Learn Hardcore Hausa: Jiya budurwar ta ji damuwa saboda saurayin bai zo biki ba. - Yesterday the young woman felt worried because the young man did not come to the celebration.

Jiya budurwar ta ji damuwa saboda saurayin bai zo biki ba.

Yesterday the young woman felt worried because the young man did not come to the celebration.

Breakdown of Jiya budurwar ta ji damuwa saboda saurayin bai zo biki ba.

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Questions & Answers about Jiya budurwar ta ji damuwa saboda saurayin bai zo biki ba.

In budurwar ta ji damuwa, why do we have both budurwar and ta? They both seem to refer to “she.”

Hausa normally uses a subject pronoun on the verb even when the subject noun is already mentioned.

budurwar = the girlfriend / the young woman
ta = 3rd person singular feminine subject marker, she
ji damuwa = felt worry / felt upset

So budurwar ta ji damuwa is literally:
“The girlfriend, she felt worry.”

You can think of budurwar as the topic (“as for the girlfriend…”) and ta as the grammatical subject marker that must attach to the verb ji.

If the context is clear, Hausa often drops the noun and just says:

Ta ji damuwa. – She felt worried.

But you still cannot drop ta and say ✗ budurwar ji damuwa – that would be ungrammatical.

What is the difference between budurwa and budurwar?

budurwa is the basic dictionary form:

budurwa – a young woman / unmarried girl / girlfriend

When this noun is made definite and linked to something that follows (like a possessive, a demonstrative, or a pronoun), the final -a changes to -ar or -r. That’s what you see in budurwar:

budurwar ta ji damuwa – the girlfriend (she) felt worried.
budurwar Ali – Ali’s girlfriend / fiancée.

So roughly:

budurwa ≈ a girlfriend / girlfriend (in general)
budurwar … ≈ the girlfriend … (and it must be followed by something: ta, Ali, nan, etc.)

You would not normally end a sentence with budurwar by itself; it is a linking / construct form that connects to what follows.

What exactly does ta ji damuwa mean, and how does ji work here? Isn’t ji usually “hear”?

The verb ji is very common and flexible in Hausa. It has meanings like:

hear (a sound, news)
feel / experience (an emotion, sensation)
understand (a language)

In this sentence:

ta ji damuwa = she felt worry / she felt distressed.

The pattern is:

ji + noun of feeling = to feel [that emotion]

Common examples:

na ji daɗi – I felt happy / pleased.
sun ji zafi – they felt pain / they felt heat.
ta ji tsoro – she felt fear / she was afraid.
ta ji damuwa – she felt worry / she was upset.

You could also say:

ta damu – she was worried

Both ta ji damuwa and ta damu are natural; ji damuwa can sound a bit more like “she felt disturbed/anxious.”

Could jiya (“yesterday”) go in another position, or does it have to be at the beginning: Jiya budurwar ta ji damuwa …?

jiya means yesterday, and it’s fairly flexible in position. All of these are possible and natural:

Jiya budurwar ta ji damuwa…
Budurwar ta ji damuwa jiya…

Placing jiya at the beginning often sets the time frame as a topic:

Jiya, budurwar ta ji damuwa… – Yesterday, the girlfriend felt worried…

Putting jiya after the verb focuses more on the action and then adds “when?”:

Budurwar ta ji damuwa jiya… – The girlfriend felt worried yesterday…

So it does not have to be at the beginning, but that’s a very common and natural place for time expressions in Hausa narratives.

How does saboda work here, and can it come at the beginning of the whole sentence?

saboda means because / due to / because of. It can introduce:

A clause (with a subject and verb):
- saboda saurayin bai zo biki ba – because the boyfriend didn’t come to the party.
Or just a noun phrase:
- saboda ruwan sama – because of the rain.

In your sentence it introduces a reason clause:

budurwar ta ji damuwa saboda saurayin bai zo biki ba.
– the girlfriend felt worried because the boyfriend didn’t come to the party.

You can also move the reason clause to the front:

Saboda saurayin bai zo biki ba, budurwar ta ji damuwa.

That is fully correct and very natural. The meaning is the same; only the emphasis or flow changes a little.

What exactly does saurayin mean here, and how is it different from saurayi?

The base noun is:

saurayi – young man / boyfriend / suitor.

