Learn Hardcore Hausa: Idan ruwan sama ya yi yawa, sai mu bar keke a gida mu tafi a kafa. - If the rain is heavy, then we leave the bicycle at home and go on foot.

Idan ruwan sama ya yi yawa = If the rain is heavy / If it rains a lot
It comes at the beginning of the condition, before the main result clause:
- Idan X, sai Y. = If X, (then) Y.

Typical pattern:

Idan
- clause (condition)
then sai
- clause (result)

So structurally:

Idan ruwan sama ya yi yawa, sai mu bar keke a gida…
If the rain is heavy, then we will leave the bike at home…

Why is it “ya yi yawa” instead of something like “zai yi yawa” to talk about future rain?

Hausa often uses a perfect-like form in the if-clause with idan, even when talking about the future.

ya yi is 3rd person singular perfect of yi (to do / to be in many expressions).
In conditionals, this perfect form is common:
- Idan ya zo, sai mu tafi.
  If he comes, then we’ll go.

So:

Idan ruwan sama ya yi yawa…
literally: If the rain has become much / has been a lot…
but the practical meaning is: If it rains a lot / If the rain is heavy (at that time).

You could say Idan ruwan sama zai yi yawa, but that sounds more like:

If the rain is going to be heavy (in the future)
and is less idiomatic than the perfect in this kind of “general” or “expected” condition.

What does ruwan sama literally mean, and how is it formed?

Ruwan sama is literally “water of the sky”, and it means rain.

Grammatically:

ruwa = water
na = of
sama = sky / heaven

In idafa (genitive construction), ruwa + na becomes:

ruwa + n + sama → ruwan sama
(the n is attached to the first noun)

So:

ruwan sama = the water of the sky → rain

Why do we have “ya” in “ruwan sama ya yi yawa” instead of “shi”?

In Hausa, ya here is a subject marker (a kind of verb agreement marker), not the standalone pronoun.

ya = 3rd person singular masculine subject marker (perfect aspect)
shi = independent 3rd person singular pronoun (“he / it”)

In this sentence:

Ruwan sama is grammatically masculine singular, so the verb uses ya:
- Ruwan sama ya yi yawa.
  The rain is a lot / heavy.

If you said:

Shi ya yi yawa.
that would mean It is a lot (using shi as a separate pronoun), but here ruwan sama itself is the subject, so we just use ya as the agreement marker on the verb.

What does “yi yawa” mean, and why use yi with yawa?

Yawa means a lot / much / many / plenty (as a noun: “abundance, largeness in number/amount”).

The verb yi (to do, to make, to be [in some idioms]) combines with yawa to make an idiomatic expression:

yi yawa = to be a lot / to be many / to be too much

Examples:

Mutane sun yi yawa.
There are many people / The people are too many.
Kudin ya yi yawa.
The money is a lot / The price is high.

So in the sentence:

Ruwan sama ya yi yawa
= The rain is a lot / The rain is heavy / It’s raining a lot.

What is the role of sai in “…sai mu bar keke a gida…”?

Here sai links the condition to its result and can be translated as “then / so / in that case”.

Full pattern:

Idan… sai… = If… then…

Functions of sai:

In conditionals: marks the consequence
- Idan an gama, sai mu tafi.
  If it’s finished, then we’ll go.
In other contexts, sai can also mean only / except / until, but in this sentence it’s clearly the “then” of an if-then structure.

So:

Idan ruwan sama ya yi yawa, sai mu bar keke a gida…
= If it rains a lot, (then) we’ll leave the bike at home…

What is mu doing in “sai mu bar keke a gida mu tafi a kafa”?

Mu is the 1st person plural subject marker (“we”) used with subjunctive / irrealis verbs (often future-like or “let’s” meanings).

mu bar = that we leave / we should leave / we (will) leave
mu tafi = that we go / we should go / we (will) go

In context after sai, these mu + verb forms typically express:

a future plan
or
a suggestion / intention (let’s…)

So:

sai mu bar keke a gida, mu tafi a kafa.
= then we’ll leave the bicycle at home and go on foot
or
= then let’s leave the bicycle at home and go on foot.

