Learn Hardcore Hausa: Gobe da safe za a ba kowace yarinya gilashi na ruwa kafin darasi. - Tomorrow morning each girl will be given a glass of water before the lesson.

Putting gobe da safe at the beginning simply emphasizes the time. Leaving it inside the sentence sounds a bit more neutral. Both orders are fine in everyday speech.

What exactly does za a mean, and why is there no explicit subject like su or suna?

za a is a future construction with an indefinite or impersonal subject, something like English “will be [done]” or “they will [do something]” where “they” is not a specific group.

za – future marker (like will / going to)
a – an indefinite subject pronoun, meaning one / people / they (in general)

So:

Za a ba kowace yarinya gilashi na ruwa…
≈ A glass of water will be given to every girl…
or
≈ They will give every girl a glass of water… (but “they” is not specified)

If you want a specific subject, you replace za a with the appropriate future form:

Malam zai ba kowace yarinya… – The teacher will give every girl…
Za su ba kowace yarinya… – They (those people) will give every girl…
Zan ba kowace yarinya… – I will give every girl…

What is the difference between za a ba and za su ba in this kind of sentence?

Za a ba…
– Indefinite subject: it will be given / they will give (unspecified “they”).
– Focus is on the action, not on who does it.
Za su ba…
– Definite subject: they will give (a particular group already known in the context).
– Focus includes who is doing the giving.

So:

Za a ba kowace yarinya gilashi na ruwa…
– Someone (not specified) will give every girl a glass of water.
Dalibai za su ba kowace yarinya gilashi na ruwa…
– The students will give every girl a glass of water. (clear who the agents are)

Why is it kowace yarinya and not kowane yarinya?

The word kowa (everyone/anyone) has adjective-like forms that agree with the gender of the noun:

Masculine singular: kowane
- kowane yaro – every boy
Feminine singular: kowace
- kowace yarinya – every girl

Since yarinya (girl) is a feminine noun, you must use the feminine form kowace, not kowane.

So:

kowane yaro – every boy
kowace yarinya – every girl

If the sentence is talking about many girls, why is yarinya singular and not plural?

This is the same pattern as in English every girl:

In English you say every girl (singular), not every girls.
In Hausa you say kowace yarinya (singular), not kowace ’yan mata.

kowace already carries the idea of “each / every (one)”, so the noun that follows it is singular.

If you want to talk about all the girls (not “every girl” one by one), you would typically use dukkan or duka, with a plural noun, for example:

Dukkan ’yan mata za su sami gilashi na ruwa. – All the girls will get a glass of water.

How does gilashi na ruwa work? Why do we need na, and can I say it in another way?

gilashi na ruwa is a noun + linker + noun construction:

gilashi – glass (drinking glass)
na – linker, roughly of
ruwa – water

So gilashi na ruwa ≈ a glass of water.

About the linker na:

Hausa normally cannot put two nouns together without a linker.
You can’t say *gilashi ruwa; you must say gilashi na ruwa (or gilashin ruwa).

Two common patterns:

Separate linker word:
- gilashi na ruwa – glass of water
Short linker suffix attached to the first noun:
- gilashin ruwa – (the) glass of water

In many everyday contexts, gilashi na ruwa and gilashin ruwa can both refer to a/the glass of water, and the difference is subtle. For a learner, you can treat them as broadly equivalent here. The sentence uses the separate linker form na.

Could I leave out na and just say gilashi ruwa?

No. Hausa almost always requires a linker between two nouns in this kind of relationship.

Correct options:

gilashi na ruwa – a glass of water
gilashin ruwa – the glass of water / a water glass

Incorrect:

*gilashi ruwa – ungrammatical

In za a ba kowace yarinya gilashi na ruwa, who is the indirect object and who is the direct object?

The verb ba = to give takes two objects:

Indirect object (recipient) – the person who receives something
Direct object (theme) – the thing that is given

In this sentence:

Indirect object (recipient): kowace yarinya – every girl
Direct object (thing given): gilashi na ruwa – a glass of water

So the structure after the verb ba is:

[verb] + [recipient] + [thing]
…ba kowace yarinya gilashi na ruwa…
– give every girl a glass of water

What does kafin darasi mean exactly, and can it be placed somewhere else in the sentence?

kafin – before
darasi – lesson / class

So kafin darasi = before class / before the lesson.

Word order is flexible for time expressions:

Gobe da safe za a ba kowace yarinya gilashi na ruwa kafin darasi.
Kafin darasi gobe da safe za a ba kowace yarinya gilashi na ruwa.
Za a ba kowace yarinya gilashi na ruwa gobe da safe kafin darasi.

All are grammatical. Moving kafin darasi earlier in the sentence simply changes the emphasis slightly, but not the basic meaning.