Learn Hardcore Hausa: A makaranta akwai littattafai a kowane kusurwa na ɗaki, amma fitila tana tsaye a tsakiya. - At school there are books in every corner of the room, but a lamp stands in the middle.

You could also say A makaranta akwai littattafai… or A makarantar nan akwai littattafai… (“In this school, there are books…”). Starting with a + place is a very common pattern when talking about existence or location.

What exactly does akwai mean, and how is it used?

akwai is an existential verb, usually translated as there is / there are.

In this sentence:

akwai littattafai = there are books.

Key points:

It does not change for singular/plural or person:
- akwai littafi = there is a book
- akwai littattafai = there are books
With a place phrase, it gives the “there is/are … in/at …” meaning:
- A gidanmu akwai kifi. = There is fish in our house.
- A makaranta akwai littattafai. = There are books at school.

You cannot drop akwai in this kind of sentence; it’s required to express existence.

Why is littattafai (books) formed that way from littafi (book)?

littafi = book (singular).
littattafai = books (plural).

This is an example of a broken plural (internal change), common in Hausa:

littafi → littattafai:
- vowel pattern and consonant doubling change inside the word.

Other examples with similar patterns:

fata (skin) → fatoci (skins)
takarda (paper) → takardu (papers)

You can’t usually “guess” these just by rules; you learn the singular and plural forms together. In this sentence you must use the plural littattafai because we’re talking about books in every corner, clearly more than one.

What does a kowane kusurwa mean, and why use kowane here?

a kowane kusurwa means in every corner.

Breakdown:

a = in/at/on
kowane = every / each (for many nouns, it’s the general form)
kusurwa = corner

So a kowane kusurwa = in each corner / in every corner.

About kowane:

Roughly = every, each.
It often appears before the noun: kowane mutum (every person), kowane gida (every house).
Sometimes you’ll see gender-agreeing forms (kowane / kowace), but in everyday speech kowane is used quite widely, even with nouns that are grammatically feminine. So kowane kusurwa is very natural.

What is the role of na ɗaki in a kowane kusurwa na ɗaki?

na ɗaki means of the room.

Structure:

kusurwa na ɗaki = corner of the room
a kowane kusurwa na ɗaki = in every corner of the room

na is a linker (often called the genitive marker) meaning of, connecting two nouns:

littafin yaro or littafi na yaro = the boy’s book / book of the boy
kofar gida or ƙofa ta gida = door of the house

So here:

kusurwa (corner) + na ɗaki (of the room) → the corner of the room.

Could we say this part in another way, like using a possessive ending instead of na ɗaki?

Yes, you could also say:

a kowane kusurwar ɗaki = in every corner of the room

Here:

kusurwa becomes kusurwar when it takes the -r linker before ɗaki.
This is another very common way of expressing possession or “of” relationships.

So both:

a kowane kusurwa na ɗaki
a kowane kusurwar ɗaki

are grammatically acceptable and mean essentially the same thing. The original sentence just chooses the na ɗaki pattern.

What does amma mean, and how is it used here?

amma means but / however.

In the sentence:

… amma fitila tana tsaye a tsakiya.
= … but the lamp is standing in the middle.

It introduces a contrast:

First clause: books are all around (in every corner).
Second clause, after amma: the lamp, in contrast, is only in the middle.

amma works like English but at the start of a contrasting clause:

Ina son kofi, amma bana son shayi. = I like coffee, but I don’t like tea.

Why is it fitila tana tsaye, and not fitila yana tsaye? What is tana?

tana is the 3rd person singular feminine form of the verb to be / to do in the continuous/progressive aspect:

yana = he/it (masc.) is …
tana = she/it (fem.) is …

In Hausa, many nouns are grammatically masculine or feminine, and fitila (lamp/light) is treated as feminine, so it takes tana:

fitila tana tsaye = she/it (the lamp) is standing/upright.

If the noun were masculine, you’d use yana:

titi yana cike. = The street is full.
allo yana tsaye a bango. = The board is standing on the wall.

So tana matches the gender of fitila.

What does tana tsaye literally mean? Is tsaye a verb or an adjective?

tana tsaye literally means she/it is standing (upright).

Breakdown:

tana = she/it (fem.) is (continuous aspect)
tsaye = standing, in a standing/upright position

tsaye behaves like a stative verb form / verbal adjective meaning to be standing / upright.

Common similar patterns:

yana zaune = he is sitting
tana kwance = she is lying down
gidan yana tsaye = the house is (still) standing

So fitila tana tsaye describes the state/position of the lamp, not an action of “getting up.” It’s like saying “the lamp is in an upright position.”

What does a tsakiya mean exactly? Is it just “in the middle”?

Yes, a tsakiya means in the middle / in the center.

tsakiya = middle, center
a tsakiya = in the middle

So:

fitila tana tsaye a tsakiya.
= The lamp is standing in the middle (of the room).

The phrase na ɗaki is not repeated, but it’s understood from context that the middle is the middle of the room mentioned earlier.

Why doesn’t Hausa use an explicit word for “the” in the books, the room, the lamp?

Hausa has no separate articles like English “a / an / the”.

Definiteness (whether something is “the” or “a”) is usually understood from:

context (are we talking about a specific known thing?)
possessives: dakina (my room), fitilar nan (this lamp)
demonstratives: wancan littafin (that book)
structure: na ɗaki suggests a specific room we are talking about.

So:

littattafai can mean books / the books depending on context.
ɗaki can be a room or the room.
fitila can be a lamp or the lamp.

In this sentence, natural English uses the room, the lamp, because the context sounds specific, but Hausa doesn’t need a separate word for “the.”

Could I rephrase the whole sentence more literally in English to see the structure?

A fairly literal breakdown would be:

A makaranta = At school / In (the) school
akwai littattafai = there are books
a kowane kusurwa na ɗaki = in every corner of the room
amma = but
fitila tana tsaye = the lamp is standing/upright
a tsakiya = in the middle

Putting it together:

At school there are books in every corner of the room, but the lamp is standing in the middle.

This shows how Hausa uses:

a + place
- akwai for “there is/are at/in …”
na to express “of”
tana tsaye for a standing state
no separate word for “the,” leaving it to context.