When made definite or linked to something that follows, it often takes -n / -in at the end, producing saurayin:

saurayin budurwar – the girlfriend’s boyfriend
saurayin nan – this/that boyfriend/young man

In your sentence, saurayin appears alone:

saboda saurayin bai zo biki ba.

This is understood as “the boyfriend / her boyfriend” from context. English wants the possessive “her boyfriend”, but Hausa can just say saurayin when it’s clear who he belongs to (here, the girlfriend just mentioned).

So very roughly:

saurayi – a boyfriend / boyfriend (in general)
saurayin … – the boyfriend (of …) or the boyfriend (we’re talking about)

If you want to be explicit, you can say:

saboda saurayinta bai zo biki ba. – because her boyfriend didn’t come to the party.

How does the negation bai zo biki ba work? Why are there two ba parts?

Hausa negative perfect (simple past negative) uses a split negation pattern:

ba
- subject pronoun (merged) … ba

For he came vs he didn’t come:

ya zo biki. – he came to the party.
ba ya zo biki ba. → contracted and normally written bai zo biki ba. – he didn’t come to the party.

So in your sentence:

bai = ba + ya (negative + “he”)
zo = come
biki = party / celebration / wedding
final ba closes the negation.

You must keep the first part (bai) before the verb and the second ba after the verb phrase. You cannot move the second ba in front of biki or drop it.

Correct: saurayin bai zo biki ba.
Incorrect: ✗ saurayin bai zo ba biki.

Why is it bai zo biki ba and not something like ba ya zuwa biki? What’s the difference?

These are different aspects (kinds of time/meaning):

bai zo biki ba
- negative perfect / completed action
- he did not come (on that occasion) to the party.
- Refers to a single, specific event in the past.
ba ya zuwa biki
- negative imperfective / habitual
- he doesn’t (usually) go to parties / he doesn’t attend parties.
- Refers to a habit, general behavior, or ongoing state.

In your sentence, we’re talking about one specific party (yesterday’s party), so bai zo biki ba is the natural choice.

Why does the negative form use bai with saurayin? Is bai specifically masculine, and what happens with feminine subjects?

Yes, bai is the 3rd person masculine singular negative perfect form, from ba + ya. It agrees with saurayin (the boyfriend), who is grammatically masculine.

Affirmative vs negative (3rd person singular):

ya zo – he came
bai zo ba – he didn’t come

For a feminine subject (like budurwar):

ta zo – she came
ba ta zo ba – she didn’t come

So a mini table for perfective negation:

na zo – I came → ba ni zo ba / ban zo ba – I didn’t come
ka zo – you (m.sg.) came → ba ka zo ba – you didn’t come
ki zo – you (f.sg.) came → ba ki zo ba – you didn’t come
ya zo – he came → bai zo ba – he didn’t come
ta zo – she came → ba ta zo ba – she didn’t come

So in your sentence, saurayin bai zo biki ba is exactly the right agreement: masculine subject → bai … ba.

Can the order of the main clause and the reason clause be switched, e.g. Saboda saurayin bai zo biki ba, budurwar ta ji damuwa?

Yes, you can switch them. Both are grammatical and natural:

Jiya budurwar ta ji damuwa saboda saurayin bai zo biki ba.
– Yesterday the girlfriend felt worried because the boyfriend didn’t come to the party.
Jiya, saboda saurayin bai zo biki ba, budurwar ta ji damuwa.
– Yesterday, because the boyfriend didn’t come to the party, the girlfriend felt worried.
Saboda saurayin bai zo biki ba, budurwar ta ji damuwa jiya.
– same meaning, with yesterday at the end.

Changing the order mainly affects emphasis and flow, not the basic meaning.

Starting with saboda… highlights the reason first.
Starting with budurwar ta ji damuwa… highlights the result (her feeling) first.

What does biki cover in Hausa? Is it just “party,” or can it also mean “wedding”?

biki is a general word for a festive occasion / celebration, and often specifically means wedding festivities. Its exact translation depends on context:

biki
- party, celebration, ceremony, festival
- wedding celebration (very common meaning)

In many Hausa contexts, if you say biki, people will think of a wedding unless something else is specified.

So bai zo biki ba can be translated as:

he didn’t come to the party
he didn’t come to the celebration
he didn’t come to the wedding

The right English word depends on what kind of event you already know it is.