Learn Hardcore Hausa: Ta ce duk lokacin da muka ga sabuwar kalma, mu kalli haruffa a ciki mu karanta a hankali. - She said whenever we see a new word, we should look at the letters in it and read slowly.

Ta ce duk lokacin da muka ga sabuwar kalma, mu kalli haruffa a ciki mu karanta a hankali.

She said whenever we see a new word, we should look at the letters in it and read slowly.

Breakdown of Ta ce duk lokacin da muka ga sabuwar kalma, mu kalli haruffa a ciki mu karanta a hankali.

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Questions & Answers about Ta ce duk lokacin da muka ga sabuwar kalma, mu kalli haruffa a ciki mu karanta a hankali.

What does duk lokacin da mean exactly, and how is it different from just lokacin da?

Duk lokacin da literally means “every time that / whenever.”

duk = all, every
lokacin = the time
da = that / when (a linker/relative particle)

So duk lokacin da muka ga sabuwar kalma = every time / whenever we see a new word.

If you say just lokacin da (without duk), it’s more like “the time when” (a specific time), not a repeated/habitual “whenever”.

Example contrast:

Duk lokacin da na je kasuwa, ina sayen nama.
Whenever I go to the market, I buy meat. (habitual)
Lokacin da na je kasuwa jiya, na sayi nama.
When I went to the market yesterday, I bought meat. (one specific time)

Why is it muka ga and not mun ga? What is the difference between muka and mun?

Both mun ga and muka ga are 1st person plural past/completive forms (“we saw”), but they are used in different environments:

mun ga = “we saw” in a normal main clause (no special focus or trigger):
- Mun ga sabuwar kalma. – We saw a new word.
muka ga = “we saw” in a focus or subordinate clause, for example after duk lokacin da, idan, lokacin da, or in certain emphasized structures.
In your sentence:
- duk lokacin da muka ga sabuwar kalma
  Here, muka is the required form in this type of “whenever / the time that” clause.

So the short version is:

mun = completive “we” in plain statements
muka = completive “we” in relative/wh‑clauses, focus, or certain dependent clauses

Why is it sabuwar kalma and not just sabo kalma? What’s going on with sabuwar?

The base adjective is sabo = new. Hausa adjectives change form when used before a noun, and they also agree with the noun’s gender:

Masculine: sabon
- sabon littafi – new book (masc. littafi)
Feminine: sabuwar
- sabuwar mota – new car (fem. mota)

Since kalma (word) is feminine, you must use the feminine attributive form:

sabuwar kalma – new word

So sabo kalma is not correct. You need sabuwar because the adjective is:

Before the noun
Agreeing with a feminine noun

Why does sabuwar end in ‑r? What does that ‑r do?

In forms like sabuwar, the ‑r (or sometimes ‑ar / ‑ar/‑r) is part of the linking/attributive ending that joins adjective and noun.

Roughly:

sabo (basic adjective)
→ sabuwar before a feminine noun: sabuwar kalma

This ‑r is very common when an adjective directly modifies a feminine noun. A few more examples:

ƙaramar yarinya – small girl
tsarin sabuwar mota – design of a new car

You don’t normally pull it apart as a separate “word” with its own meaning; it’s simply part of the correct adjective form used before feminine nouns.

How should I understand haruffa a ciki? Why is there no “it” (like cikinta)?

Haruffa a ciki literally is “letters inside” or “letters in(side)”.

haruffa = letters (alphabet letters)
a ciki = in / inside

In English we say “letters in it (the word)”, but Hausa often leaves out the explicit “it” when the reference is obvious from context. So:

mu kalli haruffa a ciki
= we should look at the letters inside (it / the word).

You could be more explicit and say, for example:

mu kalli haruffan cikinta – let’s look at its letters (the letters inside it).

But in everyday speech and writing, haruffa a ciki is completely natural when the “it” is clearly the word you just mentioned (kalma).

What is the function of mu before kalli and karanta? Is it like “we” or like “let’s”?

Here mu is the 1st person plural subject in the subjunctive/jussive mood. In this kind of sentence it usually translates as “let’s” or “we should”:

mu kalli haruffa a ciki
≈ let’s look at / we should look at the letters inside.
mu karanta a hankali
≈ let’s read / we should read slowly.

So mu is both “we” and a signal that this is a suggestion / instruction, not a simple factual statement. Compare:

Muna kallon haruffa. – We are looking at the letters. (plain, ongoing)
Mu kalli haruffan. – Let’s look at the letters. (hortative / directive)

Why is it kalli and not kallo? What is the difference between them?

kalli is the verb form: to look at, to watch.
kallo is a noun: the act of looking, a look, watching (as a thing).

In mu kalli haruffa, you need a verb, because you are telling people what to do:

mu kalli = let’s look (at)

If you used kallo there, it would be like saying “let’s the look the letters,” which doesn’t make sense.

Example contrast:

Ina son kallo. – I like watching / I like (the act of) looking. (noun)
Ina son in kalli fina‑finai. – I like to watch films. (verb)

Why is there no “and” between mu kalli… and mu karanta…? How are the two actions linked?

Hausa often links actions simply by putting another verb clause after the first one, especially when:

The subject is the same, and
The actions are in a sequence or close pair.

So:

mu kalli haruffa a ciki mu karanta a hankali

is understood as:

let’s look at the letters inside *and read (them) slowly.*

The second mu shows you that it’s another clause with the same subject (“we”). You could insert kuma (and/also/besides):

mu kalli haruffa a ciki kuma mu karanta a hankali

but it’s not required; many speakers leave it out in a natural flow of instructions.

What does a hankali mean exactly? Is it only “slowly” or can it also mean “carefully”?

a hankali literally means “with calmness” / “in a calm way.” In practice it often means:

slowly
gently
carefully / attentively

In your sentence, mu karanta a hankali can be understood as:

let’s read slowly,
and also let’s read carefully / paying attention.

The idea is that you don’t rush; you read in a calm, careful way.

Could I say idan muna ganin sabuwar kalma instead of duk lokacin da muka ga sabuwar kalma? Would that be correct?

Idan = if / when, so structurally you can say something like:

Idan muna ganin sabuwar kalma, mu kalli haruffa a ciki mu karanta a hankali.

This would mean roughly When(ever) we see a new word, we should look at the letters… and it’s understandable.

However, note two things:

muna ganin suggests a more continuous/habitual “we (usually) see / we are seeing”;
muka ga is completive “when we have seen / when we see (each time)”, which fits nicely with duk lokacin da.
duk lokacin da… more strongly carries the “every time / whenever” idea, which is often exactly what you want in a rule or instruction.

So your alternative is grammatically possible, but duk lokacin da muka ga… is a very natural, idiomatic way to express “whenever we see…” in Hausa.

In “Ta ce…”, what does ce do? Is it always used for “say / said”?

Yes, ce is one of the main Hausa verbs meaning “to say.”

Ta ce… = She said…
Ya ce… = He said…
Na ce… = I said…

It’s the completive form (past/finished event) of the verb ce/ faɗi. Hausa also has faɗi “to say/tell,” but ce is extremely common for introducing reported or quoted speech, much like English “say”:

Ta ce duk lokacin da muka ga sabuwar kalma…
She said (that) whenever we see a new word…

So ce here functions just like English “said” in “She said we should…”