Learn Hardcore Hausa: Uwa tana son furanni a lambu domin ƙauyenmu ya yi kyau. - Mother likes flowers in the garden so that our village looks nice.

ta so furanni – perfective: she wanted / she liked flowers (at that time)
tana son furanni – progressive/habitual: she likes flowers / she loves flowers (generally)

Structure of tana son furanni:

ta = she (3rd person feminine subject)
na = progressive marker (is/was …ing)
son = verbal noun of so (want/like/love)
furanni = flowers

Literally, tana son furanni is like saying she is in the state of liking of flowers, which in English we just say as she likes flowers.

So tana son is the usual way to express a present, general liking, not just a one-time wish.

Does Uwa here mean my mother, our mother, or just a mother?

Uwa simply means mother. On its own, it is not marked for possession.

Depending on context, it could be understood as:

Uwa tana son… – (The) mother likes… (maybe the mother in a story)
Uwata tana son… – my mother likes…
Uwarmu tana son… – our mother likes…
Wata uwa tana son… – a (certain) mother likes…

In your sentence, with no possessive marker, it is best taken as the mother or Mother in a general or narrative sense, while English often automatically hears my mom.

What is the singular of furanni, and how is this plural formed?

furanni = flowers (plural)
fure = flower (singular)

So:

fure ɗaya – one flower
furanni da yawa – many flowers

The plural furanni comes from:

fure → stem fur-
- plural pattern -anni → furanni

Many Hausa nouns form their plural with similar internal changes and endings (not just by adding a simple -s like in English), so you often need to learn both singular and plural forms.

In a lambu, what does a mean, and is it more like in or at?

a is a general preposition that usually covers:

in
at
on (in some contexts)

In a lambu, it most naturally means in the garden or in a garden, depending on context.

You might also see:

a lambu – in/at the garden (more general)
a cikin lambu – inside the garden (more explicitly “inside”)

So a is a broad location preposition, and English chooses in or at according to context.

What exactly does domin mean in domin ƙauyenmu ya yi kyau?

domin is a conjunction that can mean:

so that, in order that (purpose)
because (reason), in some contexts

In your sentence:

Uwa tana son furanni a lambu domin ƙauyenmu ya yi kyau.
→ Mother likes flowers in the garden so that our village will be beautiful.

Here, domin introduces a purpose clause – why she wants flowers in the garden.

You may also hear the shorter form don, and another common “because” word is saboda:

saboda ƙauyenmu ya yi kyau – because our village is beautiful / so our village will be beautiful (depending on aspect)

What does ƙauyenmu break down into, and how does possession work here?

ƙauyenmu = our village

Breakdown:

ƙauye – village
-n – linker (connects a noun to what follows it, similar to of/the …’s)
mu – we / our (1st person plural possessive pronoun)

So:

ƙauye + n + mu → ƙauyenmu = village-of-us, i.e. our village

Other examples:

ƙauyena – my village (ƙauye + n + a)
ƙauyensu – their village (ƙauye + n + su)

This -n- linker is very common in Hausa to show relationships like possession.

Why do we say ƙauyenmu ya yi kyau and not just ƙauyenmu yi kyau or ƙauyenmu kyau?

In Hausa, verbs almost always carry a subject marker that agrees with the subject in person and gender.

ya = 3rd person masculine singular subject marker → he / it (masculine)

ƙauye (village) is grammatically masculine, so we use ya:

ƙauyenmu ya yi kyau
Literally: our village, it has done beauty → our village is/looks beautiful

You cannot usually drop ya; it is required as part of the verb phrase ya yi. The pattern is:

[Subject NP] + [subject marker] + [verb]

So ƙauyenmu + ya + yi is the normal, grammatical order.

What does ya yi kyau literally mean, and why do we use yi with kyau?

Literally:

ya – he/it (masculine subject marker)
yi – do / make
kyau – goodness, beauty

ya yi kyau is literally it did beauty / it made good, but the idiomatic meaning is:

it is good / it looks good / it is beautiful

Hausa often uses yi + noun/adjective to express qualities:

ya yi kyau – it is beautiful / it looks nice
ta yi tsawo – she is tall (she “did height”)
abincin ya yi daɗi – the food is tasty (the food “did pleasantness”)

So in ƙauyenmu ya yi kyau, this is simply the standard way to say our village is beautiful.

Why is the subject marker ya masculine when ƙauyenmu is a place, not a person?

Hausa nouns have grammatical gender (masculine or feminine), which is not always tied to natural gender.

ƙauye (village) is grammatically masculine
Therefore, it takes the masculine subject marker ya

Other examples:

gida ya yi tsawo – the house is tall (gida is masculine)
mota ta yi tsada – the car is expensive (mota is feminine, so ta)

So even though a village is not male or female in real life, its grammatical gender is masculine, and the verb agrees with that.

Could we say furanni a lambu as furannin lambu instead? What is the difference?

Yes, but the meaning shifts slightly:

furanni a lambu – flowers in the garden
(location: flowers that are in some garden)
furannin lambu – the garden’s flowers / flowers of the garden
(stronger association or belonging: the flowers that belong to or are characteristic of that garden)

So:

Uwa tana son furanni a lambu – she likes flowers that are in the garden.
Uwa tana son furannin lambu – she likes the garden’s flowers (those particular flowers of that garden).

Both are grammatical; the choice depends on the nuance you want.

How do I pronounce the letter ƙ in ƙauyenmu, and how is it different from k?

Hausa distinguishes between:

k – a plain k sound, like in English sky
ƙ – an ejective k, produced with a little popping/glottalic burst

To approximate ƙ for English speakers:

Start to say a normal k sound.
But instead of letting air flow from your lungs, briefly close your glottis (as if you’re holding your breath), then release the k with a sharp, popping quality.

In ƙauyenmu:

ƙau- starts with that ejective ƙ sound: ƙau-ye-n-mu

It may feel unusual at first, but being able to hear and roughly reproduce ƙ vs k is important, because it can distinguish meanings in Hausa.