Learn Hardcore Hausa: Ƙanwata tana karatu a makarantar firamare kusa da gida. - My younger sister studies at the primary school near the house.

The base idea is “younger sibling,” specifically a younger sister.
The form ƙanwata is commonly treated as a single word that you just learn as “my younger sister.”

Related useful words:

ƙanina – my younger brother
’yar’uwa – a sister (without saying older/younger)
ɗan’uwa – a brother (without saying older/younger)

So, in this sentence, Ƙanwata is best understood simply as “my younger sister.”

How does tana karatu work grammatically? Where is the word “is”?

In Hausa, the idea of “she is …‑ing” is usually expressed with:

a subject pronoun +
a marker for progressive/habitual aspect +
the main word for the action.

In tana karatu:

ta‑ = “she” (3rd person singular feminine subject pronoun)
‑na = progressive/habitual marker (often written together with ta as tana)
karatu = study / reading / schooling

So tana karatu means something like:

“she is studying” / “she is reading”
or more generally “she studies / she goes to school.”

There is no separate word for “is”; tana already covers both “she” and the idea of “is (currently/usually) doing it.”

Does tana karatu mean “she is studying right now” or “she goes to school” in general?

It can mean both, depending on context.

Right now / currently:
If you say just “Tana karatu.” and the context is what she is doing at this moment, it is understood as “She is reading / studying (right now).”
General / habitual:
In a sentence like “Ƙanwata tana karatu a makarantar firamare kusa da gida.”, the mention of primary school makes it sound more habitual:
→ “My younger sister goes to (attends) the primary school near home.”

So tana karatu is flexible: present continuous or habitual, depending on context—similar to how English “she studies” and “she is studying” can overlap in some situations, but Hausa uses the same form.

Why is it makarantar firamare and not just makaranta firamare?

The base word is:

makaranta – school

When a (usually feminine) noun like makaranta is directly followed by another word that specifies it (another noun or an adjective‑like word such as firamare “primary”), Hausa often adds a linking consonant ‑r or ‑n to show a close relationship, roughly like “school of primary”:

makaranta → makarantar firamare
literally: “school‑of primary”

This ‑r:

helps link the two words
often implies definiteness (“the” school, not just any school)

So makarantar firamare is best translated as “the primary school.”

What does firamare mean, and where does it come from?

Firamare means “primary” in the sense of primary/elementary school.

It is a loanword from English “primary”, adapted to Hausa pronunciation and spelling.
It’s almost always used as part of school vocabulary, e.g.:
- makarantar firamare – primary school
- malamin firamare – a primary school teacher

So makarantar firamare = “primary school.”

How does the prepositional phrase “a makarantar firamare kusa da gida” work?

The structure is:

a – at / in
makarantar firamare – the primary school
kusa da – near / close to
gida – house / home

Put together:

a makarantar firamare – at the primary school
kusa da gida – near the house / near home

So:

a makarantar firamare kusa da gida
at the primary school near (to) home

The word order is very similar to English here: [at] [the primary school] [near (to) home].

Why is it kusa da gida and not just kusa gida?

The expression kusa da works as a single unit:

kusa – near, close
da – a preposition that in this combination makes “near to”

So you normally say:

kusa da gida – near (to) the house
kusa da kasuwa – near the market
kusa da makaranta – near the school

Leaving out da (kusa gida) would sound incomplete or ungrammatical. Think of kusa da as the normal way to say “near / close to” something.

If the English meaning is “near our house / my house,” why doesn’t Hausa say gidana (“my house”)?

Hausa can say:

kusa da gidana – near my house
kusa da gidanmu – near our house

However, in everyday speech, when it’s obvious whose home is meant (often the speaker’s or the family’s home), Hausa often just says gida (“house/home”) without an explicit possessive:

kusa da gida – near home / near the house (understood from context)

English usually needs “my/our,” but Hausa can omit it when the context is clear. That is why kusa da gida is naturally translated as “near our house / near my house” here.

How do you pronounce the letter Ƙ in Ƙanwata? Is it the same as K?

Ƙ/ƙ is not the same as ordinary K/k in Hausa.

K / k – like English k in “key”, produced at the back of the mouth with a puff of air.
Ƙ / ƙ – a glottalized / ejective k. You build pressure in the throat and release it sharply while saying k. It sounds tighter and more “popping”.

In practice, many learners approximate Ƙ as a slightly “harder” k, but native speakers clearly distinguish:

kasa – ground
ƙasa – country / soil
ƙanwata – my younger sister

So Ƙanwata starts with this ejective ƙ sound, not a plain English k.

How would the sentence change if I talked about a younger brother instead of a younger sister?

To talk about a younger brother, you normally change both the kinship term and the verb agreement to masculine:

Ƙanina yana karatu a makarantar firamare kusa da gida.
– My younger brother is studying at the primary school near home.

Changes:

Ƙanwata → Ƙanina (“my younger brother”)
tana (she is) → yana (he is)

The rest of the sentence remains the same.