Learn Hardcore Hausa: Yau yara suna yin zagaye a harabar makaranta bayan darasi. - Today the children are going around in a circle in the school yard after the lesson.

Yau – today
yara – children (plural of yaro “child”)
suna – they are (3rd person plural subject pronoun + auxiliary)
yin – verbal noun of yi “to do / to make”, so yin ≈ “doing”
zagaye – rounds / going around / walking around
a – in / at / on (preposition)
harabar makaranta – the school yard / compound
- haraba – yard / courtyard / compound
- makaranta – school
  Together: harabar makaranta = “the yard of (the) school”
bayan – after
darasi – lesson / class

So structurally:
Yau (today) yara (children) suna yin (are doing) zagaye (rounds/walking around) a harabar makaranta (in the school yard) bayan darasi (after class).

What exactly does “suna yin zagaye” mean, and why do we need both suna and yin?

Suna yin zagaye is the standard Hausa way to express a progressive / continuous action:

suna – “they are” (3rd person plural continuous auxiliary)
yin – verbal noun from yi “to do” → “doing”
zagaye – “round, circuit, going around”

So suna yin zagaye literally feels like “they are doing going‑round”, i.e. they are walking around / going around (now).

Hausa often uses:

subject pronoun (or noun) + auxiliary (na/ke/suna…) + verbal noun

to express continuous or ongoing actions. Examples:

Ina yin aiki. – I am doing work / I am working.
Muna yin wasa. – We are playing.

So here suna yin is the progressive structure “they are doing …” and zagaye is what they are doing.

Could you explain the tense/aspect of suna yin? Is it present, present continuous, or something else?

Suna yin is a progressive / continuous aspect that usually corresponds to English “are doing / are …‑ing”.

In context, it is present progressive:

Yau yara suna yin zagaye…
→ “Today the children are walking around…”

However, depending on context, this same form can also describe habitual action:

Yara suna yin zagaye a haraba bayan darasi.
→ “Children (usually) walk around in the yard after class.”

In your sentence, having “Yau” (today) at the beginning pushes it towards a specific present‑time event: “Today the children are walking around…”

Why is it “yin zagaye” and not just “suna zagaye”?

You can in fact hear both structures in Hausa, but they are not quite the same:

suna yin zagaye
- Uses the verbal noun yin.
- Feels more like “are doing rounds / are going (around in) circles / are walking around (as an activity)”.
- This structure is very common and clear.
suna zagaye
- Here zagaye is more like an adjectival / state meaning “(are) in a circular formation / are arranged in a circle / are surrounding”.
- Less clearly an activity, more a description of position or shape.

So suna yin zagaye focuses on the ongoing action of moving around, which fits “walking around the school yard”.
Suna zagaye would more likely mean “they are (standing) in a circle / surrounding something.”

What does “zagaye” literally mean here? Is it only “walking around”?

Zagaye literally relates to “round, circle, circuit”, and as a verb‑like idea it means:

to go around something
to make rounds / do circuits
to move around (often repeatedly or in a loose circular path)

In different contexts:

Mun yi zagaye garin. – We went around the town.
Jami’ai suna yin zagaye cikin unguwa. – Officers are patrolling (doing rounds) in the neighborhood.

In your sentence, yin zagaye is naturally understood as “walking around / moving around” the school yard, not necessarily in a strict circle, but just moving about that space.

What is the role of the preposition “a” in “a harabar makaranta”?

A is a very common Hausa preposition that usually corresponds to “in / at / on” depending on context.

a gida – at home / in the house
a kasuwa – in the market
a tebur – on (the) table / at the table

In “a harabar makaranta”, it is best translated as “in / in the”:

a harabar makaranta – in the school yard / in the courtyard of the school.

So the prepositional phrase tells us where the action is happening.

How does “harabar makaranta” work grammatically? Why harabar, not just haraba?

