'Yar uwata tana son zane, kullum tana zana furanni da dabbobi.

My sister likes drawing; every day she draws flowers and animals.

Breakdown of 'Yar uwata tana son zane, kullum tana zana furanni da dabbobi.

• ne: to be
• da: and
• so: to like
• ’yar uwa: the sister

Questions & Answers about 'Yar uwata tana son zane, kullum tana zana furanni da dabbobi.

What does 'Yar uwata literally mean, and how does that end up meaning my sister?

Breakdown:

• 'yar = female child, daughter (the genitive form of 'ya “girl/daughter”)
• uwa = mother
• -ta = the possessive ending my for many feminine nouns ending in -a

So:

• uwata = my mother
• 'yar uwata = the female child of my mother

In normal English, “the female child of my mother” is simply my sister.
This expression doesn’t distinguish older/younger; it just means a female sibling from the same mother.

Why does uwa take the possessive ending -ta (uwata) for my, instead of -na?

Hausa has two common 1st‑person singular possessive endings:

• -na after many non‑feminine nouns:
  
  • gidana = my house (gida
    • -na)
  • sunana = my name (suna
    • -na)
• -ta after many feminine nouns ending in -a:
  
  • motata = my car (mota
    • -ta)
  • yarinyata = my girl/daughter (yarinya
    • -ta)
  • uwata = my mother (uwa
    • -ta)

So uwa is treated like those other feminine -a nouns, and the correct “my mother” form is uwata, not uwana.