Learn Hardcore Hausa: Iyaye suna koya mana mu yi alheri ga waɗanda ba su da ƙarfi. - Parents teach us to do good to those who have no strength.

actions happening now:
- Iyaye suna koya mana. – The parents are teaching us (right now).
or habitual/general actions (like English “parents teach us”):
- Iyaye suna koya mana mu yi alheri… – Parents teach us to do good…

So in this sentence, suna koya is best understood as a general/habitual “teach”, even though the form looks like “are teaching”.

Why is it koya mana mu yi alheri and not just something like koya mana yi alheri (without mu)?

Hausa does not use an infinitive form like English “to do”.
Instead, it typically uses a full clause with a subject pronoun and a special verb form often called subjunctive or intentive.

mu yi alheri = that we (should) do good / for us to do good

Here:

mu = we (subject pronoun)
yi = do in the subjunctive (after verbs like “want”, “tell”, “teach”)

So the structure is:

Iyaye suna koya mana [mu yi alheri]…
= Parents are teaching us [that we should do good]…

You must keep mu before yi; you can’t drop it the way English can say just “teach us to do good”. Hausa needs the explicit subject in that subordinate clause.

What exactly does mana mean, and how is it different from mu?

Both relate to “us / we”, but they have different functions:

mu = we as a subject
- mu yi alheri – that we do good
mana = to us / for us as an indirect object pronoun
- suna koya mana – they teach (to) us

Mana is the special “to/for us” form used with verbs that take an indirect object (teach to someone, give to someone, say something to someone, etc.).

Indirect object pronouns of this type are:

mini – to me
maka / miki – to you (m/f sg.)
masa / mata – to him / to her
mana – to us
muku – to you (pl.)
musu – to them

So in the sentence:

suna koya mana = they teach *us (they teach to us)*
mu yi alheri = that *we do good*

What is the function of ga in ga waɗanda ba su da ƙarfi? Does it just mean “to”?

Yes, ga is a preposition roughly meaning “to / towards / for”, often used with people.

In mu yi alheri ga waɗanda ba su da ƙarfi, the structure is:

mu yi alheri – we do good
ga waɗanda… – to those (people) who…

So ga marks the direction or target of the action:

Na ba kuɗi ga matalauta. – I gave money to the poor.
Mu yi alheri ga waɗanda ba su da ƙarfi. – Let’s do good to those who are weak / powerless.

You generally cannot drop ga here; it is what links alheri (good/kindness) to the people who receive it.

What does waɗanda mean, and how does it relate to other forms like wanda or wadda?

Waɗanda is a relative pronoun meaning “those who / the ones who” (plural, for people).

Basic human relative pronouns in Hausa:

wanda – who / that (masc. singular)
wadda – who / that (fem. singular)
waɗanda – who / that (plural, any gender)

Examples:

mutumin da ya zo – the man who came
matar da ta zo – the woman who came
mutanen da suka zo / waɗanda suka zo – the people who came

In your sentence:

waɗanda ba su da ƙarfi
= those who do not have strength / those who are weak

So waɗanda introduces a defining relative clause about a group of people being talked about.

In waɗanda ba su da ƙarfi, why is there su after ba? Doesn’t waɗanda already mean “those who”?

Waɗanda points to which people, but it does not serve as the grammatical subject of the verb. Hausa still requires a personal pronoun for the subject of the clause.

So the pattern is:

waɗanda [ba su da ƙarfi]
- waɗanda – those (people) who…
- su – they (subject pronoun)
- ba su da ƙarfi – they do not have strength

Similar examples:

mutanen da suka zo – the people who came
- mutanen da – the people who…
- suka zo – they came
waɗanda suke aiki a nan – those who work here
- literally: those – they are working here

So waɗanda sets up “those people”, and su is the pronoun that actually agrees with the verb phrase.

How does ba … da … work to mean “do not have” in ba su da ƙarfi?

Hausa commonly expresses “have” with “be with”:

ina da kuɗi – I have money (literally: I am with money)
suna da ƙarfi – they have strength

The negative is formed with ba + pronoun + da + noun:

ba ni da kuɗi – I don’t have money
ba shi da lokaci – he doesn’t have time
ba su da ƙarfi – they don’t have strength

So in your phrase:

ba – negative marker
su – they
da ƙarfi – with strength

→ ba su da ƙarfi = they do not have strength / power.

A final ba at the end (ba su da ƙarfi ba) is possible for emphasis, but ba su da ƙarfi is already correct and common.

What exactly does alheri mean? Is it “good”, “kindness”, “charity”…?

