Learn Hardcore Hausa: Malami bai amince da amsar da muka rubuta ba, ya sa mu gyara ta. - The teacher did not accept the answer we wrote; he made us correct it.

Malami bai amince da amsar da muka rubuta ba, ya sa mu gyara ta.

The teacher did not accept the answer we wrote; he made us correct it.

Breakdown of Malami bai amince da amsar da muka rubuta ba, ya sa mu gyara ta.

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Questions & Answers about Malami bai amince da amsar da muka rubuta ba, ya sa mu gyara ta.

What is the function of bai … ba in bai amince da amsar … ba? Why is ba used twice?

Ba … ba is the standard way to negate a completed (perfective) action in Hausa.

ba + ya → bai:
- ba is the main negation particle.
- ya is the 3rd person masculine singular subject pronoun (“he”) in the perfective.
- When ba comes directly before ya, they contract to bai.
The final ba at the end of the clause closes off the negation:
- Malami bai amince da amsar da muka rubuta ba
  = “The teacher did not accept the answer we wrote.”

This pattern appears with other pronouns too:

ban je ba – I did not go (ba + na → ban)
ba ka je ba – you (m.sg.) did not go
bai je ba – he did not go
ba mu je ba – we did not go

So bai … ba wraps the verb phrase in a negative perfective frame: “did not [verb].”

Why is it bai amince… ba and not ba ya amince…? What’s the difference?

The difference is aspect (type of time reference):

bai amince … ba
- Negative perfective: a single, completed event in the past.
- Meaning: “he did not accept (on that occasion).”
ba ya amince …
- Negative imperfective/habitual: ongoing, repeated, or characteristic action.
- Meaning: “he does not accept / is not accepting (in general or right now).”

In this sentence, the teacher’s refusal is a specific completed action in the past, so bai amince … ba is correct and natural.

What does da mean in da amsar, and why is it needed?

Here da is a preposition that roughly means “with” or “to/at”, depending on the verb it combines with.

The verb amince (to agree, accept) almost always takes da:
- ya amince da shirin nan – he accepted / agreed to this plan
- bai amince da shawararta ba – he did not accept her advice

So in bai amince da amsar… ba, the structure is:

amince da [something] = “accept / agree with [something]”

You can think of it as:

amince da amsa → “accept the answer”
(literally “agree with the answer”)

What is the -r at the end of amsar? Why not just amsa?

The -r is a linking/possessive ending (often called the genitive linker), and it also tends to make the noun feel definite (“the answer”).

Hausa often adds -n / -r to a noun when it is followed by:

another noun (possessor or modifier), or
a relative clause.

Here we have:

amsa – “answer”
amsar da muka rubuta – “the answer that we wrote”

Breakdown:

amsa (answer)
amsa + r + da muka rubuta
→ amsar da muka rubuta = “the answer (which) we wrote”

So -r is linking amsa to the relative clause da muka rubuta.
It’s similar in function to “the answer that we wrote” in English, where “that” marks a clause that modifies “answer.”

What exactly does da muka rubuta mean, and why is it muka instead of mun?

da muka rubuta is a relative clause meaning “that we wrote” or “which we wrote”.

Breakdown:

da – here works like a relative marker: “that / which”
mu- – “we”
-ka – part of the perfective relative/focus form
rubuta – “wrote / write”

So muka rubuta is essentially “we wrote” in a relative clause / focus form.

Why not mun rubuta?

mun rubuta is used in a main clause:
- Mun rubuta amsa. – “We wrote an answer.”
In relative clauses (“the answer that we wrote”) and certain focus constructions, Hausa uses special perfective subject forms like muka, suka, etc., instead of mun, sun, etc.

So:

amsar da muka rubuta = “the answer that we wrote”
amsa da muka rubuta (without the -r) would be less well-formed here; the linker -r is expected.

What does the da in da muka rubuta do? Is it the same da as in da amsar?

