiceless k, like in English “cat”.
ƙ – an ejective sound; you release it with a little burst of air from the throat, almost like a “popping k”.

Approximate tips:

Say k, but simultaneously make a slight glottal stop / tightening in your throat and release it sharply.
It’s shorter and “harder” than a normal k.

Minimal pairs (different words):

kasa – (depending on tone) can relate to under, down, low, or other meanings.
ƙasa – earth, ground, floor, country.

In writing, always pay attention to k vs. ƙ, because they change the meaning.

If I replace Musa with another subject, how does the sentence change? For example, “I swept the floor…” or “They swept the floor…”?

You must change both the subject noun/pronoun and the subject pronoun between subject and verb. Some examples:

Na share ƙasa a falo da safe.
– I swept the floor in the living room in the morning.
- na = I (1st person sg., perfective)
Kin share ƙasa a falo da safe. (to a woman)
– You (fem. sg.) swept the floor…
- kin = you (fem. sg.)
Ka share ƙasa a falo da safe. (to a man)
– You (masc. sg.) swept the floor…
- ka = you (masc. sg.)
Ya share ƙasa a falo da safe.
– He swept the floor…
- ya = he
Ta share ƙasa a falo da safe.
– She swept the floor…
- ta = she
Mun share ƙasa a falo da safe.
– We swept the floor…
- mun = we
Sun share ƙasa a falo da safe.
– They swept the floor…
- sun = they

So the verb form share stays the same; what changes is the subject pronoun (na, ka, ya, ta, mun, kun, sun…).

Why is it share ƙasa and not share da ƙasa? Does share take a direct object without a preposition?

Yes. share is a transitive verb that takes its object directly, without a preposition:

na share ƙasa – I swept the floor.
sun share titi – They swept the street.

Many Hausa verbs work like this:

cin abinci – to eat food (direct object)
sha ruwa – to drink water
karanta littafi – to read a book

So:

share ƙasa = sweep (the) floor/ground
You do not say ✗ share da ƙasa for this meaning.

Could this sentence ever mean “Musa usually sweeps the floor in the living room in the morning” (a habit), or is it only one specific time?

By default, Musa ya share ƙasa a falo da safe describes a single completed event:
→ Musa (has) swept the floor in the living room in the morning.

However, in narration or context, Hausa perfective forms can sometimes describe repeated/habitual past actions if the surrounding context makes that clear. Alone, though, your sentence sounds like one particular time.

To express habitual more clearly, speakers often use:

kan with the imperfective:
- Musa kan share ƙasa a falo da safe.
  → Musa usually/habitually sweeps the floor in the living room in the morning.
or the simple imperfective with a time adverb and context:
- Musa yana yawan share ƙasa a falo da safe.
  → Musa often sweeps the floor in the living room in the morning.

So ya share on its own is best understood as one completed action, not a general habit.

How would I say “Musa didn’t sweep the floor in the living room this morning”?

You negate the perfective by using the negative particle baya (or ba… ba structure) around the pronoun+verb combination. A natural way to say this is:

Musa bai share ƙasa a falo da safe ba.
→ Musa didn’t sweep the floor in the living room in the morning.

Breakdown:

Musa – Musa
bai … ba – negative frame for 3rd person masc. perfective
bai share … ba – he did not sweep
ƙasa a falo da safe – the rest of the sentence (floor in the living room in the morning)

So:

Affirmative: Musa ya share ƙasa a falo da safe.
Negative: Musa bai share ƙasa a falo da safe ba.

What’s the difference between falo and falon?

falon is built from falo + -n. The -n (or -r after some vowels) is the genitive/linker suffix used when:

Connecting two nouns (possessive or “of” relationships), or
Marking a kind of definiteness/relational link.

Examples:

falo – a living room / the living room (depending on context)
falonmu – our living room
falon gidan – the living room of the house
ƙasan falon – the floor of the living room

In a falo, falo stands alone as a noun with a preposition: in the living room.
If you say a falonmu, that’s in our living room.

So:

falo – basic noun form.
falon – linked form, usually followed by another noun or pronoun (or understood from context) that it’s connected to.

Could I drop ƙasa and just say Musa ya share a falo da safe?

You can say Musa ya share a falo da safe, and many speakers will understand it as:

Musa cleaned up / tidied the living room in the morning.

When you leave out ƙasa, share can take on a more general meaning like “do sweeping/cleaning” in that location, not necessarily specifying exactly what was swept.

However, if you want to be clear and specific that he swept the floor, it’s better to keep ƙasa:

Musa ya share ƙasa a falo da safe. – Musa swept the floor in the living room in the morning.

So:

With ƙasa: specifically the floor.
Without ƙasa: more general sense of sweeping/cleaning in the living room.