Learn Hardcore Hausa: Ni ina so in yi tafiya zuwa gari.

Ni is an independent (emphatic) pronoun: “I (myself)”.
ina is a subject‑plus‑tense form: it marks “I” and the present/progressive aspect (roughly “I am …‑ing”).

So in Ni ina so in yi tafiya zuwa gari,

Ni adds emphasis: “I, (for my part), want to…”
ina is the normal way to say “I [present tense] want”.

You could drop Ni and just say Ina so in yi tafiya zuwa gari, and the basic meaning stays the same but with less emphasis on “I”.

Is Ni required here, or can I just say Ina so in yi tafiya zuwa gari?

You can absolutely say Ina so in yi tafiya zuwa gari. That is a very natural, everyday sentence.

With Ni: Ni ina so in yi tafiya zuwa gari → more emphatic, like “I want to travel to town (as opposed to someone else).”
Without Ni: Ina so in yi tafiya zuwa gari → neutral, simple statement.

So Ni is optional here and mainly used for emphasis, contrast, or in answers to questions like “Who wants to go to town?” – Ni ina so in yi tafiya zuwa gari.

What does ina literally mean, and what tense/aspect is it?

Ina is the 1st person singular progressive / present form.

Literally, it comes from a form meaning something like “I am (in the state of)”, and with a following verb it often corresponds to “I am doing X / I (currently) do X / I want X.”
In our sentence, ina so is roughly “I (am) want(ing)”, but in actual English we just say “I want”.

Compare:

Ina cin abinci. – “I am eating (food).”
Ina so in yi tafiya. – “I want to travel.”

For simple past you would not use ina; you’d use na:

Na so in yi tafiya. – “I wanted to travel.”

Why is it ina so in…, not ina so na…?

Because in and na are different subject forms with different functions:

in is the 1st person singular subjunctive / dependent form, used in clauses after verbs like so (“to want”), ƙoƙarta (“to try”), iya (“to be able”), etc.
- Ina so in yi tafiya. – “I want to (that I should) travel.”
na is the 1st person singular perfective subject marker (“I did / I have done”).
- Na yi tafiya. – “I traveled / I went (on a trip).”

After so, Hausa normally uses the subjunctive form, not the perfective.
So *Ina so na yi tafiya is not the normal pattern for “I want to travel”; you should say Ina so in yi tafiya.

What exactly is the function of in in in yi tafiya? Is it like English “to” in “want to go”?

in is doing two jobs at once:

It is the subject pronoun “I” in a subordinate (dependent) clause.
It marks that clause as subjunctive / dependent, often translated with “to” or “that I (should)” in English.

So:

Ina so in yi tafiya.
- Literally: “I (am) want(ing) that I do travel.”
- Natural English: “I want to travel.”

You cannot normally omit in here. Saying *Ina so yi tafiya is ungrammatical; the embedded verb phrase needs its own subject form (in, ka, ya, etc.).

What does yi add to tafiya? Why is it in yi tafiya and not just *in tafiya?

yi is the verb “to do / to make”, and Hausa often uses yi + verbal noun to express actions that in English are a single verb:

yi tafiya – “do travel / make a trip / go (on a journey / walk)”
yi magana – “do speech / speak, talk”
yi aiki – “do work / work”

tafiya by itself is a verbal noun (“travel, journey, trip”) – not a finite verb.
So *in tafiya would mean “that I journey (noun)” and is not well‑formed as a clause.
You need a verb, so you say in yi tafiya – literally “that I do a journey,” i.e. “that I travel.”

What’s the difference between in yi tafiya and in tafi? Do they both mean “to go / to travel”?

They are close in meaning but not identical in nuance:

in tafi (zuwa gari)
- Uses the finite verb tafi = “to go, leave.”
- Very direct: “I want to go (to town).”
in yi tafiya (zuwa gari)
- Uses yi tafiya = “to do a journey / to take a trip / to walk.”
- Emphasizes the act of traveling a bit more. It can sound slightly more like “I want to take a trip / go for a walk / make a journey to town.”

In many contexts they overlap and either is acceptable, but:

For simple “go (somewhere)”, in tafi gari / zuwa gari is often the default.
For “make a trip / go on a journey / walk some distance”, in yi tafiya is natural.

What kind of word is zuwa, and how is it used in this sentence?

zuwa here is a preposition meaning roughly “to, toward”.

In in yi tafiya zuwa gari:

yi tafiya – “to travel / make a journey”
zuwa gari – “to (the) town”

So the whole phrase is “to travel to town.”

zuwa is also used in other time/goal expressions:

daga Kano zuwa Abuja – “from Kano to Abuja”
zuwa gobe – “until tomorrow / by tomorrow”

Why is it gari and not garin? How would I say “to the town” or “to my town”?

gari is the basic noun “town, city, settlement.”

Bare gari can mean “a town / (the) town” depending on context, because Hausa doesn’t mark definiteness exactly like English.
garin is the genitive / possessed form, used when something belongs to or modifies the town:
- garin Kano – “the town/city of Kano”
- garinmu – “our town”

Examples:

Ina so in yi tafiya zuwa gari.
- “I want to travel to (a/the) town.” (indefinite or contextually definite)
Ina so in yi tafiya zuwa garin nan.
- “I want to travel to this town.”
Ina so in yi tafiya zuwa garina.
- “I want to travel to my town.”

So gari is the basic form; garin appears when it’s in a possessive/genitive construction.

Could I say a shorter version like Ina so in tafi gari? Is that equally correct?

Yes, Ina so in tafi gari is a perfectly correct and very natural sentence.

Ina so in yi tafiya zuwa gari.
- Slightly more descriptive: “I want to take a trip / make a journey to town.”
Ina so in tafi gari.
- Simpler, more direct: “I want to go to town.”

Context will usually determine which is more natural, but both are good Hausa.

How would I negate this sentence: “I don’t want to travel to town”?

The normal negative uses ba … ba plus the appropriate subject form:

Ba na so in yi tafiya zuwa gari. – “I don’t want to travel to town.”

Structure:

Ba na so – “I don’t want”
in yi tafiya zuwa gari – “to travel to town”

If you were emphasizing “I”, you could say:

Ni ba na so in yi tafiya zuwa gari. – “I don’t want to travel to town.”

Can ina so stand on its own, or does it always need something after it?

ina so normally needs a complement after it: either a noun or a clause.

With a noun:
- Ina so abinci. – “I want food.”
- Ina so ruwa. – “I want water.”
With a clause (using the subjunctive form):
- Ina so in yi tafiya. – “I want to travel.”
- Ina so ka tafi. – “I want you to go.”

Saying just Ina so. without any object or clause is unusual unless the context is very clear (for example, when you answer a question like “Do you want some?” and you just say, “Ina so” = “I do / I want (it)”).