Learn Hardcore Hausa: Uwa tana ajiye maɓallin ƙofa a cikin jaka don tsaro. - Mother keeps the door key in a bag for security.

Uwa tana ajiye… = The mother is keeping / keeps… (ongoing or habitual action)
If you said Uwa ta ajiye maɓallin ƙofa, that would usually mean “The mother has kept / put away the door key” (a completed action, not the general habit).

Does tana ajiye mean “is keeping right now” or “usually keeps”?

In Hausa, tana + verb can cover both:

Present progressive: She is (right now) putting/keeping the key in the bag.
Present habitual: She usually/always keeps the key in the bag.

Context decides which one is meant. In a sentence like this, with don tsaro (for safety), learners often interpret it as habitual: She normally keeps it there for safety.

What exactly does the verb ajiyè (ajiyé) mean here? Is it “put”, “keep”, or “store”?

Ajiye means something like to put down / to keep / to store / to set aside.

In this sentence, the sense is “to keep/leave something in a certain place” rather than just a one‑time “put it there and walk away.” So:

tana ajiye maɓallin ƙofa a cikin jaka
→ she keeps the door key in the bag (as her usual place for it).

Why is it maɓallin ƙofa and not just maɓalli ƙofa? What does the -n do?

The -n at the end of maɓallin is a linker (often called the “genitive linker”). It links two nouns in a possessive / “of” relationship:

maɓalli – key
ƙofa – door
maɓallin ƙofa – literally key-of door → door key / the door’s key

You normally cannot just put two nouns side by side; you need the linker:

maɓallin ƙofa = correct
maɓalli ƙofa = ungrammatical.

Could you also say maɓalli na ƙofa for “door key”?

Yes, maɓalli na ƙofa is understandable and used in some dialects or more informal speech, but the most standard and natural form is with the linker:

maɓallin ƙofa – key of the door (preferred, concise, very common).

Using na as a separate word can sound a bit heavier or more colloquial here, while the linker -n is the usual way to form such noun–noun relationships.

How do I know that maɓallin ƙofa here means “the key” and not “a key”, since there is no “the” in Hausa?

Hausa does not have articles like “a” or “the”. Definiteness is understood from context and structure.

maɓalli alone could be a key or the key, depending on context.
maɓallin ƙofa strongly suggests a specific, known key: the key of the door.

In this context (“the mother keeps the door key in the bag”), we naturally interpret it as “the door key” in English.

Why is it Uwa with no word for “the mother” or “my mother”?

Uwa simply means “mother”. Hausa again does not use articles, so:

Uwa can mean: a mother, the mother, Mother (as a role), depending on context.

If you want to specify whose mother, you add a possessive:

uwata – my mother
uwarka / uwarki – your mother
uwarta – her mother
uwar yaro – the child’s mother

In this sentence, Uwa is just presented as “the mother” (a specific mother understood from the situation).

What is the function of a cikin jaka? Why both a and cikin? Isn’t one preposition enough?

a cikin jaka is a common Hausa way to say “in(side) the bag”. It’s built from:

a – a general preposition: at / in / on
ciki – inside
jaka – bag

So literally: “in the inside of a/the bag.”

Variants and nuances:

a cikin jaka – very common, neutral: in(side) the bag.
a jaka – simply in the bag / at the bag (more general, less vivid “inside”).
cikin jaka – inside the bag (can be used without a, and is also fine).

All are possible; a cikin jaka is just particularly natural and explicit.

Could you move don tsaro to another place in the sentence, like in English?

You usually keep Hausa word order fairly close to Subject – (Aspect) – Verb – Object – Adverbials. But don tsaro (for safety) can move around among the adverbials a bit. For example:

Uwa tana ajiye maɓallin ƙofa a cikin jaka don tsaro.
Uwa tana ajiye maɓallin ƙofa don tsaro a cikin jaka.

Both are understandable, but the first version (with don tsaro at the very end) sounds smoother and more typical. In any case, don tsaro should come after the main verb phrase, not before the subject.

What does don tsaro mean exactly, and how is it different from saboda tsaro or domin tsaro?

don tsaro literally means “for security/safety” or “for the sake of security.”
domin tsaro is essentially the same expression, just a slightly longer form of don. You can often treat don and domin as variants.
saboda tsaro leans more to “because of safety” or “due to safety concerns”.

In this sentence, don tsaro is a classic purpose phrase:

She keeps the key in the bag *in order to keep things safe / for security reasons.*

Why is tana (feminine) used? How would it change if we were talking about a father instead of a mother?

Hausa marks gender in the 3rd person singular:

ya / yana – he / he is … (masculine)
ta / tana – she / she is … (feminine)

Because Uwa (mother) is grammatically feminine, we use tana:

Uwa tana ajiye… – The mother keeps…

If it were Uba (father), you would say:

Uba yana ajiye maɓallin ƙofa a cikin jaka don tsaro.
→ The father keeps the door key in the bag for safety.

How would I make this sentence plural, like “The mothers keep the door keys in the bags for safety”?

You need to pluralize the key nouns and adjust the verb agreement:

Uwa → Uwaye (mothers)
maɓalli → maɓallan (keys)
jaka → common plural: jakunkuna (bags)
tana (she is) → suna (they are)

One natural plural version:

Uwaye suna ajiye maɓallan ƙofa a cikin jakunkuna don tsaro.
→ The mothers keep the door keys in the bags for safety.

How would I say “The mother does not keep the door key in the bag for safety”? How do you negate this structure?

Negation in the present/progressive uses ba … ba around the verb phrase, and you adjust the pronoun:

Uwa tana ajiye maɓallin ƙofa a cikin jaka don tsaro.
→ affirmative

Negated:

Uwa ba ta ajiye maɓallin ƙofa a cikin jaka don tsaro ba.
Literally: Mother not she keeps the door key in the bag for safety not.

Note that tana becomes ta inside the ba … ba frame:

ba ta ajiye … ba – she does not keep…

How do you pronounce the letters ɓ and ƙ in maɓalli and ƙofa?

These are special Hausa consonants:

ɓ (in maɓalli): an implosive “b”. You slightly pull air inward while saying b. To an English ear it can sound like a strong b somewhere between b and mb, but with a special “sucked-in” quality.
ƙ (in ƙofa): an ejective / glottalized “k”. You close the back of your throat and release the k with a little pop. It is not the same as plain k.

They are distinct from b and k, and in Hausa they can change the meaning of words, so learners are encouraged to practice hearing and producing them.

Is ajiyewa related to ajiye? When would I use that form instead?

Yes, ajiyewa is a verbal noun / gerund form built from the same root as ajiye. Roughly:

ajiye – the finite verb: to keep / to store / to put aside
ajiyewa – the noun: keeping / storage / the act of storing

For example:

Ajiyewar maɓalli a jaka don tsaro muhimmi ce.
→ Keeping the key in the bag for safety is important.

In the original sentence you need the verb form (tana ajiye), not the verbal noun.