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

Suna is actually two pieces fused together:

• su = they (3rd person plural subject pronoun)
• na = progressive/aspect marker

So suna koya literally means they are teaching, but Hausa often uses this progressive form for:

• 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”.

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.

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*

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The main word order is fairly fixed and natural as:

1. Subject – Iyaye (Parents)
2. Aspect/verb group – suna koya (are teaching / teach)
3. Indirect object pronoun – mana (to us)
4. 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.

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.

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.

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).

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.