Me ya sa yara suna cikin gida yau?

to be

Breakdown of Me ya sa yara suna cikin gida yau?

• gida: the house
• yau: today
• yaro: the child

Questions & Answers about Me ya sa yara suna cikin gida yau?

What does Me ya sa literally mean, and why does it translate as “why”?

Literally, Me ya sa is very close to “what has made…?” or “what caused…?”

• me = what
• ya sa = he/it made / it caused (past/completed aspect)

So Me ya sa yara suna cikin gida yau? is literally:

What has made (it that) the children are inside the house today?

In natural English, we don’t usually say “what has made the children be inside…?”, so we just translate it as “Why are the children inside today?”

Because of this underlying “what caused…?” idea, Me ya sa is a very common way to ask “why?” in Hausa.

In Me ya sa, what is the role of ya, and why is it masculine singular?