Breakdown of Fim mai nishaɗi yana daɗi sosai.
Questions & Answers about Fim mai nishaɗi yana daɗi sosai.
Mai nishaɗi literally means “one that has fun / that gives entertainment.”
- mai = “one who has / one that possesses / one that does.”
- nishaɗi = “fun, entertainment, amusement.”
So fim mai nishaɗi is “a film that has / gives fun,” i.e. “an entertaining film / a fun film.”
You’ll see mai + noun a lot, for example:
- mutum mai ƙarfi – a strong person (a person with strength)
- mota mai sauri – a fast car (a car with speed)
- gida mai kyau – a beautiful house (a house with beauty)
Here it works the same way: fim mai nishaɗi = a film with entertainment → “an entertaining film.”
Hausa usually doesn’t put a separate “to be” verb between a noun and a describing phrase the way English does.
Instead of “The film is entertaining”, Hausa simply says:
- Fim mai nishaɗi … – literally “film [that has] fun …”
The description mai nishaɗi directly follows fim. No extra “is” is needed.
The “is” idea in the sentence is carried more by the second part: yana daɗi sosai (“it is very pleasant / enjoyable”) rather than between fim and mai nishaɗi.
Yana daɗi breaks down like this:
- ya – “he/it” (3rd person singular masculine subject pronoun)
- na – an aspect marker; together ya + na → yana, often translated as “is (doing)” or “is in the state of …”
- daɗi – “pleasantness, enjoyment, deliciousness,” also used like “to be pleasant / tasty / enjoyable.”
So yana daɗi is literally “it is being pleasant / it feels good.”
In natural English, in this context it means:
- “It’s enjoyable / It’s really good (to watch).”
You’ll hear yana daɗi in many situations:
- Abincin yana daɗi. – The food is tasty.
- Wannan aikin yana daɗi. – This work is enjoyable.
Daɗi behaves a bit like both, but it’s usually treated as a stative verb or verbal noun meaning “pleasantness / to be pleasant.”
- With yana → yana daɗi = “it is pleasant / it feels good.”
- By itself → daɗi! can be used like an exclamation (“Nice!”, “That’s good!”).
It can refer to:
- taste: Abincin yana daɗi. – The food is tasty.
- general enjoyment: Fim ɗin ya yi daɗi. – The film was enjoyable.
- comfort/pleasure: Zaman nan yana daɗi. – Staying here feels good.
So while in English you’d probably call it an adjective (“good, tasty, enjoyable”), in Hausa it behaves grammatically more like a verb/noun of state.
Hausa subject pronouns must agree with the gender and number of the subject.
- ya / yana – “he/it (masculine)”
- ta / tana – “she/it (feminine)”
- su / suna – “they”
The word fim is treated as masculine in Hausa, so you use ya / yana:
- Fim mai nishaɗi yana daɗi sosai. – An entertaining film is very enjoyable.
If the subject were grammatically feminine, you would use tana instead. For example:
- ƙofa tana daɗi (if we were describing a feminine noun in some appropriate context).
With plurals, you would use suna:
- Fim ɗin suna daɗi sosai. – The films are very enjoyable.
Yes. Sosai is an intensifier meaning “very / really / so much.”
- yana daɗi – it is pleasant / it’s nice.
- yana daɗi sosai – it is very pleasant / really nice.
Rough English equivalents:
- “The entertaining film is very enjoyable.”
- “The fun film is really good.”
Other common intensifiers you might see instead of or together with sosai:
- ƙwarai – very, extremely
- matuƙa – very, extremely
Example: Fim mai nishaɗi ya yi daɗi ƙwarai. – The entertaining film was extremely enjoyable.
No, that word order would be wrong or at least very unnatural.
Hausa keeps a clear structure:
- Subject noun phrase
- Fim mai nishaɗi – “an entertaining film” (noun + descriptor)
- Predicate
- yana daɗi sosai – “is very enjoyable”
So the basic pattern is:
[Noun + its description] + [verb phrase / predicate]
Fim mai nishaɗi + yana daɗi sosai.
You shouldn’t split fim and mai nishaɗi or push mai nishaɗi to the end in this kind of sentence.
A natural past-tense version is:
- Fim mai nishaɗi ya yi daɗi sosai.
Breakdown:
- Fim mai nishaɗi – the entertaining/fun film
- ya yi daɗi – “it did/was pleasant” (past)
- sosai – very
So it corresponds to: “The entertaining film was very enjoyable.”
You could also say, with a more explicit “that film”:
- Wancan fim mai nishaɗi ya yi daɗi sosai. – That entertaining film was very enjoyable.
One natural way is to negate the yana daɗi part:
- Fim mai nishaɗi ba ya daɗi sosai.
Meaning: “The (supposedly) fun film is not very enjoyable.”
Breakdown:
- ba … ya … ba – common negative pattern (here you often just hear ba ya … in speech)
- ba ya daɗi sosai – “it is not very pleasant / not very enjoyable.”
In careful, fully explicit speech you might also see:
- Fim mai nishaɗi ba ya daɗi sosai ba.
Colloquially, many speakers will just say:
- Ba ya daɗi sosai. – It’s not very enjoyable. (with the film already known from context)
Hausa does not have separate words for “a” and “the” like English does.
Fim mai nishaɗi can mean:
- “a fun/entertaining film”
- “the fun/entertaining film”
The meaning “a” vs “the” is decided by context, or by adding other words if you want to be explicit, for example:
- wannan fim mai nishaɗi – this fun film
- wancan fim mai nishaɗi – that fun film
- fim ɗin nan mai nishaɗi – this particular fun film (using -ɗin / -n as a definite-like marker)
But in the bare form Fim mai nishaɗi, you have to use context to decide whether to translate it as “a film” or “the film.”
Yes, ɗ is a different sound from plain d in Hausa.
- d – a regular “d” sound, like English d in “do”.
- ɗ – an implosive d, made by slightly pulling air inward while touching the tongue to the same place as d.
Tips for learners:
- If you can’t make the implosive yet, using a clear d sound is usually understood and acceptable at beginner level.
- Just remember that in correct Hausa spelling, ɗ and d are different letters, and they can distinguish words:
- daɗi – pleasure, enjoyment
- dadi – would be read differently or look like a misspelling.
So nishaɗi and daɗi both contain this implosive ɗ sound.