Learn Hardcore Hausa: Na ji kira daga Musa ta waya. - I heard a call from Musa by phone.

Na is a bound subject form that carries:
- the subject “I”, and
- the perfective aspect (completed action).
So Na ji literally = “I-heard / I-have-heard”.
ni is the independent pronoun for “I/me”, used for emphasis or in certain syntactic positions:
- Ni ne na ji kira daga Musa. – It was me who got a call from Musa.

In normal past statements, you use Na + verb (not ni):

Na ji. – I heard.
Ni na ji. – I (as opposed to someone else) heard. (emphatic)

How do we know this sentence is in the past? There’s no separate word for “did” or “have”.

The past/perfective meaning is built into the form of the subject marker:

Na = 1st person singular perfective (“I did, I have done”).
Compare:
- Na ji kira… – I heard / I got a call… (completed, past or present-perfect).
- Ina jin kira… – I am hearing a call / I hear a call (right now).
  (Ina is the imperfective/progressive form: “I am …-ing”.)
- Zan ji kira… – I will hear a call / I’ll get a call…
  (Zan is the future marker.)

So Na ji is normally translated with simple past or present perfect in English, depending on context.

Why is ji (“to hear”) used for a phone call? In English we’d usually say “receive a call”.

In Hausa, ji is a broad verb meaning hear, feel, sense, experience. With kira it often works like this:

Na ji kira. – literally I heard a call.
In context of phones, it usually means “I got a (phone) call.”

This same ji is used in many expressions:

Na ji daɗi. – I’m pleased / I felt pleasure.
Na ji zafi. – I felt pain / it hurts.

For a more literal “receive” you can also hear:

Na karɓi kira daga Musa. – I received a call from Musa.
Na samu kira daga Musa. – I got/received a call from Musa.

All are natural; Na ji kira daga Musa is very common and idiomatic.

Is kira a verb or a noun here?

Here kira functions as a noun: a call. The actual verb in the sentence is ji (hear).

Underlying verb: kirà – to call.
Verbal noun / noun: kira – calling, call.

Compare:

Musa ya kira ni. – Musa called me. (verb kira)
Na ji kira daga Musa. – I heard a call from Musa / I got a call from Musa. (noun kira, verb ji)

What does daga Musa mean exactly, and could I use something else instead of daga?

daga means “from” in the sense of origin or source.
- kira daga Musa – a call from Musa.
- wasika daga gida – a letter from home.

Other related prepositions:

zuwa – to, towards:
Musa ya kira zuwa ofishinmu. – Musa called to our office. (less common for phone calls)
da – often with/and/using; not used here to express “from”:
- Na tafi da Musa. – I went with Musa.

So for “from Musa” with calls, daga Musa is the normal choice.

What does ta in ta waya mean? I thought ta means “she”.

Good point—ta can mean different things depending on context:

3rd person feminine singular subject (perfective):
- Ta je. – She went.
Instrumental/means preposition meaning “by, with, via, through”:
- ta waya – by phone / via telephone.
- ta mota – by car.
- ta mota ne suka zo. – It was by car that they came.

In Na ji kira daga Musa ta waya, the ta is this instrumental preposition, not “she”.
You can see that because it’s followed by a noun (waya) and there’s already a finite verb and subject earlier in the sentence (Na ji…).

Could we say a waya or da waya instead of ta waya? Do they mean the same thing?

They’re close, but not identical in nuance:

ta waya – most common for “by phone / over the phone / via phone”.
Emphasizes the means or channel.
a waya – more literally “on/at the phone”.
Often used in contexts like:
- Muna magana a waya. – We are talking on the phone.
da waya – literally “with a phone”.
Often sounds more like having/using a phone rather than “over the phone” as a channel.
- Na fito da waya. – I came out with a phone (I brought a phone with me).

For this exact sentence, ta waya is the most natural to express “on the phone / by phone”.

How would I say “Musa called me on the phone,” and how is that different from Na ji kira daga Musa ta waya?

A common way to say “Musa called me on the phone” is:

Musa ya kira ni ta waya.
- Musa – Musa
- ya – he (3sg masc subject marker, perfective)
- kira – called
- ni – me
- ta waya – by phone

Difference in emphasis:

Na ji kira daga Musa ta waya.
Focus is on you as the receiver: “I got a call from Musa (by phone).”
It could feel like a report: I received a call; the caller was Musa.
Musa ya kira ni ta waya.
Focus is on Musa’s action: “Musa called me by phone.”

Both convey the same basic event, but from slightly different angles.

Where would I put an object pronoun if I wanted to say “I heard his call on the phone”?

You’d attach the possessive/object to kira:

Na ji kiran sa ta waya. – I heard his call on the phone.

Notes:

kira
- -n (genitive linker) → kiran
sa – his (short form of shi as a possessive clitic)

Other options:

Na ji kiran Musa ta waya. – I heard Musa’s call on the phone.
Na ji kiran ka ta waya. – I heard your call on the phone. (to a male)
Na ji kiran ki ta waya. – I heard your call on the phone. (to a female)

Is the word order in Na ji kira daga Musa ta waya fixed, or can I move parts around?

The basic order is:

[Subject marker] + [verb] + [object] + [prepositional phrases]

So here:

Na (I) + ji (heard) + kira (call) + daga Musa (from Musa) + ta waya (by phone)

You can reorder the prepositional phrases a bit for emphasis, for example:

Na ji kira ta waya daga Musa. (still acceptable)
Slightly more focus on “by phone” first.

But you would not normally break Na ji kira or separate daga from Musa.
So forms like Na ji daga Musa kira sound wrong or at least very odd.

Could this sentence ever mean “I heard someone calling from Musa (the place)” rather than “a call from Musa (the person)”?

Yes, in theory, if Musa is a place name, the literal structure allows:

kira daga Musa – a call coming from (the town of) Musa.

But:

In everyday conversation, if Musa is known as a person’s name, people will naturally interpret it as “from Musa (the person)”.
If you wanted to be clearer about a place, you might say:
- Na ji kira daga garin Musa. – I heard a call from the town of Musa.

So context usually decides whether Musa is a person or a place.

How would I say “I didn’t get a call from Musa on the phone” using this same structure?

Use the negative perfective pattern:

Ban ji kira daga Musa ta waya ba.

Breakdown:

Ba … -n – negative marker surrounding the subject-verb unit.
Ban = Ba + na → contracted: I did not (perfective).
ji – hear.
kira – call.
daga Musa – from Musa.
ta waya – by phone.
Final ba – closing ba required in standard negative full clauses.

So: Ban ji kira daga Musa ta waya ba. – I didn’t get a call from Musa on the phone.