Learn Hardcore Hausa: Idan muka saurari kashedi da faɗakarwa, za mu guji haɗari mu samu nasara. - If we listen to warnings and reminders, we will avoid danger and achieve success.

Idan muka saurari kashedi da faɗakarwa, za mu guji haɗari mu samu nasara.

If we listen to warnings and reminders, we will avoid danger and achieve success.

Breakdown of Idan muka saurari kashedi da faɗakarwa, za mu guji haɗari mu samu nasara.

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Questions & Answers about Idan muka saurari kashedi da faɗakarwa, za mu guji haɗari mu samu nasara.

What is a very literal, word‑for‑word breakdown of this sentence?

Sentence: Idan muka saurari kashedi da faɗakarwa, za mu guji haɗari mu samu nasara.

Very literal gloss:

Idan – if / when
muka – we (perfective, “relative/focus” form)
saurari – listen to
kashedi – warning(s)
da – and / with
faɗakarwa – admonition, cautioning, enlightenment
, – (comma, pause)
za – future marker “will/shall”
mu – we (subject pronoun)
guji – avoid
haɗari – danger, risk
mu – we (again, subject pronoun)
samu – get, obtain, receive
nasara – success, victory

So a very literal reading is:
“If we listen to warnings and admonitions, we will avoid danger (and) we get success.”

What exactly does Idan mean here? Is it “if” or “when”?

Idan can mean both “if” and “when”, depending on context.

In this sentence, it's a general conditional:
Idan muka saurari… = If we listen…
It can also sometimes be understood like “when(ever)” in proverbs or general truths:
- Idan rana ta fito, duhu ya ɓace. – When the sun rises, darkness disappears.

So here, the idea is a general rule: “If / whenever we listen to warnings and cautions, we avoid danger and succeed.”
In everyday English, “if” is the best translation.

Why is it muka saurari and not mun saurari or just mu saurari?

Hausa has different forms of subject pronouns depending on tense/aspect and clause type.

mun saurari – “we listened to / we have listened to”
- mun = normal perfective “we”
muka saurari – also a perfective form, but the “relative/focus” form
- used often:
  - after certain words introducing clauses (like idan, lokacin da, wanda)
  - for emphasis or in proverb‑like sentences

Here:

Idan muka saurari… puts a little focus/emphasis on “we (the ones who) listen” or on the action within this conditional clause.
You could say Idan mun saurari kashedi da faɗakarwa… and it would also be grammatically fine and understandable in many contexts. Muka just sounds a bit more “proverbial” and is very common in such moral/educational sentences.

So:

muka = focused/relative perfective we
mun = plain perfective we

Why does the Hausa sentence use a “past-like” form (muka) even though the meaning is about the future?

Hausa often uses a perfective form in the if‑clause of a real conditional that refers to the future, especially with idan:

Idan ka yi haka, za ka ga sakamakon.
If you do that, you will see the result.
Idan muka saurari kashedi…, za mu…
If we listen to warnings, we will…

This is similar to English in some ways:

English: If you did that now, you would see… (tense does not always line up directly with time.)

In Hausa:

the if‑clause (with idan) often uses perfective (muka, ka, suka, etc.)
the main clause often uses future (za mu, za su, etc.)

So grammatically it’s perfective, but functionally here it describes a general future / general truth.

What’s the difference between saurari, saurara, and ji? They all seem like “listen/hear”.

They are related but not the same:

ji – to hear, to feel, to sense
- Na ji ƙara. – I heard a noise.
- It can mean physically hearing, or feeling, or understanding.
saurara – to listen / pay attention (intransitive)
- Ka saurara! – Listen! / Pay attention!
saurari – to listen to (someone/something); takes a direct object
- Na saurari malam. – I listened to the teacher.
- Idan muka saurari kashedi… – If we listen to warnings…

So in this sentence, saurari is used because we are listening to something specific (warnings and admonitions).

What is the difference between kashedi and faɗakarwa? Aren’t they both “warnings”?

