Learn Hardcore Hausa: Yau na hau keke zuwa kasuwa. - Today I rode a bicycle to the market.

na + hau ≈ “I rode / I have ridden”
It always comes right before the verb in this tense:
- Na tafi. – I went.
- Na ci abinci. – I ate food.

So na is doing two jobs at once: telling you the subject (I) and that the action is completed (not ongoing right now).

How would I say “Today I am riding a bicycle to the market” instead of “I rode”? What’s the difference between na hau and ina hawa?

Na hau keke = “I rode a bicycle / I have ridden a bicycle” (completed action).
For an action that is ongoing or a general present, you use ina
- verbal noun:
- Yau ina hawa keke zuwa kasuwa.
  – “Today I am riding a bicycle to the market.” (right now / around this time)

Structure:

na + verb (simple form) → completed: Na hau (I rode).
ina + verbal noun → ongoing: Ina hawa (I am riding).

So na hau = completed; ina hawa = in progress.

Does yau (today) have to come at the beginning? Could I say Na hau keke zuwa kasuwa yau?

You can move yau around; the sentence is still correct:

Yau na hau keke zuwa kasuwa.
Na hau keke zuwa kasuwa yau.

Both mean “Today I rode a bicycle to the market.”

Typical patterns:

Time word at the beginning is very common and slightly more neutral:
Yau na…
At the end (… yau) can sound a bit more like you’re adding “today” as extra info or emphasis, but it’s still natural.

So yau is flexible; just don’t split it inside another phrase (e.g. not keke yau zuwa kasuwa).

Why is there no word for “a” or “the” before keke and kasuwa? How do I know if it’s “a bicycle” or “the bicycle”?

Hausa does not have separate words that directly match English “a / an / the”. Nouns usually appear bare, and context tells you whether they are definite or indefinite.

Na hau keke.
– I rode a bicycle / I rode the bicycle (depends on context).
Na tafi kasuwa.
– I went to (the) market.

To make things more clearly definite, Hausa often uses other tools:

keken nan – this bicycle
keken ɗin – that particular bicycle (already known)
kasuwa nan – this market
kasuwa ɗin – that specific / that known market

So the sentence Yau na hau keke zuwa kasuwa can be translated with either a or the, depending on the situation.

What does zuwa do here? Could I just say Yau na hau keke kasuwa?

Zuwa is a preposition meaning “to / towards”. In this sentence:

zuwa kasuwa = “to the market”

You will very often see zuwa before a destination, especially when the main verb itself is not “go”:

Na hau keke zuwa kasuwa. – I rode a bicycle to the market.
Na yi tafiya zuwa gida. – I travelled/walked to home.

With some verbs of motion like tafi (go), zuwa can be dropped:

Na tafi kasuwa.
Na tafi zuwa kasuwa. (also correct, a bit more explicit)

With hau, if you drop zuwa and say Na hau keke kasuwa, it can sound unclear or wrong, as if keke kasuwa is a compound noun (“market bicycle”). So for clarity and correctness, keep zuwa:

✅ Yau na hau keke zuwa kasuwa.
❓ Yau na hau keke kasuwa. (not standard; avoid)

Besides “ride”, what does hau mean? Can I use it for cars, horses, etc.?

Hau basically means “to mount / get onto / climb (onto)”, and by extension, “ride”.

Typical uses:

Na hau keke. – I rode a bicycle.
Na hau doki. – I mounted/rode a horse.
Na hau mota. – I got into a car / I boarded the car (context can make it “rode in a car”).
Na hau bishiya. – I climbed (up) a tree.

Note:

For driving a car (being the driver), Hausa normally uses tuka:
- Na tuka mota zuwa kasuwa. – I drove a car to the market.

So hau is about getting on/onto something (or into a vehicle) and going with it, not about controlling the vehicle as a driver.

Is keke always “bicycle”? I’ve seen keken mota and similar expressions.

Keke originally refers to a wheeled vehicle or cart, but in modern standard Hausa, by itself it most commonly means “bicycle”.

Some related forms:

keke – bicycle (usual meaning)
kekuna – bicycles (plural)
keken mota – literally “car’s vehicle”, often “car” in some contexts or “carriage pushed by a car” depending on dialect/usage
keken doki – horse-drawn cart
keken ɗaukar kaya – cart for carrying goods

Motorcycle is usually babur (or burodi / bajaaj depending on region, but babur is common).

In Yau na hau keke zuwa kasuwa, the safest, most standard understanding is “bicycle”.

I know na can also mean “my” in some phrases. How do I know that na here is “I” and not “my”?

Hausa na has several uses. Two very common ones:

Subject pronoun (I) in perfective tense:
- Always before a verb:
  - Na hau keke. – I rode a bicycle.
  - Na ga shi. – I saw him.
Possessive / linker (my / of):
- Appears after a noun, not before a verb:
  - motar na – my car
  - sunansa Ali – his name is Ali (literally “name-of-him Ali”)
  - ɗan na – my son

So in Yau na hau keke zuwa kasuwa:

na is before the verb hau, so it must be the subject pronoun “I”, not a possessive.

How do I make this sentence negative, like “Today I didn’t ride a bicycle to the market”?

To negate a perfective verb in Hausa, you wrap the clause in ba … ba, and the subject form changes slightly.

For na hau (I rode), the negative is ban hau (I did not ride):

Yau ban hau keke zuwa kasuwa ba.
– Today I did not ride a bicycle to the market.

Structure:

Ba
- na hau → ban hau … ba
  - Ba na hau ba. → Ban hau ba.

So:

Na hau keke. – I rode a bicycle.
Ban hau keke ba. – I didn’t ride a bicycle.
Yau ban hau keke zuwa kasuwa ba. – Today I didn’t ride a bicycle to the market.

How would I say “Today we rode bicycles to the market” based on this sentence?

Change the subject from na (I) to mun (we), and optionally make keke plural:

Yau mun hau keke zuwa kasuwa.
– Today we rode a bicycle (each) to the market / we rode (by) bicycle to the market.

If you want to be explicit about plural bicycles:

Yau mun hau kekuna zuwa kasuwa.
– Today we rode bicycles to the market.

Key change:

na hau – I rode
mun hau – we rode