Musa ya kira ni ta waya.

Musa called me by phone.

Breakdown of Musa ya kira ni ta waya.

• Musa: Musa
• ni: me
• waya: the phone
• kira: to call
• ta: of

Questions & Answers about Musa ya kira ni ta waya.

What does each word in Musa ya kira ni ta waya mean literally, and is the word order similar to English?

Word-by-word:

• Musa – the proper name Musa (Moses).
• ya – 3rd person masculine subject + completed-action marker: roughly “he (did)”.
• kira – “call” (the verb to call).
• ni – “me” (1st person singular object pronoun).
• ta – preposition meaning “by / via / through / using”.
• waya – “wire / telephone”, and in modern use simply “phone”.

So the structure is:

Musa ya kira ni ta waya
Musa he.PFV call me by phone

The basic order Subject – (subject/tense marker) – Verb – Object – Prepositional phrase lines up very closely with English:

Musa called me by phone.
Musa ya kira ni ta waya.

What exactly does ya do here? Is it just “he”, or does it also show tense/aspect?

Ya does two jobs at once:

1. It shows the subject: 3rd person singular masculine (“he”).
2. It shows the aspect/tense: perfective – a completed action (often translated as a simple past in English).

So ya kira means roughly “he called / he has called”.

Some other perfective forms with kira:

• Na kira ni – I called me (nonsense, but shows the form: na = I.PFV)
• Na kira shi – I called him.
• Ka kira ni – You (m.sg) called me.
• Ta kira ni – She called me.
• Mun kira ni – We called me (again, just for pattern: mun = we.PFV)
• Sun kira ni – They called me.

The subject/tense information lives in that short element (na, ka, ya, ta, mun, kun, sun) before the verb, not on the verb itself. The verb kira stays the same.

Is kira a verb or a noun in this sentence? Could I also say something like “Musa made a call to me”?

In Musa ya kira ni ta waya, kira functions as a verb: “to call”.

However, kira can also act as a verbal noun meaning “a call / a calling / an invitation”. That allows another phrasing like:

• Musa ya yi mini kira ta waya.
  Literally: Musa did for-me a call by phone.
  Meaning: Musa made a call to me by phone.

Here:

• ya yi = he did/made (verb yi = to do/make),
• mini = to me (ma “to/for” + ni “me”),
• kira = a call (noun),
• ta waya = by phone.

So both are natural:

• Musa ya kira ni ta waya. – Musa called me by phone.
• Musa ya yi mini kira ta waya. – Musa made a call to me by phone.

Why is ni after kira? Can I move ni somewhere else, like Musa ya ni kira ta waya or Musa ya kira ta waya ni?

In a neutral sentence, the direct object pronoun normally comes immediately after the verb:

• ya kira ni – he called me
• ya kira shi – he called him
• ya kira mu – he called us

So the normal order is:

Subject – subject/tense marker – Verb – Object pronoun – (other bits)
Musa ya kira ni ta waya

You cannot just move ni around freely:

• ✗ Musa ya ni kira ta waya – ungrammatical.
• ✗ Musa ya kira ta waya ni – ungrammatical in normal speech.

For emphasis or contrast, you can front the pronoun as a topic:

• Ni Musa ya kira ta waya.
  “It was me that Musa called by phone.”

But that has a special “It’s me in particular” feel, not the neutral word order.

What does ta mean in this sentence, and how do I know it’s not the feminine “she” (ta)?

Hausa has a word ta that can be:

1. A subject/tense marker: 3rd person feminine, perfective

   • Ta kira ni. – She called me.

2. A preposition meaning “by / via / through / using”

   • ta waya – by phone
   • ta mota – by car
   • ta jirgi – by plane.

In Musa ya kira ni ta waya:

• ta is a preposition, not a subject marker.
• You can tell because it comes before a noun (waya), not before a verb.

Compare:

• Ta kira ni ta waya. – She called me by phone.
  First Ta = she.PFV (subject/tense marker before verb)
  Second ta = by (preposition before noun).

So you distinguish them by position and function:

• Before a verb → usually the feminine subject/tense marker.
• Before a noun → preposition “by / via / through”.

Is ta waya the only way to say “on the phone / by phone” in Hausa? Could I also use a waya?

Both are used:

• ta waya – literally “by/through phone”, focusing on the means/method.
• a waya – literally “at/on the phone”, more like a location/medium idea.

In many everyday contexts, they overlap in meaning, and you will hear both:

• Musa ya kira ni ta waya. – Musa called me by phone.
• Musa ya kira ni a waya. – Musa called me on the phone.

For a learner, it’s safe to treat ta waya and a waya here as near-synonyms; ta waya is particularly common for “by phone” as a means of communication.

Can I leave out ta waya and just say Musa ya kira ni?

Yes.

• Musa ya kira ni. – Musa called me.
  (No specific information about how – could be by phone, in person, etc., depending on context.)

Adding ta waya just specifies the means: it tells you that the call was by phone:

• Musa ya kira ni ta waya. – Musa called me by phone.

So ta waya is optional extra detail, not grammatically required.

How would I change this sentence for different objects, like “Musa called you / him / us by phone”?

Keep the structure and change only the object pronoun:

• Musa ya kira ni ta waya. – Musa called me by phone.
• Musa ya kira ka ta waya. – Musa called you (masc. singular) by phone.
• Musa ya kira ki ta waya. – Musa called you (fem. singular) by phone.
• Musa ya kira ku ta waya. – Musa called you (plural) by phone.
• Musa ya kira shi ta waya. – Musa called him by phone.
• Musa ya kira ita ta waya. – Musa called her by phone.
• Musa ya kira mu ta waya. – Musa called us by phone.
• Musa ya kira su ta waya. – Musa called them by phone.

Notice that all these pronouns come right after the verb kira and before ta waya.

How would I say “Musa will call me by phone” or “Musa didn’t call me by phone”?

Two useful patterns:

Future

Use the future marker zai:

• Musa zai kira ni ta waya.
  Musa will call me by phone.

Structure: Musa – zai – kira – ni – ta waya.

Negative past (did not)

Use the negative perfective pattern bai … ba for 3rd person masculine:

• Musa bai kira ni ta waya ba.
  Literally: Musa he-did-not call me by phone not.
  Meaning: Musa didn’t call me by phone.

For comparison:

• Ya kira ni ta waya. – He called me by phone.
• Bai kira ni ta waya ba. – He didn’t call me by phone.

Can I drop Musa and just say Ya kira ni ta waya? Would that still be correct?

Yes, that is correct and very natural.

• Ya kira ni ta waya. – He called me by phone.

Here ya already encodes “he (past/perfective)”, so you don’t need to say Musa again if it’s clear from context who “he” is.

You can also add an independent pronoun for emphasis or contrast:

• Shi ya kira ni ta waya. – HE (as opposed to someone else) called me by phone.

But the plain, context-dependent version Ya kira ni ta waya is completely grammatical and common.