Learn Hardcore Hausa: Ni ina zuwa ƙauye lokaci-lokaci in ga kaka. - I go to the village from time to time to see grandmother.

Ni is the independent (strong) pronoun = “I / me”, used for emphasis or contrast.
ina is part of the verb system and marks subject + aspect (roughly “I am / I (habitually)”). It must appear with the verb in this tense.

So:

Ina zuwa ƙauye… = I go / I am going to the village… (neutral).
Ni ina zuwa ƙauye… = Me, I go to the village… (emphasizing I, maybe contrasting with someone else).

You can drop Ni and say Ina zuwa ƙauye lokaci-lokaci in ga kaka, and it is still fully correct.

What exactly does ina zuwa mean? Is it “I am going” or “I go”?

ina zuwa can cover both meanings, depending on context.

It can mean “I am going” (right now / around this time).
It can also mean “I go” in a habitual sense: something you do from time to time or regularly.

In this sentence, the presence of lokaci-lokaci (from time to time) clearly makes it habitual:

Ni ina zuwa ƙauye lokaci-lokaci…
→ I go to the village from time to time…

For strictly future, Hausa prefers something like:

Zan je ƙauye = I will go to the village.

Is zuwa a verb or a preposition meaning “to”?

zuwa here functions as the verbal element “go/come,” but historically it is a verbal noun meaning going / coming.

In this construction:

ina zuwa ƙauye literally: I am in (the act of) going (to) village.
There is no separate preposition “to”; the destination (ƙauye) directly follows the verb.

So even though English needs “go to the village,” Hausa simply uses ina zuwa ƙauye, with zuwa carrying the idea of motion towards somewhere.

Why is there no word for “to” before ƙauye?

Hausa often does not use a separate preposition like English “to” with motion verbs. The pattern is:

ina zuwa ƙauye = I go to the village
ya tafi makaranta = he went to school (no “to”)

The direction or goal is understood from context and word order: the place name (ƙauye) follows the motion verb (zuwa). You could add the general preposition zuwa before nouns in other contexts (e.g. zuwa ƙauye = to the village as a phrase), but in ina zuwa ƙauye the verb already covers that meaning.

What does ƙauye mean exactly, and is it singular or plural? How would I say “villages”?

ƙauye means “village” and it is singular.

ƙauye = a village / the village (Hausa doesn’t mark “a/the” on the noun itself).
The common plural is ƙauyuka = villages.

Examples:

Ina zaune a ƙauye. = I live in a / the village.
Sun tafi wasu ƙauyuka. = They went to some villages.

If Hausa doesn’t have articles, how do I know if ƙauye means “a village” or “the village”?

Hausa has no direct equivalent of “a / an / the” as separate words. The noun ƙauye by itself can be understood as either indefinite (“a village”) or definite (“the village”), depending on context and what is already known.

In your sentence, if the village is known to both speaker and listener (e.g. the family village), ƙauye is naturally understood as “the village.”
If it’s just any village, it can be translated “a village.”

You can add words for clarity:

wani ƙauye = a certain village / some village
ƙauyenmu = our village (clearly definite).

What does lokaci-lokaci literally mean, and why is it repeated?

lokaci means “time”. Reduplicating it → lokaci-lokaci literally “time-time”, but functionally means “from time to time, occasionally.”

Hausa often uses reduplication to form adverbs of manner or frequency:

sannu → “gently” / greeting
sannu-sannu → “very slowly, gradually”
lokaci-lokaci → “sometimes, occasionally”

So in the sentence:

lokaci-lokaci tells you about frequency: I (sometimes / occasionally) go to the village…

What is in doing here? Is it the same as English “in”?

No. Hausa in (short /i/) is not the English preposition “in”.

Here, in is a subordinator that often has meanings like:

“so that / in order that” → purpose
“if / when” → condition, depending on context

In this sentence, in ga kaka is best understood as “(so that I can) see Grandma.” So the whole clause is:

Ni ina zuwa ƙauye lokaci-lokaci in ga kaka.
→ I go to the village from time to time to see my grandmother.

So English uses an infinitive (to see), but Hausa uses in + verb.

Why is there no pronoun “I” in the second part in ga kaka? Where did “I” go?

The subject “I” is understood from context and from the first clause (Ni ina zuwa…). Hausa often avoids repeating obvious subjects in closely connected clauses.

In careful or more explicit speech you could say:

Ni ina zuwa ƙauye lokaci-lokaci in na ga kaka.

Here na makes the “I” explicit in the second clause. In everyday speech, especially after in, people often drop this pronoun when the subject is clearly the same as in the main clause. The sentence you have is therefore natural: the listener understands that “I” is still the subject of ga.

What is the difference between ga and gani for “see”?

Both relate to the idea of seeing, but they are different forms:

ga is the finite verb form “see” (perfective/complete action) used with subject pronouns:
- Na ga kaka. = I saw Grandma.
- In ga kaka. = …(so that I) see Grandma / if I see Grandma.
gani is the verbal noun (like an -ing form or infinitive in English), meaning “seeing, to see.”
- Ina son ganin kaka. = I like seeing Grandma / I want to see Grandma.

In your sentence, in ga kaka uses the finite verb form ga, not the verbal noun gani.

Does kaka mean specifically “grandmother”, or could it also be “grandfather”?

kaka in Hausa generally means “grandparent” and can refer to either:

grandmother,
grandfather,
or sometimes just “elderly grandparent figure,” depending on context.

If you need to be very specific, you can add more information, for example:

kaka na uwa = maternal grandmother
kaka na uba = paternal grandfather

But in many everyday sentences, kaka on its own is understood from context, and English speakers often translate it as “grandma” or “grandpa.”

Could I also say Ni kan je ƙauye lokaci-lokaci in ga kaka? What’s the difference between kan je and ina zuwa?

Yes, Ni kan je ƙauye lokaci-lokaci in ga kaka is correct and natural.

kan je is a habitual marker: it strongly emphasizes regular, repeated action – “I usually / I tend to go.”
ina zuwa can be progressive (I am going) or habitual (I go (from time to time)), so it is a bit more general.

In this sentence, both express a habitual action. kan je just makes the “habit” nuance slightly more explicit.

Where can I put lokaci-lokaci in the sentence? Can it go at the beginning or the end?

Yes, lokaci-lokaci is fairly flexible. All of these are possible and natural:

Ni ina zuwa ƙauye lokaci-lokaci in ga kaka.
Lokaci-lokaci, ni ina zuwa ƙauye in ga kaka.
Ni ina zuwa ƙauye in ga kaka lokaci-lokaci.

The most common position is usually after the verb phrase and before the purpose/conditional clause, as in your original sentence. Putting it at the beginning gives extra emphasis to the idea of “from time to time.”

How do I pronounce the letter ƙ in ƙauye? How is it different from k?

ƙ represents an ejective / glottalized k/ sound. It’s produced with a little “pop” in the throat, not just a plain k.

k = ordinary k sound (like in English “cat”).
ƙ = tighter, “popping” k made with a closure in the throat as well as at the tongue.

In many words, k and ƙ can distinguish meaning, so it matters in spelling and pronunciation. In ƙauye (village), it is always spelled with ƙ, not k.