Learn Hardcore Hausa: Ni dai ina son riga rawaya saboda tana sa hoton biki ya yi haske. - As for me, I like a yellow shirt because it makes the celebration picture bright.

Ni ina son riga rawaya… – grammatically fine, just a bit more neutral.
Ni dai ina son riga rawaya… – a bit more personal, like “Well, I like a yellow dress…”

Why is it ina son riga rawaya and not na so riga rawaya?

Hausa distinguishes between aspect (ongoing / general vs. completed).

Ina so / ina son… – progressive / habitual:
“I like / I love / I usually want…”
Na so… – completive / perfective:
“I liked / I wanted (at some specific time).”

In this sentence, the speaker is stating a general preference, so the progressive/habitual ina son is appropriate:

Ni dai ina son riga rawaya…
“I (personally) like a yellow dress…”

Na so riga rawaya would sound more like “I liked / I wanted a yellow dress (then),” referring to a particular occasion in the past, not a general taste.

What is the difference between ina so and ina son?

Both forms are heard in real Hausa, and both can mean “I like / I want.”

So is a verb “to love / to want.”
Son is the verbal noun (“love, liking”) plus the genitive -n.

You will see two common patterns:

Ina so riga rawaya.
Literally: “I am wanting a yellow dress.”
Ina son riga rawaya.
Literally: “I am (in) love-of a yellow dress.”

In everyday speech, both are common and basically equivalent in meaning here. Many speakers slightly prefer ina son + noun (ina son riga, ina son tuwo, etc.).

For learning purposes, you can treat ina so [object] and ina son [object] as interchangeable in most casual contexts.

Why is the adjective rawaya after the noun riga?

In Hausa, adjectives normally come after the noun they describe.

riga rawaya – a yellow dress
mota ja – a red car
mutum dogo – a tall person

So riga rawaya is the normal word order: noun + adjective.
Putting the adjective before the noun (rawaya riga) would be wrong in standard Hausa.

Why is it riga rawaya and not rigar rawaya?

The difference is about definiteness (roughly “a” vs “the”):

riga rawaya – a yellow dress (indefinite)
rigar rawaya – the yellow dress (definite: a particular one both speaker and listener know)

In your sentence:

Ni dai ina son riga rawaya…
means something like, “I like a yellow dress / yellow dresses (in general).”

If you said:

Ni dai ina son rigar rawaya…
it would suggest a specific yellow dress that’s already known in the situation.

Hausa doesn’t have “a” or “an”. How do we know riga rawaya means “a yellow dress”?

Hausa normally has no separate word for the indefinite article “a/an.” A bare noun can be indefinite:

riga rawaya – “a yellow dress / (any) yellow dress”
mota ja – “a red car / red cars (in general)”

If you really want to stress “one particular” or “a certain”, you can add wata (feminine “one / a certain”):

Ni dai ina son wata riga rawaya.
“I like a (certain/one) yellow dress.”

But in most contexts, riga rawaya alone is enough for “a yellow dress.”

Is riga feminine, and is that why we say rawaya?

Yes.

Riga (dress/gown/shirt) is grammatically feminine in Hausa.
Many color adjectives have different forms for masculine and feminine.

For “yellow”:

masculine: rawa or rawaɗi (depending on dialect)
feminine: rawaya

Since riga is feminine, the adjective must agree:

riga rawaya – correct (feminine)
*riga rawa – wrong (masculine adjective with feminine noun)

This is why you hear rawaya here.

Why is it saboda? Is there a difference between saboda and domin?

Saboda means “because” or “because of.” It introduces the reason:

…saboda tana sa hoton biki ya yi haske.
“…because it makes the wedding picture bright.”

Domin can also introduce purpose or reason, often closer to “in order to / so that / for the sake of.” In many everyday sentences, saboda is more common and feels more neutral:

Na zo saboda kai. – “I came because of you.”
Na zo domin in taimake ka. – “I came so that I can help you.”

In this sentence, saboda is the natural choice to express a straightforward cause/reason.

Why do we use tana but later ya? Aren’t they both “it”?

Yes, both refer to “it,” but they agree with different nouns:

tana sa…
- tana = 3rd person singular feminine progressive (“she/it is …ing”).
- Here it refers back to riga (dress), which is feminine.
  So: riga → tana (she/it)
ya yi haske
- ya = 3rd person singular masculine completive (“he/it did…”).
- Here it refers to hoton biki (“the wedding picture”). Hoto is masculine, so we use ya.
  So: hoto / hoton biki → ya (he/it)

Hausa pronouns must match the grammatical gender of the noun they stand for:

feminine noun → ta, tana, ta yi etc.
masculine noun → ya, yana, ya yi etc.

Why is the first verb progressive (ina son, tana sa) but then it switches to ya yi?

Different parts of the sentence express different aspects:

Ina son riga rawaya…
- ina son is progressive/habitual: general preference.
saboda tana sa…
- tana sa is also progressive/habitual: what the dress generally does.
hoton biki ya yi haske
- ya yi is the completive (perfective) form of yi.
- Here it expresses the resulting state: “the wedding picture (then) becomes/is bright.”

After verbs like sa (“to cause, to make”), Hausa commonly uses a completive clause to describe the effect:

tana sa hoton biki ya yi haske
literally: “it makes the wedding picture do brightness / become bright.”

So the mix of progressive (for ongoing tendency) and completive (for the result) is normal and idiomatic in Hausa.

What exactly does sa mean here in tana sa hoton biki ya yi haske?

Sa literally means “to put”, but it also has a causative meaning: “to make, to cause.”

In this sentence:

tana sa hoton biki ya yi haske
literally: “it makes the wedding picture do brightness.”

More natural English equivalents:

“it makes the wedding picture bright”
“it causes the wedding picture to be bright”

So sa X ya yi Y is a very common pattern for “make X do/be Y.”

What does hoton biki mean exactly, and why is it hoton instead of hoto na biki?

hoto – picture, photo
biki – celebration, ceremony, wedding

To say “picture of the wedding/celebration,” Hausa uses a genitive linker:

hoto + n + biki → hoton biki
“(the) picture of a wedding / the wedding picture”

This -n attached to hoto is a genitive marker showing “of”:

gidān maƙwabci – the neighbor’s house (gida + n)
jakar mace – the woman’s bag (jaka + r)

Hoto na biki is not the usual way in standard Hausa; hoton biki is the normal noun + genitive construction for “wedding picture.”

What does yi haske mean? Why do we need yi?

haske – light, brightness
yi – a very common verb meaning “to do, to make, to be (in some expressions).”

Together, yi haske is an idiomatic expression meaning:

“to be bright”
“to shine”
“to become bright”

So:

ya yi haske – “it became bright / it is bright.”

You cannot just say *hoto haske for “the picture is bright.” You need a verb, and yi haske is the normal way to express that idea.

Could we say Ni dai ina son riga rawaya saboda tana haskaka hoton biki instead? Is that correct?

Yes, that is grammatically correct and understandable:

tana haskaka hoton biki
uses haskaka (“to brighten, to illuminate”) as a regular verb: “it brightens the wedding picture.”

So:

Ni dai ina son riga rawaya saboda tana haskaka hoton biki.

means essentially the same thing.

However, the original:

…saboda tana sa hoton biki ya yi haske

sounds more idiomatic and more common in everyday Hausa. The pattern sa X ya yi haske is very natural, so it’s good to learn and use it.