Learn Hardcore Hausa: Yau a ofis akwai ma'aikata da dama. - Today at the office there are many workers.

For existence / presence, Hausa uses akwai, not a form of “to be”.
So English “There are many workers…” is expressed simply with akwai ma'aikata da dama (“there exist many workers”).

You do not add extra “are” words like suna, ne, or sune here. Akwai alone carries the idea of “there is/are”.

What is the role of yau at the beginning? Could it go somewhere else?

Yau means “today” and it sets the time of the sentence.

Putting yau first is very natural in Hausa, because time expressions often come at the start:
- Yau a ofis akwai ma'aikata da dama. – Today at the office there are many workers.

You can move yau without changing the basic meaning, for example:

Akwai ma'aikata da dama yau a ofis.
A ofis yau akwai ma'aikata da dama.

The sentence is still correct, but the most natural, neutral order is usually time → place → rest of the sentence, as in the original.

What does a mean in a ofis, and is it the same as “in/at”?

a is a very common preposition in Hausa that usually corresponds to English “in / at / on” depending on context.

a ofis = “in the office” or “at the office” (both are acceptable translations).
a gida = at home / in the house.
a kasuwa = at the market.

So in Yau a ofis…, a introduces the location: today *at the office…*

Why is there no word for “the” before ofis or ma'aikata?

Hausa does not have a separate word like English “the”.

Definiteness (“the office” vs “an office”) is usually shown by:
- Context
- Possessive or descriptive words (e.g. ofishinmu – our office, ofishin gwamnati – the government office)
- Sometimes by special endings (like ‑n/‑r/‑din, etc.) in other constructions.

In Yau a ofis akwai ma'aikata da dama, context normally tells you whether it should be understood as “in the office” (the usual workplace) rather than “in an office”. There is simply no separate “the” word to add.

Is ofis the only word for “office”? What about ofishi or ofishin?

You will see several related forms:

ofis – very common everyday form for “office”.
ofishi – another common form; also means “office”.
ofishin – this is ofishi in a genitive/linked form (often meaning “the office of…” or “office” with a specific owner/description).

Examples:

Yau a ofis… – Today at the office… (general, unspecific)
Yau a ofishinmu… – Today in our office…
a ofishin gwamnati – in the government office.

In your sentence, ofis is just the bare noun, understood as “the office” from context.

What is the difference between ma'aikaci and ma'aikata?

They are singular and plural forms:

ma'aikaci – one worker/employee.
ma'aikata – workers/employees (plural).

The sentence uses ma'aikata because we are talking about many workers, not just one.

Could I say ma'aikaci da dama instead of ma'aikata da dama?

No, that would be wrong in this context.

da dama means “many / several / numerous”, so it needs a plural noun.
ma'aikaci is singular (“a worker”), so it doesn’t fit with “many”.

You need the plural:

ma'aikata da dama – many workers.

What does the phrase da dama mean, and how is da functioning here?

da dama is an idiomatic expression meaning “many, several, numerous, plenty (of)”.

On its own, da usually means “and” or “with”.
In phrases like da dama and da yawa, da behaves more like “with a lot (of)”, forming a quantifier.

So:

ma'aikata da dama ≈ “workers with plenty [in number]” → many workers.
You mostly treat da dama as one fixed phrase meaning “many/several”.

What’s the difference between da dama and da yawa?

Both often translate as “many / a lot (of)”, and in many contexts they can be used interchangeably.

Typical tendencies (not strict rules):

da yawa
- Very common in everyday speech.
- Used with count and mass nouns:
  - ma'aikata da yawa – many workers.
  - kudi da yawa – a lot of money.
da dama
- Slightly more formal or literary in feel.
- Tends to be used more with countable things and events:
  - ma'aikata da dama – numerous workers.
  - sau da dama – several times.

In your sentence, ma'aikata da dama and ma'aikata da yawa would both be understood as “many workers”; da dama just has a flavour of “quite a number / numerous”.

Why does da dama come after ma'aikata instead of before it?

In Hausa, most adjectives and many modifiers follow the noun they describe.

English: many workers → adjective before the noun.
Hausa: ma'aikata da dama → modifier after the noun.

Other examples:

mutane da yawa – many people.
gida babba – a big house.

So ma'aikata da dama is the normal Hausa order: noun → “many”.

How would I turn this into a yes–no question: “Are there many workers in the office today?”

For a yes–no question, Hausa often keeps the same word order and relies on intonation (or optionally adds a question particle like shin).

You could say:

Yau a ofis akwai ma'aikata da dama? – Are there many workers in the office today?
Or more formal: Shin yau a ofis akwai ma'aikata da dama?

Just raising your voice at the end usually signals that it is a question.

Do I ever need to say a yau instead of just yau?

Both exist, but they’re used a bit differently:

yau – simple, everyday “today”:
- Yau a ofis akwai ma'aikata da dama.
a yau – literally “on today”, often used:
- For contrast or emphasis: especially/particularly today
- In more formal or written language.

Example:

A yau a ofis akwai ma'aikata da dama. – On this very day at the office there are many workers.

In ordinary conversation, plain yau at the start is perfectly natural.

Why is there an apostrophe in ma'aikata? Does it affect pronunciation?

Yes, it matters. The apostrophe in ma'aikata marks a glottal stop between the two vowels a and i.

Without the apostrophe, you might try to run the vowels together.
With ma'aikata, you should briefly stop the airflow between ma and ai:
- ma‑ʔai‑ka‑ta (the ʔ is a quick catch in the throat).

It also reflects the word’s origin (related to aiki – work). Hausa often uses an apostrophe in spelling to show this kind of vowel break / glottal stop, and it can change how the word is pronounced or understood.