Learn Hardcore Hausa: Idan muka ji bakin ciki, uwa tana ƙarfafa zuciyarmu da kalmomi masu daɗi. - When we feel sad, mother strengthens our hearts with kind words.

mun ji = independent perfective (“we heard/felt” – neutral statement)
muka ji = relative/linked perfective, used in:
- conditional clauses (after idan),
- relative clauses,
- some focus constructions.

Because muka ji is inside an idan-clause (if/when we feel…), Hausa grammar prefers the relative perfective:

Idan muka ji bakin ciki… = If/when we feel sad…

So muka is chosen because the clause is dependent on the condition word idan.

What exactly does ji mean here? I thought ji was “to hear”.

The verb ji is flexible. It can mean:

to hear (a sound, speech),
to feel / experience (emotion, pain, physical sensation),
sometimes to sense / perceive more generally.

In muka ji bakin ciki, it means “we feel/experience sadness”, not “we hear sadness”.

So:

Ji ciwo = feel pain
Ji dadi = feel pleasure / be happy
Ji tsoro = feel fear
Ji bakin ciki = feel sadness / grief

What does bakin ciki literally mean, and why does it mean “sadness”?

Idiomatically, bakin ciki = “sadness, grief, bitterness, resentment.”

Literally it combines:

baƙi / bāki (black, dark, or bitterness, depending on analysis)
ciki (inside, belly, stomach)

So the image is something like “darkness/bitterness inside” or “blackness of the inside”, which metaphorically expresses inner pain or grief. But in everyday use, you can just remember bakin ciki = sadness / grief / feeling hurt.

Why do we have uwa tana ƙarfafa… and not just uwa ƙarfafa…?

In Hausa, verbs usually appear with a subject + aspect form, not as a bare infinitive.

Here:

uwa = mother
tana ƙarfafa = she is strengthening / she strengthens (habitually)

tana breaks down as:

ta- = 3rd person singular feminine subject (she)
-na = imperfective/progressive aspect marker

So uwa tana ƙarfafa = “mother (she) encourages/strengthens (on an ongoing or habitual basis).”

Leaving it as uwa ƙarfafa would be ungrammatical as a normal sentence.

Why is it tana (feminine) and not yana (masculine)? Is uwa always feminine?

Yes. Uwa means “mother”, and in Hausa, natural gender is reflected in the verb:

uwa tana… = mother, she…
baba yana… = father, he…

So:

tana (she is / she does – imperfective)
yana (he is / he does – imperfective)

Because uwa refers to a female person, the verb agrees with feminine: tana ƙarfafa…

What does ƙarfafa mean, and how is it related to ƙarfi?

ƙarfi = strength, power, energy
ƙarfafa = to strengthen, to make strong, to encourage

So ƙarfafa zuciya literally = “to strengthen the heart”, which in English is naturally translated as “to encourage, to comfort, to cheer up.”

In this sentence:

tana ƙarfafa zuciyarmu = she encourages / strengthens our heart (emotionally).

How is zuciyarmu formed, and why is it not zuciyoyinmu?

Zuciya = heart, both in the physical and emotional sense.

To say “our heart” (in the collective, emotional sense), you add the possessive suffix -mu:

zuciyar + mu → zuciyarmu
- zuciyar = the heart of… / heart (construct form)
- mu = we / our

So zuciyarmu = “our heart” (collective “inner self / courage / feelings”).

We might expect “our hearts” in English, but Hausa often uses a singular noun for a shared or abstract “heart”. If you wanted literal multiple hearts, you’d use a plural like zuciyoyi, e.g. zuciyoyinmu = our hearts, but for emotional talk, the singular zuciyarmu is normal.

What does da mean in da kalmomi masu daɗi?

Here, da functions like “with, using, by means of.”

So:

da kalmomi masu daɗi = “with pleasant words”, or “by means of sweet/comforting words.”

The whole phrase:

tana ƙarfafa zuciyarmu da kalmomi masu daɗi
= she strengthens/encourages our hearts *with sweet words.*

What is the role of masu in kalmomi masu daɗi? Why not just kalmomi daɗi?

Masu is the plural form of mai, which literally means “the one who has / the one with.”

When used before an adjective or quality, it often means “that have / that are characterized by.”

mai daɗi (sg.) = that has sweetness / pleasant (one thing)
masu daɗi (pl.) = that have sweetness / pleasant (many things)

So:

kalmomi masu daɗi = “words that are pleasant / sweet / comforting.”

You will hear shortened forms like kalmomi daɗi in casual speech, but kalmomi masu daɗi is the standard, descriptive way to say “pleasant words.”

What does daɗi mean in this context?

Daɗi is a very common word meaning:

pleasantness
sweetness
enjoyment / delight
tastiness (for food)

In kalmomi masu daɗi, it describes pleasant, nice, comforting, sweet words. So daɗi here is emotional and aesthetic, not taste.

Why is there no word for “the” or “a” before uwa, zuciyarmu, or kalmomi?

Hausa does not have articles like English “a/an” or “the.”

Definiteness and specificity are understood from:

context,
possessive endings (like -mu “our”),
or sometimes word order and tone.

So:

uwa can be a mother, the mother, our mother depending on context.
- In this sentence, it’s like English “(our) mother” in a general sense.
zuciyarmu already has -mu (“our”), so it is clearly definite.
kalmomi is understood from the context as “(her) words” or “words” in general.

You don’t insert a separate word like “the” or “a” in Hausa.

Could I say “Idan muna jin bakin ciki” instead of “Idan muka ji bakin ciki”? What’s the difference?

Both are grammatical, but they feel slightly different:

Idan muka ji bakin ciki…
- muka ji = relative perfective
- Focuses on each event of feeling sadness as a condition.
- Reads like: Whenever (at those times that) we feel sad…
Idan muna jin bakin ciki…
- muna jin = imperfective/progressive (we are feeling / we usually feel)
- Emphasizes the ongoing state of being sad.
- Reads more like: When we are (in a state of) feeling sad…

In practice, idan muka ji bakin ciki is the more typical choice for this kind of general, habitual conditional sentence.

Is uwa here “our mother” specifically, or “a mother” in general?

It can be understood either way, depending on the context:

In a general proverb-like or teaching style, uwa often means “a mother / mothers in general”:
- When we feel sad, (a) mother encourages our hearts with kind words.
In a personal context, listeners might naturally hear it as “our mother”, even though -mu is not attached to uwa:
- When we feel sad, (our) mother encourages our hearts…

If you want to be very explicit about “our mother,” you can say:

uwar mu tana ƙarfafa zuciyarmu… = our mother strengthens our hearts…

What is the basic word order in this sentence? Is Hausa like English (S–V–O)?

Yes, ordinary Hausa clauses use S–V–O word order, like English.

Breakdown:

Idan muka ji bakin ciki,
- Subordinator: Idan = if/when
- Subject: (implied mu inside muka) = we
- Verb: ji = feel/experience
- Object: bakin ciki = sadness
uwa tana ƙarfafa zuciyarmu da kalmomi masu daɗi.
- Subject: uwa = mother
- Verb: tana ƙarfafa = she (is) strengthens / she encourages
- Object: zuciyarmu = our heart
- Prepositional phrase: da kalmomi masu daɗi = with pleasant words

So structurally it’s very close to English:
When we feel sad, mother encourages our heart with pleasant words.