Uwa ta dafa doya da kwai da safe.

Mother cooked yam and eggs in the morning.

Breakdown of Uwa ta dafa doya da kwai da safe.

• dafa: to cook
• da: and
• da: during
• uwa: the mother

Questions & Answers about Uwa ta dafa doya da kwai da safe.

What does each word in Uwa ta dafa doya da kwai da safe correspond to in English?

Word by word, you can think of it like this:

• Uwa – mother
• ta – subject marker for she / her (3rd person singular feminine, also carries tense/aspect information)
• dafa – cook (often specifically cook/boil/fry with heat)
• doya – yam (yam tuber, a common staple)
• da – and / with / at (the exact meaning depends on context)
• kwai – egg
• da safe – in the morning
  
  • da here works like in/at (time)
  • safe is the “morning” form used in this time expression

There is no separate word for a or the in this sentence; Hausa normally doesn’t use articles the way English does.

Why do we use ta after Uwa and not ya?