This is a genitive / possessive construction in Hausa. The pattern is:

Noun 1 (with -r/-n) + Noun 2
≈ “Noun 1 of Noun 2”

Here:

haraba – yard / courtyard / compound
makaranta – school
harabar makaranta – the yard of the school / the school yard

The -r at the end of harabar (from haraba + r) marks that the first noun is linked to the next noun, showing possession or close association.

Other examples:

gidan malam – the teacher’s house (gida + n + malam)
littafin ɗalibi – the student’s book (littafi + n + ɗalibi)

So harabar makaranta is literally “the yard‑of school” → “the school yard”.

Can the word order be changed, for example, putting “yara” after the verb?

In neutral, clear sentences like this, Hausa prefers Subject – (Auxiliary) – Verb – Other elements, similar to English.

Normal order:

Yara suna yin zagaye a harabar makaranta…
→ “The children are walking around in the school yard…”

If you say something like:

Suna yin zagaye yara a harabar makaranta…

it becomes unnatural or confusing, because yara is clearly the subject but you’ve moved it away from its normal position. Hausa can sometimes move elements for emphasis or focus, but for a learner, you should keep:

[Time] + [Subject] + [Auxiliary/Verb] + [Objects / Adverbs / Prepositional phrases]

as in your sentence:
Yau (time) + yara (subject) + suna yin zagaye (verb phrase) + a harabar makaranta (place) + bayan darasi (time phrase).

What is the difference between “yara” and “yaro”?

yaro – a child (male) / a boy (often used for a child of either sex in loose speech, but grammatically masculine singular)
yara – children (plural form)

So:

Yaro yana wasa. – The child / boy is playing.
Yara suna wasa. – The children are playing.

In your sentence, yara is plural, so the auxiliary is suna (“they are”), not yana (“he is”) or tana (“she is”).

What does “bayan darasi” mean exactly, and how does “bayan” work?

Bayan means “after / behind”, depending on context.
In time expressions, bayan X = “after X”.

bayan darasi – after class / after the lesson
bayan aiki – after work
bayan la’asar – after the ‘Asr prayer

So in the sentence:

…a harabar makaranta bayan darasi.
→ “…in the school yard after class.”

Grammatically, bayan darasi is a prepositional time phrase modifying the whole action.

Why does the sentence start with “Yau”? Could it come later?

Yau means “today” and is a time adverb. Hausa often puts time expressions at the beginning of the sentence for clarity or emphasis:

Yau yara suna yin zagaye… – Today the children are walking around…
Jiya yara sun yi zagaye… – Yesterday the children walked around…

You could say, for instance:

Yara suna yin zagaye yau a harabar makaranta.

This is not wrong, but “Yau” at the start sounds smoother and more natural because it sets the time frame before everything else. For a learner, the pattern:

[Time] + [Subject] + [Verb] + [Place] + [Other]

is a good default.

Is there any difference between “darasi” and words like “aji” or “karatu”?

Yes, they are related to school but not identical:

darasi – a lesson / class session / period (the instructional unit)
- bayan darasi – after (the) class / lesson
aji – a classroom group / grade / class level (often: the people)
- Aji na biyu. – Second grade / class two.
karatu – reading / study / learning / schooling (more general)
- Ina yin karatu. – I am studying / I’m doing studies.

In your sentence, “after the lesson (period)” is exactly what bayan darasi expresses, so darasi is the correct choice.

Could this sentence describe a habitual action, like “children usually walk around the yard after class”?

Yes, the “suna yin” form can describe either:

ongoing present (“are doing now”), or
regular / habitual actions (“usually do”).

So depending on context:

Yau yara suna yin zagaye a harabar makaranta bayan darasi.
→ Most naturally: “Today the children are walking around in the school yard after class.”

If you remove “Yau” and say:

Yara suna yin zagaye a harabar makaranta bayan darasi.

this often will be understood as a general habit:

“Children (typically) walk around in the school yard after class.”

Context (or extra adverbs like kullum – always, sau da yawa – often) decides whether the meaning is “now” or “usually.”