Learn Hardcore Hausa: Ni ina son hawa keke a hankali.

ni – an independent / emphatic pronoun (“me, I”).
ina – the subject + tense/aspect marker for the present/continuous (“I am … -ing / I (usually) …”).

In this sentence:

Ni = “As for me / Me, personally” (adds emphasis or contrast).
ina son… = “I like / I love / I want…” (the actual verbal part).

So:

Ni ina son hawa keke a hankali. ≈ “Me, I like riding a bicycle slowly.”
You can absolutely drop Ni and just say:
- Ina son hawa keke a hankali. = “I like riding a bicycle slowly.”

Using Ni is more emphatic or contrastive, for example when correcting or contrasting:

Ni ina son hawa keke a hankali, amma kai kana son gudu.
“I like riding a bike slowly, but you like speed.”

Does ina son mean “I like”, “I love”, or “I want”?

Ina son can cover all three ideas, depending on context:

“I like / I love”:
- Ina son kifi. – “I like/love fish.”
- Ina son hawa keke a hankali. – “I like riding a bike slowly.”
“I want” (especially with a following verb):
- Ina son in hau keke. – “I want to ride a bike.”
- Ina son in ci abinci. – “I want to eat.”

So:

With a noun or verbal noun after it, ina son X often means “I like X / I love X”, but it can also be understood as “I want X” depending on context.
With a full verb clause after it (ina son in…), it very naturally means “I want to…”.

In your sentence learners usually understand:

Ni ina son hawa keke a hankali. ≈ “I like riding a bicycle slowly.”

Why is it son and not so? What’s the difference between so and son?

The base verb is so (“to love / like / want”).
son is a related form that you use right before the thing you like/want.

Very practically:

Use son before a noun or verbal noun:
- Ina son kifi. – “I like fish.”
- Ina son hawa keke. – “I like bike-riding / riding a bike.”
- son Allah – “love of God.”
Use so before a verb clause:
- Ina so in hau keke. – “I want to ride a bike.”
- Ina so in tafi. – “I want to go.”

In your sentence:

son
- hawa keke = “liking (of) riding a bicycle”.

So ina son hawa keke is the normal pattern; ina so hawa keke would be wrong or at least very odd.

What exactly is hawa? Is it a verb or a noun? Why not just use a normal verb for “ride”?

hawa is a verbal noun (like English “riding”, “eating”, “speaking”).

Base verb: hau – “to ride; to mount; to climb”.
Verbal noun: hawa – “riding; mounting; climbing”.

In this sentence:

hawa keke = “riding a bicycle” (literally “riding of bicycle”).

So the structure is:

ina son (I like) + hawa (riding) + keke (bicycle).

This is a very common pattern in Hausa:

Ina son karatu. – “I like reading/studying.”
(karatu = “reading/study”)
Ina son tafiya. – “I like travelling/going.”
(tafiya = “going, journey, travel”)

You can also use a full verb after so/son:

Ina son in hau keke. – “I want to ride a bike.”

But the sentence you have uses the verbal noun pattern: “I like (the) riding (of) a bike slowly.”

Can I say Ina son in hau keke a hankali instead of Ina son hawa keke a hankali? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say both, and both are correct, but they feel slightly different:

Ina son hawa keke a hankali.
- Literally: “I like the riding of a bicycle slowly.”
- Natural meaning: “I like riding a bike slowly.”
- Focus on the general activity/habit – bike-riding is something you enjoy doing.
Ina son in hau keke a hankali.
- Literally: “I want that I ride a bike slowly.”
- Very natural as “I want to ride a bike slowly.”
- Often sounds a bit more like a specific wish/intention right now or in a given context.

In many contexts the difference is small and both may be understood simply as “I like to ride a bike slowly.”
If you’re talking about a general preference, the hawa keke version fits very well.

Could I just say Ina son hawa keke a hankali without Ni at the beginning?

