Learn Hardcore Hausa: A ƙarshen sati, iyali na suna hutawa a gida. - At the end of the week, my family rests at home.

With time expressions, a is usually translated as “at / on”:
- A ƙarshen sati = At the end of the week / On the weekend
With places, a is usually “in / at”:
- A gida = at home / in the house

So in this sentence, a introduces both the time (a ƙarshen sati) and the place (a gida).

What exactly does “ƙarshen sati” mean? Is it literally “end of the week”?

Yes. ƙarshen sati is literally “the end of the week”:

ƙarshe = end
ƙarshen = the end of … (this is the possessive/“of” form, often called the construct form)
sati = week

So ƙarshen sati = end of (the) week.

Note that Hausa doesn’t use a separate word for “of” here; instead it changes ƙarshe → ƙarshen.

Why is there no word for “the” in “ƙarshen sati” or anywhere else in the sentence?

Hausa generally does not have a separate word for “the” like English does.

Definiteness (“the” vs “a”) is usually understood from:
- context,
- word order,
- or forms like ƙarshen X (the end of X), ranar Lahadi (on Sunday), etc.

So ƙarshen sati naturally comes out as “the end of the week”, not “an end of a week”, even though there is no word meaning “the”.

What is the difference between “sati” and “mako”? Both can mean “week”, right?

Both sati and mako can mean “week”, but there are some tendencies:

sati
- Very common in speech.
- Often used in combinations like:
  - ƙarshen sati – weekend
  - cikin sati – within a week
mako
- Also means week, and is common in many regions.
- You might see expressions like:
  - ƙarshen mako – end of the week / weekend (alternative to ƙarshen sati)

In this sentence, sati is simply the word chosen for “week”, and ƙarshen sati functions idiomatically very much like “weekend” in English.

In “iyali na”, why is “na” after the noun instead of before it? Isn’t “my” usually before the noun in English?

In Hausa, possessive pronouns come after the noun, not before it:

iyali = family
na = my (here, the 1st person singular possessive pronoun)
iyali na = my family

Compare:

mota ta = my car
littafi na = my book
’yar’uwa ta = my sister

There is also a joined (suffix) form, so you may also see:

iyalina = my family

Both iyali na and iyalina are acceptable; iyali na is a bit more “separate” and clear for learners.

Why is it “iyali na suna hutawa” and not “iyali na yana hutawa”? Is “family” treated as plural?

Yes. In Hausa, iyali (family) is a collective noun, and it is very common to treat it as plural when thinking of the family members.

suna = they are (3rd person plural)
yana = he is / it is (3rd person masculine singular)

So:

iyali na suna hutawa = my family (they) are resting
iyali na yana hutawa would treat iyali as a single unit (it is resting). This is grammatically possible, but sounds less natural in everyday speech, where the family is usually thought of as a group of people.

Using suna here is the normal choice.

What is “suna” doing in “iyali na suna hutawa”? Is it a verb like “are”?

Yes. suna is a pronoun + aspect marker that functions similarly to “they are” in English and marks continuous / ongoing action:

su = they
-na (here as part of suna) = marker used to form a progressive / continuous meaning with many verbs.

Structure:

iyali na – my family (subject)
suna – they are (continuous/progressive marker)
hutawa – resting (verbal noun)

So iyali na suna hutawa literally feels like “my family, they are (in the process of) resting.”

Why is it “hutawa” and not just “huta”? What does the -wa ending do?

The base verb is huta = to rest.

hutawa is the verbal noun / gerund form = resting, having a rest.

In Hausa, the progressive / continuous aspect is often formed with:

subject + (su)na / (ya)na / etc. + verbal noun

So:

suna huta is possible in some contexts, but the most regular, textbook form is:
- suna hutawa = they are resting

Think of hutawa as the “-ing” form:

huta – to rest
hutawa – resting

Does “iyali na suna hutawa a gida” mean “they are resting right now” or “they usually rest at home on the weekend”?

By itself, suna hutawa usually expresses an ongoing or regular activity, and adverbs of time often make it clear whether it is habitual or right now.

Because the sentence has “A ƙarshen sati”, it is very natural to interpret this as a habitual action:

A ƙarshen sati, iyali na suna hutawa a gida.
→ On weekends, my family rests at home / My family usually rests at home at the weekend.

If you wanted to clearly talk about this particular weekend, you might add something like “yanzu” (now) or use a past or future tense depending on context. But as written, it most naturally reads as a general habit.

What does “a gida” mean exactly, and could you leave out the “a”?

gida = house, home
a gida = at home / in the house

Here, a is the preposition marking location.

With locations, a + place is the normal way to say “in/at + place”:
- a makaranta = at school
- a kasuwa = at the market
- a gida = at home

You can sometimes see gida alone used adverbially (like “home” in English), especially with motion verbs:

Ina zuwa gida. = I am going home.

But for “resting at home” (staying in a location), a gida is the standard and most natural expression.

Why does the sentence start with “A ƙarshen sati”? Could I say “Iyali na suna hutawa a gida a ƙarshen sati” instead?

Yes, you can say:

Iyali na suna hutawa a gida a ƙarshen sati.

Both word orders are grammatically correct. The difference is mainly emphasis and style:

A ƙarshen sati, iyali na suna hutawa a gida.
- Fronts the time expression.
- Feels like: “As for weekends / At the end of the week, my family rests at home.”
- Very natural in Hausa to put time expressions first.
Iyali na suna hutawa a gida a ƙarshen sati.
- Starts directly with the subject.
- Also fine, just a slightly different rhythm.

Putting time (or place) first is extremely common in Hausa.

How is “ƙarshen” pronounced, and what is the difference between “ƙ” and “k” in Hausa?

Hausa distinguishes “k” and “ƙ” as two different consonants:

k – a regular “k” sound, like in English “key”.
ƙ – an “implosive k”:
- Produced with a slight inward movement of air (not strongly puffed out like English k).
- The tongue position is similar to k, but the airflow and voicing feel different.

In ƙarshen:

ƙar – starts with ƙ, not regular k.
The ƙ is important for correct Hausa pronunciation and can even distinguish meanings in some word pairs.

If you find ƙ difficult at first, pronouncing it like a normal k will usually still be understood, but it’s good to be aware they are distinct sounds in Hausa.