A lokacin ruwan sama yara suna cikin gida.

During the rain, the children are inside the house.

Breakdown of A lokacin ruwan sama yara suna cikin gida.

• ne: to be
• gida: the house
• yaro: the child
• cikin: inside
• ruwan sama: the rain
• a lokacin: during

Questions & Answers about A lokacin ruwan sama yara suna cikin gida.

1. What does A lokacin ruwan sama literally mean, and why do we put A at the beginning?

A lokacin ruwan sama literally breaks down as:

• a – a preposition meaning at / in / on (time or place)
• lokacin – the time / period (from lokaci = time)
• ruwan sama – literally water of the sky, i.e. rain

So a very literal gloss is: “At the time of the water of the sky” → “At the time of rain / In the rainy season / When it rains.”

The a is important because it turns lokacin ruwan sama (“the time of rain”) into a time expression: “at the time of rain.”

You could also say Lokacin ruwan sama yara suna cikin gida. (dropping a) and it would still be understood; it feels a bit more like “The time of rain, the children are inside.” Starting with A makes it sound more like a normal adverbial phrase “During / At the time of…”, which is very natural.

2. What exactly is ruwan sama? Why not just one word for “rain”?

Ruwan sama is a compound noun phrase:

• ruwa – water
• -n – linker (genitive/possessive marker)
• sama – sky / heaven / above

So:

• ruwa-n sama → “water of the sky” → rain

Hausa often makes new meanings by linking two nouns with this -n / -r connector (called a genitive or linking consonant):

• gidan malam – the house of the teacher / the teacher’s house
• ruwan lemo – lemon drink / soda (literally “water of lemon”)

In sped-up speech, ruwa-n sama is just pronounced smoothly as ruwan sama. This is the normal everyday word for “rain.”

3. What is lokacin exactly – is it a noun or something else?

Lokacin comes from the noun lokaci (time / period / moment).

When you attach the linker -n to it, lokaci + n → lokacin, it means “the time of …” and must usually be followed by another noun:

• lokacin ruwan sama – the time of rain / the rainy period
• lokacin aiki – work time
• lokacin karatu – study time

So in the sentence:

• a lokacin ruwan sama → at the time of rain

4. What is the difference between “A lokacin ruwan sama” and something like “Idan ana ruwa” for “when it rains”?

Both can translate as “when it rains,” but the nuance differs:

• A lokacin ruwan sama

  • Literally: at the time of rain / in the rainy season
  • Often suggests a whole period (rainy season, or whenever it is rainy in general), more habitual.

• Idan ana ruwa

  • idan – if / when
  • ana ruwa – literally “(people) are doing rain” = it is raining (impersonal construction)
  • This sounds more like “whenever it is (actually) raining (at that moment)”, more event-focused.

Your sentence has more of a habitual / seasonal feel:

• A lokacin ruwan sama yara suna cikin gida.
  → During the rainy season / When it’s the rainy time, the children are inside the house.

5. What does yara mean exactly, and what is its singular form?

Yara means children (plural).

The singular is yaro – a child / boy (often male).

So:

• yaro – child
• yara – children

This plural is irregular (it’s not just adding a simple ending), so you just have to learn yaro → yara as a pair.

In the sentence, yara is the subject: “the children.” There is no separate word for “the”; definiteness is understood from context.

6. Why is there no word for “the” in yara or gida? How do you say “the children” or “the house”?

Hausa normally does not use a separate word like English “the”. Definiteness is handled by:

• context (what you’re talking about is already known), and/or
• suffixes / structure (like -n / -r on nouns, or using demonstratives like nan / can / wancan, etc.).

In your sentence:

• yara – “children” → understood as “the children” from context
• gida – “house / home” → understood as “the house / the home”

If you really want to make “the house” clearly definite (e.g. a particular known house), you often use -n:

• gida → gidan – “the house” (or “house-of” depending on context)

So you might see:

• yara suna cikin gidan. – The children are inside the house.

But in everyday speech, gida alone often functions as “(the) house / (the) home”, just like in your example.

7. What does suna mean in yara suna cikin gida?

Suna is a compound form:

• su – they (3rd person plural pronoun)
• na – marker for progressive / continuous / ongoing aspect

Together:

• suna ≈ “they are (doing / being)”

In the sentence:

• yara suna cikin gida
  
  • yara – children (subject)
  • suna – they are (progressive/continuous)
  • cikin gida – inside the house

So it’s literally: “the children, they-are in-side house.”
This covers both “the children are inside the house” (right now) and, with a suitable time phrase like a lokacin ruwan sama, a habitual meaning: “(whenever it’s rainy) they stay / are inside.”

8. How is suna different from suke or ne/ce that I see elsewhere?

• suna = su + na

  • Progressive / continuous aspect: “they are (doing/being) …”
  • Used for current, ongoing, or general/habitual situations.

