Learn Hardcore Hausa: Wayar Baba ta tsaya saboda baturi ya ƙare. - Father’s phone stopped working because the battery ran out.

waya = phone
When a noun ending in a vowel is followed by another noun to show possession, Hausa usually adds a linking consonant: -n or -r.
Because waya ends in -a, it takes -r, becoming wayar.
So: waya + r + Baba → wayar Baba = Dad’s phone.

This -r is not plural or gender; it is just a genitive linker that ties two nouns together in a “X of Y” relationship.

Why is it ta tsaya and not ya tsaya? What does ta refer to?

In ta tsaya, the ta is the 3rd person singular feminine subject pronoun, and it agrees with the noun waya (phone).

In Hausa, many inanimate nouns have grammatical gender.
waya (phone) is treated as feminine, so it takes ta (she/it) in the verb phrase:
- Wayar Baba ta tsaya = Dad’s phone (she/it) stopped.

If you said Wayar Baba ya tsaya, it would sound wrong to native speakers, because ya is the masculine pronoun and does not agree with waya.

What exactly does ta tsaya mean here? Is it “stopped moving” or “stopped working”?

The verb tsaya basically means “to stop / to stand still”.

Context decides the nuance:

For people/animals: mutum ya tsaya = the person stopped (walking/moving).
For vehicles/machines/phones, tsaya often means “to stop working / to stop functioning / to break down.”

So in this sentence:

Wayar Baba ta tsaya = Dad’s phone stopped working / froze / cut out.

It’s not about physical movement; it’s about the phone no longer functioning.

Why do we have both baturi and ya in saboda baturi ya ƙare? Could we just say saboda baturi ƙare?

You cannot say saboda baturi ƙare. Hausa needs a subject pronoun inside most verb phrases, even when there is a full noun.

The structure is:

baturi ya ƙare
- baturi = (the) battery
- ya = 3rd person singular masculine subject pronoun
- ƙare = to be used up / to be finished

Grammatically, Hausa is closer to:

“As for the battery, it finished.”

So the noun baturi appears, and ya is the agreement marker attached to the verb. Both are needed in normal speech.

Why is the battery masculine (ya ƙare) while the phone is feminine (ta tsaya)?

Hausa has grammatical gender (masculine/feminine), and it does not always follow logic like biological sex.

waya (phone) is feminine → ta tsaya
baturi (battery) is treated as masculine → ya ƙare

Learners mostly have to memorize the gender of nouns. Some patterns help (many nouns ending in -a are feminine), but there are many exceptions, and inanimate objects can be either gender.

What does ƙare mean in baturi ya ƙare, and how is that different from gama?

ƙare here means “to be finished / to run out / to be used up.”

baturi ya ƙare = the battery has run out / is finished.

gama means “to finish (doing something)” and is usually transitive:

Na gama aiki. = I have finished the work.
Na gama cin abinci. = I have finished eating.

So you typically say:

baturi ya ƙare (for something like a resource being used up)
na gama
- [activity] (for finishing an activity or task)

Why is it written with ƙ in ƙare, and what would kare with normal k mean?

In standard Hausa spelling:

ƙ represents an implosive / ejective sound (different from plain k).
ƙare (with ƙ) = to end, to be finished, to be used up.

With plain k:

kare (with k) = dog (the animal).

So:

baturi ya ƙare = the battery has run out / is finished
baturi ya kare (with k) would literally look like “the battery (is a) dog”, which is nonsense.

The dot under ƙ is important for meaning.

What does saboda do in the sentence, and can it go at the start like in English “Because the battery ran out …”?

saboda means “because / because of.” In this sentence it introduces the reason:

Wayar Baba ta tsaya saboda baturi ya ƙare.
= Dad’s phone stopped because the battery ran out.

You can also put the reason clause first, just like English:

Saboda baturi ya ƙare, wayar Baba ta tsaya.
= Because the battery ran out, Dad’s phone stopped.

Both word orders are natural in Hausa. The meaning doesn’t really change; it’s just a different emphasis/order.

Is there any word for “the” here? How do we know it is “the phone” and “the battery” and not just “a phone / a battery”?

Hausa generally does not use articles like English “a” or “the.”

waya can mean “a phone” or “the phone,” depending on context.
baturi can mean “a battery” or “the battery.”

In this context, since we are talking about Wayar Baba (Dad’s specific phone) and its battery, the natural English translation uses “the phone” and “the battery.” Hausa relies on context and sometimes word order or extra words for specificity, not on a separate word like “the.”

Could I say this sentence in another way, for example, using “its battery” instead of just “battery”?

Yes. You can make the link to the phone explicit:

Wayar Baba ta tsaya saboda batirinta ya ƙare.

Here:

batirinta (or baturin ta) = its battery (“the battery of it,” where it = the phone)
- baturi / batiri = battery
- -n = linker for a noun ending in a vowel
- -ta = its (feminine owner, i.e. the phone)

So:

Wayar Baba ta tsaya saboda batirinta ya ƙare.
= Dad’s phone stopped because its battery ran out.

Your original version without “its” is also totally natural; context already makes it clear whose battery.

Could we use another word instead of saboda, like don or domin?

Yes, Hausa also uses don or domin with a similar meaning, especially in more formal style:

Wayar Baba ta tsaya don baturi ya ƙare.
Wayar Baba ta tsaya domin baturi ya ƙare.

In many everyday contexts:

saboda ≈ don/domin ≈ “because.”

However, don/domin can also have a purpose meaning (“so that / in order to”), depending on context. saboda is more straightforwardly “because / because of.” In your sentence, all three are understandable; saboda is very common and natural.

Does Baba here mean just “father” in general, or is it being used like a name?

Baba literally means “father / dad.”

In this sentence:

Wayar Baba is understood as “Dad’s phone.”
It usually refers to a specific father that the speakers share (e.g. “our dad” or “my dad”), not fathers in general.

In writing, people often capitalize it (Baba) when it means “Dad” as a specific person, similar to English. Grammatically, it’s a common noun, but in context it functions like a family title/name.