Bayan aiki, muna hawa ƙaramin dutse kusa da gona mu kalli ƙauye.

After work we climb a small hill near the farm and look at the village.

Breakdown of Bayan aiki, muna hawa ƙaramin dutse kusa da gona mu kalli ƙauye.

• ne: to be
• kusa: near
• da: with
• aiki: the work
• mu: we
• ƙarami: small
• bayan: after
• ƙauye: the village
• kalli: to look at
• gona: the farm
• hawa: to climb
• dutse: the hill

Questions & Answers about Bayan aiki, muna hawa ƙaramin dutse kusa da gona mu kalli ƙauye.

What does Bayan aiki literally mean, and how is it used?

Bayan aiki literally means “after work”.

• bayan = after, later than
• aiki = work

Hausa doesn’t need an extra preposition like “of” here. You don’t say “bayan na aiki” or “bayan of work”—just bayan + noun.

Other examples:

• bayan makaranta = after school
• bayan sallah = after prayer

What exactly does muna hawa mean, and what tense/aspect is it?

muna hawa is an imperfective form and usually translates as “we climb / we are climbing / we ride” (depending on the object).

• mu = we
• na (fused here as muna) is the imperfective marker
• hawa = to climb / riding (verbal noun used like a verb)

So muna hawa ƙaramin dutse can mean:

• We climb a small hill (habitual)
• We are climbing a small hill (right now, depending on context)

The form muna + verb is the regular way to express ongoing or habitual actions with “we” in Hausa.

Why is it ƙaramin dutse and not just ƙarami dutse? What is that -n at the end?

The -n is a linking sound (often called a genitive/linker) that appears when an adjective comes before a noun.

• Base adjective: ƙarami = small (masculine singular)
• Before a noun: ƙaramin dutse = (a) small hill / rock

Very simplified rule here:

• When the adjective comes before the noun, it usually takes -n (or -r in some cases):
  
  • babban gida = big house (from babba
    • -n)
  • tsohon mutum = old man
• When it comes after the noun, you often see the plain form:
  
  • dutse ƙarami = a small hill (less common in this exact phrase but structurally possible)

So ƙaramin dutse is the normal, smooth way to say “a small hill/rock”.

Does dutse here mean “stone” or “hill”?

dutse can mean stone, rock, or hill depending on context.

In this sentence:
> muna hawa ƙaramin dutse

Because the verb is hawa (to climb), dutse is best understood as “hill / small hill / rocky rise” rather than just “a stone you pick up”.

Plural:

• dutse (sg) → duwatsu (pl) = stones/rocks/hills

What does kusa da gona mean exactly? Why do we need da?

kusa da gona means “near the farm”.

• kusa = near, close
• da = with / at / to / and (very multifunctional word)
• gona = farm, field

kusa da is a fixed phrase meaning “close to / near”. So you normally say:

• kusa da gida = near the house
• kusa da hanya = near the road

You don’t say kusa gona; you need the da: kusa da gona.

Why do we suddenly get mu kalli after muna hawa? Why is mu there again?

The second mu introduces a new clause and marks a subjunctive / purpose meaning:

• muna hawa ƙaramin dutse = we (usually/regularly) climb a small hill
• mu kalli ƙauye = so that we (can) look at the village / for us to look at the village

So the structure is like:
> After work, we climb a small hill near the farm (in order) to look at the village.

In Hausa, this purpose or intention is often shown with the subjunctive pronoun:

• mu kalli = (so that) we look
• in gani = (so that) I see
• su ji = (so that) they hear

That’s why you get mu again, even though muna already contained mu. They belong to two different verb phrases.

What is the difference between kalli, gani, and duba? They all look like “to look / see”.

They are related but not identical in meaning:

• kalli

  • to look at, to watch (deliberate looking)
  • e.g. kalli talabijin = watch TV

• gani

  • to see (perception, noticing something)
  • e.g. na ga shi = I saw him

• duba

  • to look at with the idea of checking/examining
  • e.g. duba littafi = check the book / have a look at the book

In the sentence:
> mu kalli ƙauye

kalli suggests looking at / viewing the village, maybe enjoying the view, watching it from the hill. gani or duba would sound different in nuance.

How do we know if ƙauye means “the village” or “a village”? There’s no article.

Hausa generally does not use articles (no direct equivalents of “a” or “the”). Definiteness is mostly understood from context.

• ƙauye can be a village or the village, depending on what the speakers have in mind.
• In this sentence, since it sounds like a familiar routine (“after work we climb a small hill near the farm and look at the village”), it most naturally reads as “the village”—probably the one next to their farm.

Hausa can make things more obviously definite with words like:

• ƙauyen nan = this village
• ƙauyen can = that village over there
• ƙauyenmu = our village

But plain ƙauye is neutral and flexible.

Could we change the word order and say Muna hawa ƙaramin dutse bayan aiki… instead?

Yes, you can move bayan aiki without breaking the sentence. For example:

• Bayan aiki, muna hawa ƙaramin dutse kusa da gona mu kalli ƙauye.
• Muna hawa ƙaramin dutse kusa da gona bayan aiki mu kalli ƙauye.

Both are grammatical. The main difference is emphasis / flow:

• Bayan aiki, ... at the beginning makes the time frame (“after work”) the starting point of the sentence—very natural in narratives.
• Putting bayan aiki later sounds a bit more neutral or less foregrounded as a time expression.

So yes, you have flexibility, but the original order is very typical and smooth.

What’s the pronunciation difference between ƙ in ƙaramin / ƙauye and a normal k?

In Hausa, k and ƙ are different consonants:

• k is a regular voiceless [k] like in English “cat”.
• ƙ is an implosive sound. You slightly pull the airstream inward while voicing it. It’s often described as a “heavy k” or “glottalic k”.

You’ll see minimal pairs like:

• kasa = floor, ground
• ƙasa = country, earth

In writing, Hausa distinguishes them with the hooked ƙ, and it’s important for meaning, not just spelling.

What is the role of the comma after Bayan aiki? Is that important in Hausa?

The comma after Bayan aiki works just like in English: it separates an initial time expression from the rest of the sentence:

Bayan aiki, muna hawa ƙaramin dutse…
After work, we climb a small hill…

Hausa punctuation in modern writing generally follows the same logic as English:

• Commas to separate clauses and introductory phrases
• Full stops at the end of sentences, etc.

Spoken Hausa, of course, just uses a pause and intonation instead of a written comma.

Can I replace mu kalli with muna kallo at the end:
... kusa da gona muna kallo ƙauye?

That would sound off and would change the structure:

• mu kalli ƙauye = (so that) we look at the village / for us to look at the village

  • mu = subjunctive “we”
  • kalli = look at

• muna kallo would be “we are looking (noun form)”, and you’d need to handle the object differently. Also, it loses the clear purpose meaning.

The original sentence has a nice sense of sequence and purpose:
> we climb the hill to look at the village.

Using mu kalli keeps that structure. muna kallo would be more like describing another ongoing action, not clearly linked as a purpose.