• suke = su + ke

  • Often called the relative / focus or non-progressive completive form.
  • Used in focused or relative clauses, and sometimes to mark a different aspect/tense nuance.
  • Example: Yaran da suke cikin gida… – The children who are in the house…

• ne / ce – copula for identification / equation:

  • ne after masculine or plural nouns
  • ce after feminine nouns
  • Example: Wannan yara ne. – These are children.

In your sentence, suna is correct because you just want “are (inside)” in an ongoing or general sense, with no focus or relative clause.

9. What does cikin gida mean literally, and how does ciki work?

Cikin gida breaks down as:

• ciki – inside / interior / stomach (noun; also used as a preposition “in/inside”)
• -n – linker (“of”)
• gida – house / home

So literally:

• ciki-n gida → “inside of house”

In everyday speech, this appears as cikin gida and means “inside the house / indoors.”

Note: ciki on its own can mean “inside” or “belly/stomach,” depending on context. With another noun plus a linker, it means “inside (that thing).”

10. Can I say “a cikin gida” instead of just “cikin gida”? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say both:

• cikin gida
• a cikin gida

Both are common and mean “inside the house / in the house.”

Nuance:

• cikin gida – slightly more compact, very common.
• a cikin gida – explicitly has the preposition a (“in/at”) plus cikin gida, so it’s like saying “in inside the house,” but in Hausa this combination is perfectly normal.

In your sentence, all of these are acceptable:

• Yara suna cikin gida.
• Yara suna a cikin gida.

The meaning is the same: The children are inside the house.

11. Why isn’t there a separate pronoun su before yara (like “they” + “children”)? How is agreement shown?

In Hausa:

• yara already serves as the full noun subject (“children”).
• suna already includes the pronoun su (“they”) inside it.

So writing *Su yara suna cikin gida (“They children they-are…”) would be redundant or wrong in standard Hausa.

Agreement is shown by:

• Subject noun: yara (3rd person plural)
• Verb/aspect form: suna (built from su = they)

You can sometimes see su on its own as a subject without a full noun:

• Su suna cikin gida. – They are inside the house.

But you don’t double it when the full subject noun is already present right there.

12. What tense or aspect does suna cikin gida have – is it present, continuous, or habitual?

The form suna usually marks the progressive / continuous aspect. Roughly, it maps to:

• “are doing / are being”
• Present-time, ongoing action or state

However, Hausa aspect is more about viewing the event than strict English tenses. Depending on context:

• Without a time phrase:

  • Yara suna cikin gida.
    → “The children are inside the house (now).”

• With a habitual time phrase like a lokacin ruwan sama:

  • A lokacin ruwan sama yara suna cikin gida.
    → “During the rainy season, the children are / stay inside the house.”
    This is really habitual: it’s what usually happens whenever it’s rainy.

So suna can cover both present continuous and habitual present, depending on the time expression.

13. Can I change the word order to Yara suna cikin gida a lokacin ruwan sama? Does it still sound natural?

Yes, that is perfectly natural:

• Yara suna cikin gida a lokacin ruwan sama.
  → The children are inside the house during the rainy season.

Difference in nuance:

• A lokacin ruwan sama yara suna cikin gida.

  • Slightly more emphasis on the time frame “during the rainy season / when it rains…”

• Yara suna cikin gida a lokacin ruwan sama.

  • Slightly more emphasis on the children and their state, then adding “during the rainy season” as extra information.

Both are correct and common; Hausa word order is fairly flexible with time and place phrases.

14. How would I say “When it rains, the children go inside the house” instead of just “are inside”?

You’d add a motion verb like shiga (“to enter, go in”). For example:

• A lokacin ruwan sama yara sukan shiga cikin gida.

Breakdown:

• a lokacin ruwan sama – during the rainy time / when it rains
• yara – the children
• sukan – su + kan, marking habitual action (they usually / they tend to)
• shiga – enter / go in
• cikin gida – inside the house

Meaning:

• “During the rainy season / When it rains, the children (usually) go inside the house.”

You could also say (less explicitly habitual):

• A lokacin ruwan sama yara suna shiga cikin gida.
  → “During the rainy season, the children are (in the habit of) going into the house.”

15. Is gida more like “house” or “home”? Does it imply a building?

Gida can mean both house and home, depending on context:

• As a physical building:
  
  • Ina gidan ka? – “Where is your house?”
• As “home” (place you live / belong):
  
  • Na koma gida. – “I went back home.”

In yara suna cikin gida, it’s natural to understand:

• “The children are inside the house / indoors / at home.”

The context (children being kept indoors during rain) supports both “house” and “home,” but in learning materials it’s usually glossed as “house.”