Learn Hardcore Hausa: A gari akwai talaka da attajiri, amma kowa yana da ƙima. - In town there are poor people and rich people, but everyone has worth.

A gari akwai talaka da attajiri, amma kowa yana da ƙima.

In town there are poor people and rich people, but everyone has worth.

Breakdown of A gari akwai talaka da attajiri, amma kowa yana da ƙima.

Elon.io is an online learning platform

We have an entire course teaching Hausa grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning Hausa now

Questions & Answers about A gari akwai talaka da attajiri, amma kowa yana da ƙima.

What does a in A gari mean? Is it like English in or at?

a is a basic locative preposition. In this sentence A gari means In a town / In the town.

You can think of a as covering the meanings of English in, at, or sometimes on, depending on context:

a Kano – in Kano
a gida – at home
a tebur – on the table (literally “at table”)

So A gari akwai… = In a town there is / there are…

What exactly is akwai? Is it like there is/are, or like to have?

akwai is an existential verb, and its core meaning is there is / there are.

In A gari akwai talaka da attajiri, it’s introducing the existence of something in a place:

akwai talaka da attajiri – there are poor people and rich people

Key points about akwai:

It doesn’t change for singular or plural:
- akwai mutum – there is a person
- akwai mutane – there are people
The most common negative counterpart is babu:
- babu ruwa – there is no water

It is not used like English to have with a subject; for that Hausa usually uses the …yana da… pattern (see below).

Why is it talaka and attajiri (singular) when the English meaning is “poor people and rich people” (plural)?

Literally, the Hausa sentence is closer to:

In a town there is a poor person and a rich person, but everyone has value.

However, Hausa often uses singular nouns in a generic sense to talk about a whole class of people, especially in proverbial or general statements. So:

talaka – a poor person
attajiri – a rich person

In context, talaka da attajiri here really means the poor and the rich in general.

If you wanted to be explicitly plural, you could say:

talakawa da attajirai – poor people and rich people

But for a proverb-like, general truth, the singular generic style is very natural.

What does da mean in talaka da attajiri?

Here da means and:

talaka da attajiri – a poor person and a rich person / the poor and the rich

da is a very flexible little word. Its main uses are:

and (linking words or phrases)
- madara da shayi – milk and tea
with (in company)
- na tafi da abokina – I went with my friend
with / using (instrument)
- ya yanke da wuka – he cut (it) with a knife

Here, it’s simply the coordinating and.

Does gari always mean town, or can it mean other things in Hausa?

gari most commonly means town / city:

na zauna a gari – I stayed in town.

However, it has some other uses and appears in idioms:

In some expressions related to daybreak / morning:
- da gari ya waye – literally “when the town has dawned”, used idiomatically for at daybreak / early in the morning.
In compounds or idioms that may be more figurative.

But in your sentence A gari akwai talaka da attajiri…, gari clearly means town (a community where people live).

How does amma work? Is it always but?

amma is a conjunction that means but or however, used to introduce contrast:

A gari akwai talaka da attajiri, amma kowa yana da ƙima.
– In the town there are poor and rich, but everyone has value.

Other points:

It usually comes at the beginning of the contrasting clause:
- ya yi kokari, amma bai yi nasara ba – he tried, but he didn’t succeed.
There are related expressions like amma dai, amma fa, sai dai, which can soften, emphasize, or slightly shift the meaning, but amma on its own is the straightforward but.

So yes, in most contexts you can think of amma = but.

What does kowa literally mean, and is it grammatically singular or plural?

kowa means everyone / everybody / each person / whoever.

Grammatically, kowa is singular in Hausa, even though it refers to a group conceptually. That’s why it takes a singular verb form:

kowa yana da ƙima – everyone has value
(literally: everyone he-is with value)

Other examples:

kowa ya zo – everyone came (literally: everyone he-came)
kowa yana son haka – everyone likes that.

So: meaning-wise it’s “everyone”, but verb agreement-wise it behaves like he/she (singular).

Why is it kowa yana da ƙima and not kowa suna da ƙima?

Because, as above, kowa is grammatically singular, it takes a singular verb:

yana – he is / he (is) doing
suna – they are / they (are) doing

So:

kowa yana da ƙima – literally everyone (he) has value
kowa suna da ƙima – would be ungrammatical in standard Hausa.

This is parallel to English in a way. We say:

Everyone has value, not Everyone have value.

Even though everyone refers to many people, the grammar treats it as singular. Hausa does the same kind of thing.

What is the function of yana da in kowa yana da ƙima? Is this the normal way to say to have?

Yes. yana da is the usual, everyday way to say has in Hausa.

The pattern is:

[subject] + (y)a/na/ke + da + [thing]

Examples:

yaro yana da kudi – the boy has money
Ina da mota – I have a car
muna da lokaci – we have time

So in the sentence:

kowa yana da ƙima
literally: everyone is with value
meaning: everyone has value / everyone is valuable.

The da here is not “and”, but a preposition meaning with, forming a possessive-like structure: be with X = have X.

What does ƙima mean here? Is it value, price, dignity, or something else?

ƙima is a rich word. In this context it means worth / value / importance / dignity.

You can think of it as a more abstract value, not just money:

ƙimar mutum – a person’s worth, their importance or dignity
ƙimar abu – the value or significance of a thing

It can be used for:

economic value (how valuable something is),
social value (how respected or important someone is),
moral/human value (everyone’s inherent worth).

So kowa yana da ƙima carries the idea:

Everyone has worth / Everyone is valuable / Everyone has dignity,
not just everyone has a price.

How do you pronounce ƙima, and what’s the difference between ƙ and k?

In Hausa, ƙ and k are different consonants:

k – a regular k sound (like in English kite).
ƙ – an ejective sound; it’s produced with a glottalic “pop”. It’s usually written with the special letter ƙ to distinguish it.

ƙima is pronounced something like [kʼi.ma], with that sharper, popping ƙ at the start.

Minimal pairs (same spelling except for k/ƙ) can have different meanings, so the distinction matters in writing and careful speech. In everyday pronunciation, some speakers may not always make a strong contrast, but standard Hausa does treat them as separate sounds.

Could this sentence be worded differently in Hausa while keeping roughly the same meaning?

Yes, there are several natural variations that keep the core idea:

Explicit plural:
- A gari akwai talakawa da attajirai, amma kowa yana da ƙima.
  – In a town there are poor people and rich people, but everyone has value.
Different focus order:
- A kowane gari akwai talaka da attajiri, amma kowa yana da ƙima.
  – In every town there are poor and rich, but everyone has value.
Slight vocabulary change:
- A gari akwai talakawa da attajirai, amma kowa yana da daraja.
  – …but everyone has dignity/honour. (daraja is close in meaning to ƙima.)

The original sentence is already very natural and proverb-like; these are just stylistic or clarity variations.