Learn Hardcore Hausa: Malami yana jin alfahari da dalibai masu ƙoƙari. - The teacher feels proud of the hardworking students.

Whether you translate it as a teacher or the teacher depends on context and what has been mentioned earlier in the conversation. This sentence could naturally be translated either way:

A teacher is proud of the hardworking students, or
The teacher is proud of the hardworking students.

What is yana jin doing here? Why not just a single verb for is proud?

Yana jin is made of:

ya (he) + na (progressive marker) → yana = he is ...‑ing
jin = the verbal noun of ji (to feel, sense, hear) → feeling / experiencing

So yana jin alfahari is literally he is feeling pride. Hausa often uses ji + a noun for emotions:

yana jin zafi – he is feeling pain / it hurts
yana jin tsoro – he is feeling fear / he is afraid
yana jin alfahari – he is feeling pride / he is proud

What does alfahari mean on its own?

Alfahari is a noun meaning pride (a positive sense: being proud, feeling honored).

In this sentence, jin alfahari = feeling pride, which we translate more naturally as being proud.

Why is the preposition da used after alfahari? Can I use something else for proud of?

In Hausa, the typical pattern for proud of someone/something is: > jin alfahari da …

So you say:

yana jin alfahari da dalibai – he is proud of the students
na ji alfahari da kai – I felt proud of you

The preposition da in this construction is best learned as part of the fixed phrase jin alfahari da X = to be proud of X.
Using another preposition here (like akan, ga, etc.) would sound wrong or at least very unusual.

What is the difference between yana jin alfahari and ya ji alfahari?

Both come from the verb ji (to feel), but they differ in aspect:

yana jin alfahari
- Progressive / ongoing
- He is feeling proud / he feels proud (now, generally).
ya ji alfahari
- Perfective / completed
- He felt proud (at a specific moment, e.g. when something happened).

So:

Malami yana jin alfahari da dalibai… – The teacher (generally/now) feels proud of the students.
Malami ya ji alfahari da dalibai… – The teacher (at some point) felt proud of the students.

What does dalibai mean, and what is the singular form?

Dalibai means students (plural).
The singular is dalibi = student (usually male; feminine is daliba).

So:

dalibi – a male student
daliba – a female student
dalibai – students (mixed group or just plural in general)

Why does masu ƙoƙari come after dalibai? Is that the normal word order?

Yes. In Hausa, descriptive words that function like adjectives usually come after the noun they describe.

Here:

dalibai – students (noun)
masu ƙoƙari – those who make effort → hardworking (descriptive phrase)

So dalibai masu ƙoƙari = hardworking students or literally students who are hardworking / students who make effort.

This noun + describing phrase order is normal in Hausa:

motar ja – the red car
mutum mai hankali – a sensible person
dalibai masu ƙoƙari – hardworking students

What exactly does masu ƙoƙari mean, and how is it formed?

Masu ƙoƙari is a descriptive phrase built from:

masu – literally those who have / those who do, used to describe plural people who possess or habitually do something.
ƙoƙari – effort / trying hard / diligence.

Together, masu ƙoƙari literally means those who have effort / those who put in effort, and in natural English we say hardworking or diligent.

You will see this pattern very often:

mutanen masu kudi – people who have money → rich people
yara masu ladabi – children who have good manners → well‑behaved children
dalibai masu ƙoƙari – students who put in effort → hardworking students

Does masu change for singular or plural, or for gender?

In this kind of descriptive use, masu is already plural and does not change for gender.

For singular, you usually use mai:
- dalibi mai ƙoƙari – a hardworking (male) student
- daliba mai ƙoƙari – a hardworking (female) student
For plural, you use masu:
- dalibai masu ƙoƙari – hardworking students

So:

mai X – person (singular) who has/does X
masu X – people (plural) who have/do X

How would I say “The teacher is proud of his hardworking students” more explicitly?

You can add a possessive suffix to dalibai to show his students:

Malami yana jin alfahari da dalibansa masu ƙoƙari.

Here:

dalibai – students
-nsa (or -n sa) – his
→ dalibansa – his students

So the full sentence clearly means:
The teacher is proud of his hardworking students.

How is the sound ƙ in ƙoƙari pronounced, and how is it different from k?

Hausa distinguishes between:

k – a regular k sound (like in English kite), made further forward.
ƙ – an implosive k: you slightly pull the airstream inward and the sound is made deeper in the throat.

You can think of ƙ as a “heavy” k. English does not have this exact sound, so many learners approximate it as a very firm k pronounced a bit deeper.

The spelling difference k / ƙ is important in Hausa because it can change the meaning of words.

Is the overall word order in Malami yana jin alfahari da dalibai masu ƙoƙari normal Hausa SVO order?

Yes. The structure is very typical:

Subject: Malami – teacher
Verb phrase: yana jin alfahari – is feeling pride / is proud
Prepositional phrase / object of pride: da dalibai masu ƙoƙari – of hardworking students

So the basic pattern is: > Subject – (aspect marker) – verb – complement

This is the normal, neutral word order in Hausa for such a sentence.