They are related but slightly different in nuance:

kashedi – warning, caution, scolding-type warning
- Often more direct, like a warning about danger or consequences.
faɗakarwa – admonition, enlightenment, raising awareness, “sensitization”
- From the verb faɗakar da – to make someone aware, to warn/educate them.
- Can be more like teaching or informing people about risks, not just a blunt warning.

In the pair kashedi da faɗakarwa, the speaker is covering both:

clear warnings (kashedi) and
more general teaching/awareness about dangers (faɗakarwa).

In English, it’s natural to compress both as “warnings and advice/awareness” or “warnings and cautions”.

What is the function of da between kashedi and faɗakarwa here?

In this sentence, da simply means “and”:

kashedi da faɗakarwa – warnings and admonitions / warnings and cautions

Hausa da has several common uses:

and (joining nouns/pronouns):
- Ali da Aisha – Ali and Aisha
with (accompaniment or instrument):
- Na je da shi. – I went with him.
- Na yanka da wuka. – I cut (it) with a knife.

Here, it’s clearly the “and” function, just coordinating two nouns.

What does za mu mean, and how is the future tense formed in Hausa?

za mu = “we will / we shall”.

Hausa future is typically formed with za + subject pronoun + verb:

za ni tafi – I will go
za ka tafi – you (m.sg.) will go
za ki tafi – you (f.sg.) will go
za ya tafi – he will go
za ta tafi – she will go
za mu tafi – we will go
za ku tafi – you (pl.) will go
za su tafi – they will go

In our sentence:

za mu guji haɗari – we will avoid danger

What exactly does guji mean, and is there another form like guje wa?

Yes:

guji – to avoid something; usually takes a direct object.
- Ya guji abin zamba. – He avoided fraud.
- za mu guji haɗari – we will avoid danger.
There’s also guje wa (or written gujewa) – to run away from / avoid something, with the postposition wa:
- Ya guje wa haɗari. – He avoided danger.

In this sentence, guji haɗari is perfectly natural and idiomatic. You could also hear guje wa haɗari in other contexts with a very similar meaning.

What does haɗari mean here exactly? Is it the same as hatsari?

haɗari – danger, risk, peril
- e.g. haɗarin mota – road danger, traffic risk
hatsari – accident, mishap
- often something like a car accident: hatsarin mota

In many contexts, haɗari leans toward the abstract idea of danger, and hatsari is more a concrete accident that has happened.

So za mu guji haɗari is “we will avoid danger/risk.”

What is mu doing in mu samu nasara, and why isn’t there another za mu before it?

In mu samu nasara, the mu is a subject pronoun in a kind of subjunctive / coordinated structure.

The whole part:

za mu guji haɗari mu samu nasara

can be understood as:

za mu guji haɗari, (mu kuma) samu nasara.
we will avoid danger and (also) obtain success.

Key points:

The first verb phrase has the explicit future marker:
- za mu guji haɗari – we will avoid danger.
The second verb phrase shares the same subject and future sense, so Hausa often:
- drops the repeated “za”, and
- uses mu before the second verb: mu samu nasara.

You could say more fully:

…za mu guji haɗari, za mu samu nasara.
or …za mu guji haɗari, mu kuma samu nasara.

But in natural speech, za is often only stated once when the second action is clearly in the same future time frame.

What does samu nasara literally mean, and is it a fixed expression?

Literally:

samu – to get / obtain / receive
nasara – victory, success, triumph

So samu nasara = “to get success” / “to obtain victory”.

Yes, it’s a very common collocation/expression meaning:

to succeed,
to win,
to achieve success.

Examples:

Mun samu nasara a jarrabawa. – We succeeded in the exam.
Ƙungiyarmu ta samu nasara. – Our team won.

Could this sentence be said in another, maybe slightly clearer way for learners?

Yes. A slightly more “spelled‑out” version that is still natural:

Idan mun saurari kashedi da faɗakarwa, za mu guji haɗari kuma mu samu nasara.

Changes:

mun saurari instead of muka saurari – simpler perfective form.
added kuma – explicitly marks “and also” between the two results:
- za mu guji haɗari kuma mu samu nasara
  we will avoid danger and also obtain success.

Meaning is the same; the original version is just a bit more compact and proverbial.