It’s the same word da, but used with a different function.

In da amsar, da is a preposition:
- amince da X – agree with / accept X
In da muka rubuta, da is a relative marker, introducing a clause that modifies a noun:
- amsar da muka rubuta – “the answer that we wrote”

So:

da can be a preposition (“with, to”) after certain verbs.
da can also introduce a relative clause (“that, which, who”).

In this sentence it does both jobs, in two different places.

How does ya sa mu gyara ta work? What does sa mean here?

Here sa means “to cause / to make (someone do something)”.

Breakdown:

ya – “he” (3rd person m.sg. perfective subject pronoun)
sa – “caused / made”
mu – “we” (subjunctive / irrealis subject pronoun)
gyara – “fix, correct, repair”
ta – “it” (feminine object pronoun, referring to amsa, “answer”)

So:

ya sa mu gyara ta literally: “he caused that we correct it”
More naturally: “he made us correct it.”

Structure:

sa + [subordinate clause with subjunctive pronoun]
- ya sa mu gyara ta – he made us correct it
- ya sa su tafi – he made them go

So sa is a causative verb: subject (he) causes another subject (we) to do something (correct it).

Why is it mu gyara ta and not something like ya sa mu gyara shi? What does ta refer to?

ta is the 3rd person feminine singular object pronoun and it refers back to amsa (“answer”).

In Hausa, every noun is either masculine or feminine. Many abstract nouns and a large number of -a ending nouns are feminine, including amsa.

Object pronouns:

shi – “him / it” (masculine)
ta – “her / it” (feminine)

Because amsa is feminine:

ya sa mu gyara ta – he made us correct it (feminine, the answer)

If the object were masculine (e.g. sako – “message” (m.)):

ya sa mu gyara shi – he made us fix it (the message)

So ta must match the grammatical gender of the noun it stands for.

What tense/aspect is ya sa? Is it past, present, or something else?

ya sa is perfective aspect, which in this context corresponds to a simple past in English:

ya – 3rd person masculine singular perfective subject pronoun (“he” in a completed action)
sa – “caused / made”

So ya sa mu gyara ta is about a completed event:

“he (then) made us correct it.”

If you wanted to talk about a habitual action or something ongoing, you’d use an imperfective form:

yakan sa mu gyara ta – he usually makes us correct it
yana sa mu gyara ta – he is making us correct it (right now / around this time)

Does malami mean “a teacher” or “the teacher” here? There is no “the” in Hausa, so how should I understand it?

Hausa does not use separate words for “a” and “the”. One bare noun like malami can mean either “a teacher” or “the teacher”, depending on context.

In this particular sentence:

Malami bai amince da amsar da muka rubuta ba…
- In a realistic classroom context, it will almost always be understood as “the teacher” (the one everyone already knows about in the conversation).

If you really wanted to make the teacher explicitly definite in writing, you might sometimes see:

Malamin nan – “this (specific) teacher”
Malaminmu – “our teacher”

But by default:

malami can be translated as either “a teacher” or “the teacher”; English forces you to choose one, but Hausa doesn’t.

Could the second clause also be ya sa muka gyara ta instead of ya sa mu gyara ta? Would that change the meaning?

Yes, ya sa muka gyara ta is possible, but there is a subtle difference in aspect/nuance:

ya sa mu gyara ta
- mu is the subjunctive / irrealis pronoun.
- Typical reading: he made us correct it (as an instruction / compelled action).
- Often used when the causing and the action are seen as a directive or obligation.
ya sa muka gyara ta
- muka is the perfective relative/focus form of mu.
- Typical reading: “he caused it so that we (indeed) corrected it” – more strongly presenting the correction as a completed fact.
- It can feel a bit more like reporting an accomplished result.

In many everyday contexts, speakers may use either, and the difference is not huge. In your sentence, ya sa mu gyara ta nicely matches the idea “he made us go back and correct it (as a task).”