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Girmamawa tana da muhimmanci sosai a cikin al'umma.

Girmamawa tana da muhimmanci sosai a cikin al'umma.
Respect is very important in the community.
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Questions & Answers about Girmamawa tana da muhimmanci sosai a cikin al'umma.

What does each word in Girmamawa tana da muhimmanci sosai a cikin al'umma literally mean?

Here is a word‑by‑word breakdown:

  • Girmamawa – respect (the act of respecting, honor, reverence)
  • tana – she/it is (3rd person singular feminine, continuous / stative form)
  • da – with / has; here it works like “has” or “possesses”
  • muhimmanci – importance, significance
  • sosai – very, really, extremely
  • a – in, at (a general locative preposition)
  • cikin – inside, within
  • al'umma – community / society / the people

So literally: “Respect it-has importance very in inside society.”
Natural English: “Respect is very important in society.”

Why does Hausa say tana da muhimmanci instead of something like “is important”?

Hausa often expresses “to be X (important, valuable, etc.)” using the structure:

(Subject) + na/nā/tana/yana + da + (noun)

Here, da carries a “having, possessing” meaning.

  • tana da muhimmanci ≈ “it has importance”
  • In English, we normally say “it is important,” but in Hausa the “has importance” pattern is very common and natural.

So:

  • Girmamawa tana da muhimmanci sosai...
    “Respect has a lot of importance...” → idiomatically “Respect is very important...”

Another very common pattern with da is for possession:

  • Ina da littafi. – “I have a book.”

In your sentence, instead of literal possession, girmamawa “possesses” the quality of importance.

Why is it tana (feminine “it/she”) and not yana (masculine “he/it”)?

Hausa nouns have grammatical gender: masculine or feminine, and this affects pronouns and agreement.

Girmamawa is feminine in Hausa. There are some patterns:

  • Many abstract nouns and action nouns (often ending in ‑wa) are grammatically feminine.
  • Since girmamawa is an abstract noun (the act of respecting), Hausa treats it as feminine.

Therefore:

  • Girmamawa tana da muhimmanci... – correct (feminine)
  • Girmamawa yana da muhimmanci... – ungrammatical, because it mismatches the noun’s gender.

You will see the same with other abstract or action nouns:

  • Koyo (learning) – often feminine in usage → koyon harshen Hausa tana da muhimmanci (learning Hausa is important).
Could I say Girmamawa muhimmanci ce sosai a cikin al'umma instead?

Yes, this is possible and grammatical, but it has a slightly different structure.

  • ce is a copula used with feminine noun predicates; it acts like “is.”
  • muhimmanci is a noun (“importance”), and girmamawa is also feminine.

Girmamawa muhimmanci ce sosai a cikin al'umma
literally: “Respect is an importance very in society.”

This sounds more like:

  • “Respect is of great importance in society.”

However, in everyday speech, tana da muhimmanci sosai is extremely common and very natural.
The muhimmanci ce version is a bit more “formal” or “bookish” in flavor, though still OK.

Is muhimmanci an adjective (“important”) or a noun (“importance”)?

Muhimmanci is a noun, meaning “importance, significance.”

There is also an adjective:

  • muhimmi – important

Examples:

  • Wannan abu muhimmi ne. – “This thing is important.” (adjective)
  • Muhimmancin wannan abu yana da yawa. – “The importance of this thing is great.” (noun)

In your sentence:

  • tana da muhimmanci – “it has importance”

So, muhimmanci is functioning as a noun that names the quality, not as an adjective modifying girmamawa directly.

What exactly does sosai mean, and why does it come after muhimmanci?

Sosai is an intensifier, usually translated as:

  • very, really, extremely, a lot

It normally comes after the word or phrase it intensifies:

  • muhimmanci sosai – very important / a lot of importance
  • Ina son ki sosai. – I love you very much.
  • Ya gaji sosai. – He is very tired.

Putting sosai before muhimmanci (e.g. sosai muhimmanci) would sound unnatural. The usual order is:

[thing] + tana da + [noun] + sosai

So:

  • Girmamawa tana da muhimmanci sosai...
    “Respect has importance very much...” → “Respect is very important...”
What does a cikin mean here? Could I just say a al'umma or only cikin al'umma?

A cikin is a very common combination:

  • a – “in/at” (general locative preposition)
  • cikin – “inside, within”

Together, a cikin ≈ “in, within, inside of.”

In practice:

  • a cikin al'umma – “in (within) society / the community”

About the alternatives:

  1. cikin al'umma (without a)

    • Also common and acceptable.
    • Many speakers alternate between a cikin X and cikin X with little change in meaning.

  2. a al'umma (without cikin)

    • Grammatically possible in some contexts, but here it sounds off or incomplete.
    • With abstract locations like “society/community,” a cikin al'umma or cikin al'umma is the idiomatic choice.

So the most natural options here are:

  • ...a cikin al'umma.
  • ...cikin al'umma.
How do you pronounce al'umma, and what does the apostrophe represent?

Al'umma is pronounced roughly:

  • al – like “al” in “album”
  • brief glottal stop (a little catch in your throat)
  • umma – “oom-mah”

IPA‑style: [alʔumma]

The apostrophe ' in Hausa orthography usually marks a glottal stop (a sound written with the letter hamza in Arabic). It signals that:

  • The two vowels a and u are separate and not blended into one syllable.
  • You should “stop” the airflow briefly between al and umma.

So it’s:

  • al – [stop] – umma, not a-lu-mma or a-lu-ma.
Is al'umma closer to “society” or “community”? Is it singular or plural?

Al'umma can mean:

  • society
  • community
  • a people / nation (depending on context)

In your sentence, it is singular and refers to “society” or “the community” in a general sense.

About number:

  • Singular: al'umma – society / a community
  • Plural: al'ummai – communities / societies (used but less frequent in everyday speech)

Often, al'umma is understood as a collective, so it already feels like “the whole community / society” without needing a plural. If you want to be explicit, you can also say:

  • al'ummar mu – our society / our community
Could I drop tana da and just say Girmamawa muhimmanci sosai a cikin al'umma?

No; that would be ungrammatical or at least very strange.

In Hausa, you usually need some sort of linking element between the subject and a noun like muhimmanci when you want to say “X is Y.” There are two main patterns that work here:

  1. Possessive‑style pattern:

    • Girmamawa tana da muhimmanci sosai...
      (Respect has importance a lot → Respect is very important.)

  2. Copula pattern:

    • Girmamawa muhimmanci ce sosai...
      (Respect is an importance, very.)

If you say only Girmamawa muhimmanci sosai..., there is no verb or copula linking the two nouns, so the sentence feels incomplete. Hausa does allow verbless clauses in some patterns, but not in this way with muhimmanci.

Is tana da showing some particular tense or aspect here? Could I use something like na da instead?

Tana da is built from:

  • ta – 3rd person singular feminine subject pronoun
  • ‑na – continuous / imperfective marker
  • da – with / has

So tana da literally is a feminine, imperfective “has”: “she/it has.”

In this kind of sentence, it expresses a general, timeless truth (“Respect is [always] important”), not a temporary action. Hausa uses the same form (na/nā/ta/ya + da) for:

  • Present possession: Ina da mota. – I have a car.
  • General states: Girmamawa tana da muhimmanci. – Respect is important.

About na da:

  • (X) na da Y is a shorter form that appears in some dialects and fast speech, but in standard careful Hausa, with a full noun subject like girmamawa, you expect tana da (feminine) or yana da (masculine).
  • Girmamawa na da muhimmanci might be heard informally, but Girmamawa tana da muhimmanci is the clear, standard form you should learn and use.