Alheri is a noun that means “goodness, kindness, a good deed, benefit”. It’s broader than just moral “good” and often implies helpful, kind actions toward others.

Examples:

Yi min alheri. – Do me a favor / Be kind to me.
Allah ya saka da alheri. – May God reward you with good.
Alheri ya fi dukiya. – Goodness is better than wealth.

In mu yi alheri ga waɗanda ba su da ƙarfi, alheri is best understood as:

do good (deeds)
show kindness
do something beneficial

So: teach us to do alheri to those who are weak = teach us to show kindness / do good to those who are weak / powerless.

Is the word order Iyaye suna koya mana mu yi alheri… fixed? Could I move mana or something else around?

The main word order is fairly fixed and natural as:

Subject – Iyaye (Parents)
Aspect/verb group – suna koya (are teaching / teach)
Indirect object pronoun – mana (to us)
Subordinate clause – mu yi alheri ga waɗanda…

So:

Iyaye suna koya mana mu yi alheri ga waɗanda ba su da ƙarfi.

You normally keep:

the indirect object pronoun (like mana) close to the verb:
- suna koya mana … – they teach us…
the subordinate clause (mu yi alheri…) after that.

Re‑ordering in ways like:

Iyaye suna mu koya alheri… – incorrect
Iyaye suna koya mu yi alheri mana… – very odd / wrong for “teach us to do good”

You can rephrase using different syntax, e.g.:

Iyaye suna koya mana alheri. – Parents teach us goodness (no clause, “alheri” just as a direct object)
Iyaye suna koya mana mu kasance masu alheri. – Parents teach us to be kind people.

But within the original structure, Iyaye – suna koya – mana – mu yi alheri – ga waɗanda… is the natural order.

What is the difference between ƙarfi and karfi? Why is there a special letter ƙ here?

Hausa distinguishes two different “k” sounds:

k – a plain k sound (like English “k” in kite)
ƙ – an implosive or “glottalized” k sound, written with a small hook under the letter (ƙ)

They change meaning:

kasa – ground / country
ƙasa – below / down
kowa – everyone
ƙowa – (in some dialects, a different word)

In your sentence:

ƙarfi with ƙ means strength, power, energy.

Pronunciation-wise, ƙ is made with a kind of inward / tighter articulation than plain k, but many learners initially approximate it with a strong “k”. Spelling-wise, it’s important:

ƙarfi (with ƙ) = strength
karfi (with k) would be spelled wrong in standard Hausa and could confuse the meaning.

Could we say this sentence using a different verb for “teach”, like koyar da? How would it change?

Yes. Hausa has both koya and koyar da:

koya – to teach / to learn (depending on construction)
koyar da – more explicitly to teach (something to someone)

You could say:

Iyaye suna koyar da mu mu yi alheri ga waɗanda ba su da ƙarfi.
- Parents teach us to do good to those who are weak.

Here:

koyar da mu – teach us (explicit direct object mu)
no need for mana because mu is already the object

Both versions are natural:

suna koya mana mu yi alheri…
suna koyar da mu mu yi alheri…

Nuance:

koya mana is slightly more colloquial/compact: teach to us
koyar da mu is a bit more explicit and often found in more formal or written style, especially in school/education contexts.

Does Iyaye always mean “parents”? Can it also mean “mothers” or something else?

Iyaye generally means “parents” in the sense of father + mother together, or more broadly elders / ancestors in some contexts.

Basic family terms:

uba / baba – father
uwa / mama / iya – mother
iyaye – parents (often both together)

Examples:

Iyaye suna kula da ’ya’yansu. – Parents look after their children.
Iyaye na sun mutu. – My parents have died.

Context can broaden the meaning to elders / forebears / ancestors, but in your sentence:

Iyaye suna koya mana…
clearly means “Parents teach us…” (our father and mother, or the parental generation).

Why is there no separate word like “to” in “teach us to do good” — it’s just koya mana mu yi alheri. How is “to” expressed?

The English “to” before a verb (to do, to go, to help) is an infinitive marker, but Hausa does not use an infinitive form in this way.

Instead, Hausa expresses this with:

a finite clause using a subject pronoun and a subjunctive verb form.

So:

English: teach us *to do good*
Hausa: koya mana [mu yi alheri]
- literally: teach to us [that we do (should do) good]

The “to” meaning is built into:

the subordinate clause structure (mu yi)
and the kind of verb used (verbs of teaching, wanting, asking, telling, etc., regularly followed by such clauses).

So there’s no separate word exactly equivalent to English infinitive “to”; Hausa handles it syntactically with mu yi, su yi, ya yi, etc.