Learn Hardcore Hausa: A makon gobe za a tara dubu da dama domin aikin tsaro na gari. - Next week thousands will be collected for the town’s security work.

a – preposition: in / at / on (used here for time: in/at next week)
makon – week-of (from mako week
- the linking/construct ending -n)
gobe – tomorrow → together makon gobe = the week of tomorrow → idiomatically next week
za – future marker, roughly will / is going to
a – an impersonal/dummy subject pronoun (no specific person mentioned: it/one/they)
tara – gather, collect, raise, count (here: to collect/raise)
dubu – thousand
da – and / with (here helping form an idiom)
dama – literally opportunity, advantage, but in the fixed phrase da dama it means many / plenty
→ dubu da dama = many thousands / thousands and thousands
domin – for (the purpose of), in order to; because of
aikin – work-of (from aiki work, job
- -n)
tsaro – security, safety, protection
na – linker meaning of / belonging to
gari – town, city

So a very literal skeleton would be:

a (in) makon gobe (week-of-tomorrow) za a (will [people/one] be) tara (gather) dubu da dama (thousands many) domin (for) aikin tsaro na gari (work-of security of town).

Idiomatically: Next week, many thousands will be raised for the town’s security work.

In a makon gobe, what is the function of a, and do I have to use it?

a is a very common preposition that covers ideas like in, at, on for time and place.
- a jiya – yesterday (literally at yesterday)
- a wannan satin – this week (literally in this week)

In a makon gobe, a marks a time frame: in/at the week of tomorrow → next week.

Can it be dropped?

You will hear both:
- A makon gobe za a tara…
- Makon gobe za a tara…
With time expressions at the very start of the sentence, Hausa speakers sometimes omit a, but keeping a here is natural and very safe for a learner.

Doesn’t gobe just mean tomorrow? How does makon gobe end up meaning next week?

Yes, on its own gobe normally means tomorrow.

In makon gobe, gobe is used more broadly as “the coming time, the day after today,” and makon gobe is literally the week of tomorrow, i.e. the week that starts with that “tomorrow” → next week.

Comparable alternatives you might also see/hear:

a mako mai zuwa – in the coming week
a mako na gaba – in the week ahead / in the next week

All three can express next week, though a makon gobe is very idiomatic.

What exactly does za a mean? Who is doing the action?

za a is made of:

za – future marker (will, is going to)
a – an impersonal/indefinite subject pronoun

So za a tara… literally is “it will be gathered” or “there will be a gathering/collecting,” without saying who does it.

In English we often translate this as:

they will collect…
…will be collected…
there will be a collection of…

Compare:

Za mu tara dubu da dama. – We will collect many thousands.
Za su tara dubu da dama. – They will collect many thousands.
Za a tara dubu da dama. – Many thousands will be collected / They will collect many thousands (unspecified “they”).

So za a is a handy way to:

talk about an action
in the future
without naming the person/people responsible (very common in news, announcements, formal speech).

What does tara mean here, and how is it used?

The verb tara covers several related ideas:

to gather people or things together
to collect or raise (money, contributions)
to count things up

In the sentence za a tara dubu da dama, the meaning is:

to collect / to raise many thousands (of money, of people, etc., depending on context).

Examples:

Sun tara kuɗi don gina asibiti. – They raised money to build a hospital.
An tara mutane a filin wasa. – People were gathered at the field.

How should I understand dubu da dama? Does it literally mean many thousands?

Yes, dubu da dama is an idiomatic way to say many thousands or thousands and thousands.

Breakdown:

dubu – thousand
da – and / with
dama – in this collocation da dama, it means many, plenty, a good number of.

You will see da dama after many nouns:

mutane da dama – many people
motoci da dama – many cars
littattafai da dama – many books

So dubu da dama = thousands in plenty → many thousands.
It does not fix an exact numerical amount; it just signals a large quantity.

If it means thousands, why is dubu not in a plural form?

In Hausa, numerals like dubu (thousand) often stay in their basic form even when the meaning is plural, especially when they are part of expressions like dubu da dama.

There is a special plural-like form:

dubban – thousands of
- dubban mutane – thousands of people
- dubban kuɗi – thousands of naira

But in the fixed phrase dubu da dama, speakers normally keep the base form dubu. The “many-ness” is already expressed by da dama, so another plural marking is not needed.

So:

dubu da dama – many thousands / thousands and thousands
dubban mutane – thousands of people

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

domin introduces a reason or purpose. In this sentence it means:

for (the purpose of) the town’s security work
in order to support the town’s security work

Relationship to similar words:

don – essentially the same word in a shorter, very common spoken form.
- don and domin often interchangeable in everyday use:
  - Don aikin tsaro na gari.
  - Domin aikin tsaro na gari.
    Both: for the town’s security work.
saboda – usually more clearly because (of), emphasizing cause more than purpose:
- Sun tafi gida saboda damina. – They went home because of the rain.

Rough rule of thumb:

domin / don – often “for, in order to” (purpose), though they can also mean “because of.”
saboda – more straightforwardly “because (of)” (cause).

In your sentence domin is best taken as for / in order to support.

How is aikin tsaro na gari structured? Which word is modifying which?

The phrase is layered:

aiki – work, job, task
→ aikin – work-of (construct form)
aikin tsaro – security work / work of security
- tsaro = security, safety, protection
tsaro na gari – security of the town / urban security
- gari = town, city
- na = linker of / belonging to

Put together:

aikin tsaro na gari
= aikin tsaro (security work)
- na gari (of the town)
  → the town’s security work / security work for the town / urban security work.

So the head is aikin (the work), which is specified as:

work of security
that security being the town’s security.

Does na gari here mean of the town or good, like in mutum na gari (a good person)?

Good observation: na gari can indeed mean good / decent / respectable, for example:

mutum na gari – a good / decent person
miji na gari – a good husband

However, in tsaro na gari within aikin tsaro na gari, the most natural reading is of the town / urban, not good.

Reasons:

It directly follows gari in the sentence, and gari very typically means town / city in official or news contexts.
Phrases like:
- tsaro na gari – urban/city security
- ’yan sanda na gari – municipal police
  are quite idiomatic.

So here na gari is best understood as of the town (city), giving aikin tsaro na gari → the town’s security work or urban security operations, not good security work.

Can the parts of the sentence be moved around, or is the word order fixed?

The core clause is:

Za a tara dubu da dama domin aikin tsaro na gari.
– Many thousands will be collected for the town’s security work.

The time expression a makon gobe is fairly mobile. You can place it in several positions:

At the beginning (as in your sentence, with emphasis on when):
- A makon gobe za a tara dubu da dama domin aikin tsaro na gari.
After the verb phrase:
- Za a tara dubu da dama a makon gobe domin aikin tsaro na gari.
Between parts of the predicate (still acceptable, but avoid splitting too much):
- Za a, a makon gobe, tara dubu da dama domin aikin tsaro na gari.
  (more written/formal; commas help in writing)

Meaning stays essentially the same; only the focus or flow changes slightly. For a learner, the two safest, most natural options are:

A makon gobe za a tara dubu da dama domin aikin tsaro na gari.
Za a tara dubu da dama a makon gobe domin aikin tsaro na gari.