Breakdown of Ni ina son haske a ɗakin karatu.
Questions & Answers about Ni ina son haske a ɗakin karatu.
Ni is the independent/emphatic pronoun “I (personally)”.
- Ina son haske a ɗakin karatu = I like light in the reading room. (normal, neutral)
- Ni ina son haske a ɗakin karatu = Me, I like light in the reading room. (emphasis or contrast)
So yes, you can absolutely say the sentence without Ni. Adding Ni usually suggests contrast, like:
- Ni ina son haske, amma shi yana son duhu.
I like light, but he likes darkness.
In ina, the “I” is built into the verb form.
- ina = “I am … / I (present tense)” (a subject pronoun + tense/aspect marker fused together)
- ni = independent pronoun “I”, used for emphasis, contrast, answers, etc.
So in Ina son haske:
- ina already carries the subject “I”.
- Ni is then added in front for emphasis: Ni ina….
This “double subject” is very common in Hausa for emphasis, but in neutral speech you normally just say:
- Ina son haske a ɗakin karatu.
The verb so (“to like / to love / to want”) behaves a bit specially.
- so is the basic verb root.
- son is the verbal noun / gerund form, used before a noun object.
General pattern:
- Ina son X = I like/want X (X is a noun)
- Ina so in yi X = I want to do X (X is a verb phrase)
So:
- Ina son haske = I like light / I want light. (haske is a noun)
- Ina so in sami haske = I want to get light. (verb phrase in sami “to get”)
When so is followed directly by a noun, it normally appears as son + that noun:
- son haske
- son ruwa
- son aiki
That’s why you get ina son haske, not ina so haske.
so/son in Hausa covers “like / love / want”. The exact English translation depends on context.
- With people or things you feel affection for, it often means “love”:
- Ina sonki. – I love you (fem.).
- With food, activities, etc., it’s often “like”:
- Ina son shayi. – I like tea.
- When there is a sense of desire/need, it’s “want”:
- Ina son ruwa. – I want water. (context: you’re thirsty)
In Ni ina son haske a ɗakin karatu, both “I like light in the reading room” and “I want light in the reading room” are possible; usually context makes it clear. If you’re talking about your preference for bright study spaces, “like” fits best.
haske is a general noun meaning light / brightness.
It can refer to:
- light from the sun
- light from a lamp or bulb
- the general state of being bright / not dark
Examples:
- Ina son hasken rana. – I like sunlight.
- Sai a kunna haske. – Then switch on the light.
In your sentence, haske means “light” in general – enough light to read comfortably.
a is a very common preposition meaning “in / at / on” in a broad, general sense of location.
- a ɗakin karatu = in the reading room / at the reading room.
cikin means “inside (the interior of)”, and is more specific:
- cikin ɗakin karatu = inside the reading room (inside the room itself, the interior).
Both can be correct, but:
- a ɗakin karatu → general location “in/at the reading room.”
- cikin ɗakin karatu → emphasizes inside the room.
In your sentence, a ɗakin karatu is natural and standard.
Hausa uses a linking ending between two nouns to show a “of” / genitive relationship.
- ɗaki = room
- karatu = reading / study
When you put them together to mean “room of reading” (reading room), you add a linker:
- ɗaki + n + karatu → ɗakin karatu
This -n (or -r/-n depending on the word) is often called the “genitive linker”. It connects two nouns in a noun–noun phrase:
- motar haya – rented car / taxi (mota + r + haya)
- ɗakin karatu – reading room / study room (ɗaki + n + karatu)
- littafin Hausa – a Hausa book (littafi + n + Hausa)
So ɗaki karatu without -n is ungrammatical; it must be ɗakin karatu.
You’re right: karatu by itself means “reading / study / studies”.
In ɗakin karatu, it’s part of a compound noun:
- ɗaki = room
- karatu = reading / study
ɗakin karatu literally = room of reading, i.e. reading room / study room.
Hausa very often builds compound nouns this way:
- ɗakin kwana – bedroom (room of sleeping)
- ɗakin girki – kitchen (room of cooking)
- ɗakin karatu – reading/study room
So here karatu is not “room” itself; it modifies ɗaki.
ɗaki is masculine.
For masculine nouns ending in a vowel, the usual genitive linker is -n:
- ɗaki + n → ɗakin
- gida + n → gidan (house → the house of …)
For feminine nouns, or nouns with certain endings, the linker can be -r or -n, depending on the word:
- mota + r → motar (car → car of …)
- hanya + r → hanyar (road → road of …)
In your phrase:
- masculine ɗaki
- -n
- karatu → ɗakin karatu.
- -n
ɗ is not the same as the plain d; it’s an implosive “d”, made with a slight inward movement of air.
Basic tips:
- Put your tongue where you would for an English d.
- Voice the sound, but gently “pull in” a bit of air rather than pushing it out strongly.
- It shouldn’t sound like English “j” or “g”, but more like a softer, “sucked-in” d.
If you can’t produce a perfect implosive at first, a clear, sharp d is usually understandable, but native speakers do distinguish d and ɗ in many words.
Hausa word order is basically Subject – Verb – Object – (Place/Time), similar to English.
Your sentence follows this:
- Ni (subject, emphatic)
- ina son (verb phrase: “I like/want”)
- haske (object: light)
- a ɗakin karatu (place: in the reading room)
So the natural order is:
Ni ina son haske a ɗakin karatu.
You generally cannot scramble it freely like:
- Ni haske ina so a ɗakin karatu ✗ (wrong in normal speech)
To move something for emphasis (like haske), Hausa normally uses special focus constructions with ne/ce, not just word order changes. For a learner, it’s best to stick to:
[Subject] [Verb] [Object] [Place/Time]
You change the subject from 1st person singular to 1st person plural.
Singular:
- Ni ina son haske a ɗakin karatu. – I like light in the reading room.
Plural:
- Mu muna son haske a ɗakin karatu. – We like light in the reading room.
Just like with ni, mu is the emphatic “we”:
- Neutral: Muna son haske a ɗakin karatu. – We like light in the reading room.
- Emphatic/contrasting: Mu muna son haske… – As for us, we like light…