Learn Hardcore Hausa: Bambanci tsakanin talaka da attajiri ba ya rage ƙimar mutum. - The difference between a poor person and a rich person does not reduce a person’s value.

bambanci – difference, distinction
tsakanin – between, among
talaka – a poor person / the poor (as a social group)
da – and, with (here: and)
attajiri – a rich person, a wealthy person
ba … ya … – negative marker ba
- 3rd person singular subject pronoun ya (he/it); together ba ya = he/it does not (do X)
rage – to reduce, lessen, diminish
ƙimar – ƙima (value, worth) + -r (linker showing possession or connection) = the value of …
mutum – person, human being, a person

Very literally:
Difference between poor-person and rich-person not it reduces value-of person.
= The difference between poor and rich does not reduce a person’s value.

Why is there a ya in ba ya rage, even though we already have bambanci as the subject?

In Hausa, a subject pronoun is usually required in finite clauses, even when there is a full noun as the subject.

Bambanci tsakanin talaka da attajiri is the full (lexical) subject.
ya is the 3rd person singular subject pronoun referring back to bambanci (it = the difference).
ba ya rage literally: it does not reduce.

So the structure is:

[Subject NP] + ba + [subject pronoun] + [verb] …
- Bambanci … + ba + ya + rage …

You cannot normally drop ya here; *Bambanci tsakanin talaka da attajiri ba rage ƙimar mutum is ungrammatical.

What tense or aspect is ba ya rage? Is it present, habitual, or something else?

Ba ya rage is the negative imperfective form. In practice, it can cover:

present: does not reduce
general/habitual or timeless truth: does not (ever) reduce / does not in general reduce

In this sentence, it expresses a general statement or proverb-like idea:
Bambanci … ba ya rage ƙimar mutum.
= The difference … does not (in principle) reduce a person’s value.

Sometimes I see ba … ba for negation. Why is there only one ba here?

Hausa has two common patterns for negating an imperfective verb:

Full form (two bas):
- Bambanci tsakanin talaka da attajiri ba ya rage ƙimar mutum ba.
Short form (one ba):
- Bambanci tsakanin talaka da attajiri ba ya rage ƙimar mutum.

Both are correct in many dialects. The second ba at the end is often optional in speech and dropped in writing, especially in informal or modern styles.

So the sentence you have is just using the shorter, very common pattern.

Is talaka singular or plural? The English translation talks about “the poor” (plural).

Talaka is grammatically singular: a poor person, a commoner. The plural is talakawa (or less commonly talakanni).

However, Hausa often uses a singular noun in a generic sense to refer to a whole class:

Talaka – the poor (person), or poor people in general
Attajiri – the rich (person), or rich people in general

So in context:

Bambanci tsakanin talaka da attajiri
literally: the difference between poor-person and rich-person,
but idiomatically: the difference between the poor and the rich.

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

Bambanci tsakanin talakawa da attajirai …
(the difference between poor people and rich people …)

What exactly does attajiri mean, and how is it formed?

Attajiri means a rich person, a wealthy person, often with a sense of big businessman / capitalist / moneyed person.

Origin and form:

It is a borrowing/adaptation from Arabic at-tājir (merchant).
The tt (double t) reflects the Arabic definite article al- assimilating to t: al-tājir → at-tājir → attajiri in Hausa.
Hausa treats it like a normal noun:
- singular: attajiri – a rich person
- feminine: attajira – a rich woman
- plural: commonly attajirai – rich people

In everyday speech you will also hear mai kuɗi (someone who has money) as another way to say rich person.

What does tsakanin do here? Can I just say bambanci talaka da attajiri without it?

Tsakanin is a preposition meaning between / among.

Bambanci tsakanin talaka da attajiri
= The difference between the poor and the rich.

If you say only bambanci talaka da attajiri, it sounds incomplete or awkward; tsakanin is what clearly expresses between.

You can sometimes see a tsakanin (with the preposition a before it), but tsakanin alone is also common in modern standard Hausa:

Bambanci a tsakanin talaka da attajiri
Bambanci tsakanin talaka da attajiri

Both are acceptable, though many speakers just say it as in your sentence.

What is the role of da between talaka and attajiri?

Hausa da has two main uses:

As a conjunction = and
As a preposition = with

In this sentence it functions as a coordinating conjunction and:

talaka da attajiri
= poor person and rich person
= the poor and the rich

You can use da to connect nouns, pronouns, and sometimes even clauses:

Ali da Aisha – Ali and Aisha
Uwa da uba – mother and father

What does the -r at the end of ƙimar mean?

The -r in ƙimar is the linker (or genitive/construct marker). It links two nouns to show possession, association, or “of” relationship.

Base noun: ƙima – value, worth
With linker: ƙimar mutum – the value of a person / a person’s value

More examples:

sunan gida – the name of the house
farashin littafi – the price of the book
ƙimar mutum – the value (worth) of a person

The exact linker form can be -r, -n, or zero, depending on the word’s ending and dialect, but in ƙima → ƙimar, -r is the standard form.

How should I understand mutum here? Does it mean “a man” or “a person” generally?

Mutum literally means person, human being. It can also mean man in some contexts, but here it is clearly generic:

ƙimar mutum = a person’s worth, human worth / human dignity.

Hausa does not have a separate article like the or a, so:

mutum can mean a person, the person, or people in general, depending on context.

In this sentence, mutum is clearly generic / general, not just one specific individual.

How do you pronounce ƙimar and what is the difference between ƙ and k?

Pronunciation points:

ƙimar ≈ [kʼimar] (with an ejective k sound)
ƙ is an ejective velar stop; it’s pronounced with a small “pop” of air, tighter than English k.
k is a plain voiceless velar stop, like k in English cat.

Minimal pair (in many dialects):

kasa – soil, ground (with k)
ƙasa – country, land, or down/below (with ƙ)

So be careful to keep ƙima distinct from any word with plain k; ƙima specifically means value, worth.

Can this sentence be reordered, for example starting with ba?

Yes, Hausa often places ba … ba around the whole clause for emphasis, especially in more formal or proverbial style. You might hear:

Ba bambanci tsakanin talaka da attajiri ke rage ƙimar mutum ba.

Differences:

Your original:
- Bambanci tsakanin talaka da attajiri ba ya rage ƙimar mutum.
  Neutral word order, subject first.
Fronted/contrastive version:
- Ba bambanci tsakanin talaka da attajiri ke rage ƙimar mutum ba.
  More emphatic: It is not the difference between poor and rich that reduces a person’s value.

For everyday use, your original sentence is natural and clear; the fronted version just adds rhetorical emphasis.