The mu is repeated before each verb because each clause has its own verb:

mu bar keke a gida
mu tafi a kafa

You may hear some speakers drop the second mu in casual speech, but repeating it is clear and standard.

Could it also be “mu bari keke a gida” instead of “mu bar keke a gida”? What’s the difference between bar and bari?

Both bar and bari come from the same root meaning to leave / to let / to allow.

bar is the basic verb stem
bari is a common variant, often used especially in imperatives and some dialects

In this sentence:

mu bar keke a gida is the usual, straightforward form: we (should) leave the bicycle at home.
mu bari keke a gida is also heard and understood, but mu bar is more standard in many descriptions of Hausa.

In everyday speech, you will hear both, especially:

Ka bari! / Ka bar shi! = Leave it!

For learning purposes, mu bar is perfectly correct and a good default.

Why is it “a gida” and not “a cikin gida”? What’s the difference?

Both are possible, but they’re not identical in feel:

a gida
literally: at home / at the house
Very common idiom for “at (someone’s) place, at home”.
a cikin gida
literally: inside the house

In mu bar keke a gida, the idea is:

we’ll leave the bicycle at home / at the house – you’re not focusing on the exact physical position (inside vs outside), just that the bicycle stays at home.

If you specifically wanted to say inside the house, you could say:

mu bar keke a cikin gida
= we’ll leave the bike inside the house.

But a gida here is the natural, idiomatic choice.

Does keke always mean “bicycle”? Can it mean anything else?

Keke most commonly means bicycle.

However, it can also refer to:

a simple wheeled vehicle like:
- keken doki – horse-drawn cart
- keken yaro – child’s tricycle
In some contexts it can just mean “wheel”, though taya or dabaran mota are more common for a car’s wheel/tyre.

In this sentence:

mu bar keke a gida
clearly means we leave *the bicycle at home, especially together with *mu tafi a kafa (go on foot), which contrasts bike vs walking.

What does “mu tafi a kafa” literally mean, and how does a kafa work grammatically?

Literally:

mu tafi a kafa = we go on foot

Breakdown:

mu tafi = we (should) go / we’ll go
kafa = foot / leg
a = preposition meaning in / at / on / by (means of)

So a kafa literally = “on/by foot”
It’s an idiomatic way to say “on foot, walking”.

Compare other expressions with a (means or manner):

ta mota / da mota – by car
da jirgi – by plane / by ship (depending on context)
a keke – by bicycle

So:

mu tafi a kafa = we’ll go on foot (we’ll walk instead of riding).

Could the sentence also be understood as “Let’s leave the bike at home and go on foot,” not just a neutral future?

Yes. The mu + subjunctive verb form can convey:

Future-like meaning (especially as the result of a condition):
- If it rains a lot, we’ll leave the bike at home and go on foot.
Hortative / suggestion meaning (“let’s …”), especially in the right context or intonation:
- If it rains a lot, let’s leave the bike at home and go on foot.

Both readings are natural. Whether it sounds more like a plan (“we will”) or a proposal (“let’s”) depends on:

context,
the speaker’s tone,
and whether the sentence is answering a question, giving instructions, etc.

How does the overall word order compare to English “If it rains a lot, we’ll leave the bike at home and go on foot”?

The word order is very close, but note these points:

Hausa:

Idan ruwan sama ya yi yawa, sai mu bar keke a gida mu tafi a kafa.

Rough alignment:

Idan – If
ruwan sama – the rain (lit. water of the sky)
ya yi yawa – is a lot / is heavy
sai – then / so
mu bar keke a gida – we (should) leave the bike at home
mu tafi a kafa – (we should) go on foot

So the structure is essentially:

If [rain clause], then [we-clause 1] [we-clause 2].

Very similar to English “If X, (then) we will do Y and (we will) do Z.”
The main differences are in how tense/aspect is expressed (e.g. ya yi instead of a separate future marker in the if-clause) and the use of particles like sai, not in basic word order.