Yes, and that is probably the most typical form in everyday speech:

Ina son hawa keke a hankali. – “I like riding a bike slowly.”

Adding Ni makes the “I” more emphatic:

Ni ina son hawa keke a hankali. – “Me, I like riding a bike slowly (as for me / unlike others).”

Use Ni when:

You’re contrasting yourself with someone else.
You want to stress your personal preference.

Otherwise, Ina son hawa keke a hankali is perfectly natural and slightly less marked.

What does keke mean exactly? Is it only “bicycle”?

In this context, keke means “bicycle”.

Some notes:

keke is the usual everyday word for “bicycle”.
In some contexts or dialects, keke can be extended to mean a small wheeled vehicle (for example keke napep for a tricycle/tuk-tuk in some Nigerian English usage), but on its own learners should understand it as “bicycle.”

So:

hawa keke = “riding a bicycle” / “cycling”.

What does a hankali literally mean, and why do we use a here?

a hankali is a very common fixed phrase meaning:

“slowly”
“gently”
“carefully”

Breaking it down:

a – a preposition, roughly “in/at/with/by” depending on context.
hankali – “mind, sense, awareness, intelligence.”

So literally it’s like “with mind / with care”, which gives the meaning “carefully, gently, slowly.”

In the sentence:

… hawa keke a hankali. – “ride a bicycle slowly / carefully.”

You’ll hear a hankali a lot in everyday speech, for example:

Ka yi a hankali. – “Be careful / take it easy / go slowly.”
A rika tafiya a hankali. – “One should walk/go slowly/carefully.”

Why does a hankali come at the end? Can I put it somewhere else?

In Hausa, manner expressions (like “slowly, carefully, well”) often come after the verb phrase, near the end of the sentence.

So:

Ni ina son hawa keke a hankali.
Subject – verb – object – manner.

This is the most natural order.

Other positions are either wrong or sound very odd, for example:

✗ Ni ina son a hankali hawa keke. – not natural.
✗ Ni a hankali ina son hawa keke. – sounds strange in normal speech.

So keep a hankali after hawa keke (or after the main verb phrase) when it describes how the action is done.

Is there any difference if a man says this sentence vs a woman? Does ina son change for gender?

No difference at all here. Ina son… is the same for male and female speakers.

1st person singular (“I”) in this form is ina for everyone.

Examples:

A man: Ina son hawa keke a hankali.
A woman: Ina son hawa keke a hankali.

Both are identical.

Changes happen with 3rd person (he/she) and 2nd person (you), not with “I”:

Yana son hawa keke. – “He likes/wants to ride a bike.”
Tana son hawa keke. – “She likes/wants to ride a bike.”
Kana son hawa keke. – “You (male) like/want to ride a bike.”
Kina son hawa keke. – “You (female) like/want to ride a bike.”

How would I say “I like riding my bike slowly” instead of just “a bike”?

You add a possessive to keke:

Common options:

Ina son hawa kekena a hankali.
– “I like riding my bicycle slowly.”
(kekena = “my bicycle”)
More explicitly (but often not necessary):
- Ina son hawa kekenna a hankali. – variant spelling/pronunciation.
- Or kekena nawa in some contexts, but kekena alone is usually enough.

So your original sentence becomes:

Ni ina son hawa kekena a hankali. – “Me, I like riding my bike slowly.”

Can you break the whole sentence down word by word?

Yes:

Ni – “I / me” (independent, emphatic pronoun).
ina – “I (am)” with present/continuous aspect.
son – “liking / love / desire for” (the form used before the thing you like/want).
hawa – “riding” (verbal noun from hau, “to ride”).
keke – “bicycle”.
a – “in/at/with/by” (here: forms an adverbial phrase).
hankali – “mind, sense” → a hankali = “slowly, gently, carefully”.

Putting it together:

Ni ina son hawa keke a hankali.
≈ “I like riding a bicycle slowly.” (literally: “Me, I am in liking (of) riding (of) bicycle in-care/carefully.”)