Learn Hardcore Hausa: Ƙauyawa da makiyayi suna raba madara daga shanu kullum. - The villagers and the herder share milk from the cows every day.

It comes from ƙauye (village / countryside).
Ƙauyawa can be neutral, but depending on tone and context it can sometimes carry a slight “country folk / bumpkins” feel, similar to saying “the village people” in English.
In this sentence it’s best understood neutrally as “villagers” or “rural people”.

What are the singular and plural forms of Ƙauyawa, makiyayi, and shanu?

The main nouns in the sentence behave like this:

Ƙauyawa – plural
- Singular: baƙauye (a villager, a country person)
- Plural: ƙauyawa (villagers, rural people)
makiyayi / makiyaya – herder(s)
- Standard singular: makiyayi (a herder)
- Standard plural: makiyaya (herders)
- In real speech, people sometimes use makiyayi loosely for a group as well, so context tells you if it’s one or many. Here, together with ƙauyawa, it clearly refers to herders (plural).
shanu – plural
- Singular: saniya (a cow) or sa (also used for cow/cattle)
- Plural: shanu (cows, cattle)

What does suna do here? Why not just say raba madara?

In Hausa, you normally need a subject pronoun + aspect marker before the main verb.

su + -na → suna
- su = they
- -na = continuous / progressive / often habitual marker

So suna raba literally means “they are (in the process of) sharing/dividing”, and by extension very often “they (usually) share/divide”.

You generally cannot just say raba madara daga shanu on its own for a full sentence; you need suna (or another appropriate form like suke, suke raba, etc., depending on focus and structure). Here, suna raba is the normal, neutral form.

Does suna raba here mean “are sharing” or “share (habitually)”?

It can cover both, and kullum (every day / always) pushes it strongly toward a habitual meaning:

Without context, suna raba madara ≈ “they are sharing milk” or “they share milk”.
With kullum:
- Ƙauyawa da makiyayi suna raba madara daga shanu kullum.
- Best translated: “Villagers and herders share/take milk from cows every day.”

In Hausa, the -na form (suna, yana, tana, muke, kuke, suke) often covers both present progressive and present habitual, and adverbs like kullum clarify that it’s a repeated action.

What exactly does raba mean here? Are they “sharing” the milk or “milking” the cows?

The core meaning of raba is to divide / separate / share out.

In this sentence:

raba madara daga shanu literally: “separate milk from cows”, i.e. take milk from cows.
In natural English, that corresponds to “milk the cows” or “take milk from the cows”.

So the main interpretations are:

Practical / process sense: they take milk from the cows (they milk the cows).
Distribution sense (if more context were given): they share/distribute the milk that comes from cows.

Common alternatives you might hear for “to milk (cows)” include things like:

suna nono shanu – they are milking cows

But in this sentence, raba madara daga shanu is a perfectly understandable way to express taking milk from cows. Context would decide whether the focus is milking or sharing out that milk.

What does daga shanu mean, and why not say ga shanu or zuwa shanu?

daga is a preposition meaning from / out of / away from.

madara daga shanu = milk from cows

Compare:

daga = from
- Na fito daga gida. – I came from home.
- madara daga shanu – milk from cows
ga often marks a recipient / direction toward:
- Na ba yara madara. – I gave the children milk.
- Na ba madara ga yara. – I gave milk to the children.
zuwa = to / toward (destination):
- Na tafi zuwa ƙauye. – I went to the village.

So here only daga makes sense, because we’re talking about the source of the milk: it comes from cows.

Why is it suna and not yana? How does agreement work with “X da Y” subjects like this?

suna is the 3rd person plural continuous form: “they are …”

yana = he / it (masc.) is …
tana = she / it (fem.) is …
suna = they are …

The subject here is Ƙauyawa da makiyayi – two groups/sets of people joined by “da” (and). That is treated as plural, so the verb must also be plural:

Ƙauyawa da makiyayi suna raba… – Villagers and herders share…

If the subject were singular, you’d use a singular form, e.g.:

Baƙauye yana raba madara daga shanu. – A villager (male) shares/takes milk from cows.
Baƙauya tana raba madara daga shanu. – A villager (female) shares/takes milk from cows.

Can kullum go at the beginning or in the middle of the sentence, or must it stay at the end?

kullum is flexible in position. All of these are possible, with very similar meaning:

Ƙauyawa da makiyayi suna raba madara daga shanu kullum.
Ƙauyawa da makiyayi kullum suna raba madara daga shanu.
Kullum, ƙauyawa da makiyayi suna raba madara daga shanu.

All mean roughly “Villagers and herders (every day) take/share milk from cows.”

Putting kullum at the beginning adds a bit of emphasis to “every day / always”.
Leaving it at the end is very natural and common.

Why is there no word for “the” or “some” before madara and shanu?

Hausa normally does not use separate words for articles like “a, an, the” the way English does. Whether a noun is specific, general, or indefinite is shown by:

Context
Word order
Sometimes demonstratives like wannan (this), waccan (that), etc.

So:

madara daga shanu can mean “milk from cows”, “the milk from the cows”, or “some milk from cows”, depending on context.
shanu can be “cows”, “the cows”, or “some cows”.

In this sentence, a natural reading is:

“Villagers and herders take/share (the) milk from (their) cows every day.”

English forces you to choose a/the/some, but Hausa doesn’t require that.

How do you pronounce the ƙ in Ƙauyawa? Is it the same as the normal k in Hausa or English?

The letter ƙ represents a different consonant from plain k in Hausa.

k = a normal voiceless velar stop, like k in English “kite”.
ƙ = an ejective / glottalized k, made with a little “pop” in the throat.

To approximate ƙ:

Start with an ordinary k sound.
Add a slight glottal closure (like holding your breath briefly) and release it sharply.

Minimal pairs in Hausa:

kowa – everyone
ƙowa – (in some dialects/contexts) can be different, or at least clearly distinguished in careful speech

For Ƙauyawa, aim for a sharper, more “popping” k at the start than in English “cow”. Even if your ƙ is not perfect, people will usually still understand, but it’s good to be aware that k and ƙ are distinct sounds in Hausa.