Learn Hardcore Hausa: Kishi tsakanin ’yan uwa ba ya da amfani, amma soyayya tana kawo zaman lafiya. - Jealousy between siblings is not useful, but love brings peace.

In this sentence, kishi means jealousy / envy, specifically bad feeling when you don’t want others (here, siblings/relatives) to have something good.

In Hausa:

kishi is usually negative (jealousy, rivalry, envy).
It can also be used for romantic jealousy, e.g. jealousy between spouses.

So here kishi tsakanin ’yan uwa = jealousy among relatives / siblings, with a clearly negative meaning.

What exactly does tsakanin mean, and how is it used?

tsakanin means between, among.

Structure in the sentence:

kishi tsakanin ’yan uwa = jealousy between/among siblings/relatives

Usage:

tsakanin A da B = between A and B
- tsakanin uba da ɗa – between father and son
tsakanin ’yan uwa = among siblings (more than two)

It usually comes between the main noun and the group it is between:

fahimta tsakanin mutane – understanding among people

What does ’yan uwa mean exactly? Does it only mean “siblings”?

’yan uwa literally means “children of (the same) parent(s)”, so it refers to people who are closely related.

Common meanings:

siblings (brothers and sisters)
close relatives / kin

Related forms:

ɗan uwa – a male relative (often “brother/cousin”)
’yar uwa – a female relative (often “sister/cousin”)
’yan uwa – plural: siblings, relatives

So in this sentence, ’yan uwa is best understood as siblings / close relatives in general.

How does ba ya da amfani work grammatically? Why do you need ya and da?

ba ya da amfani literally breaks down as:

ba – negative marker
ya – 3rd person masculine singular subject pronoun (he/it)
da – here works like “with / having”
amfani – use, benefit

Positive form:

yana da amfani – it is useful / it has benefit

Negative form:

ba ya da amfani – it is not useful / it has no benefit

So the pattern is:

X yana da Y – X has Y / X is with Y
X ba ya da Y – X does not have Y / X is not with Y

In our sentence:

kishi … ba ya da amfani = jealousy … is not useful / has no benefit

Could you say kishi tsakanin ’yan uwa ba ya amfani without da?

Typically, no. In this pattern, da is part of the standard “has / with” construction:

yana da amfani – it has benefit / it is useful
ba ya da amfani – it does not have benefit / it is not useful

If you drop da (ba ya amfani), it sounds incomplete or wrong in this context.
So ba ya da amfani is the natural, idiomatic form.

Why is there no separate word for “is” in this sentence?

Hausa often does not use a separate word for “to be” in the way English does. The idea of “is / is not” is usually expressed through:

verbal constructions (like yana da / ba ya da)
pronouns and aspect markers
context

In kishi tsakanin ’yan uwa ba ya da amfani:

There is no direct “is”, but ba ya da gives the meaning “is not [useful] / does not have [benefit]”.

Think of ba ya da amfani as one chunk meaning “is not useful / has no benefit”, rather than trying to find a separate “is” inside it.

What does amma mean, and does it work like English “but”?

Yes. amma means “but”.

In the sentence:

… ba ya da amfani, amma soyayya tana kawo zaman lafiya.
= … is not useful, but love brings peace.

It works just like English “but” to contrast two ideas.

Why is it soyayya tana kawo… and not soyayya yana kawo…?

Hausa has grammatical gender (masculine and feminine), and nouns trigger agreement on verbs.

soyayya (love) is grammatically feminine.
Feminine 3rd person singular subject uses ta-:
- tana (ta + na) – she/it (fem.) is doing / does
Masculine 3rd person singular subject uses ya-:
- yana (ya + na) – he/it (masc.) is doing / does

So:

soyayya tana kawo… – love (fem.) brings…

Using yana with soyayya would be ungrammatical.

What does tana kawo mean exactly? Is it present tense or continuous?

tana kawo is ta + na + kawo:

ta – 3rd person feminine singular subject (she/it)
na – continuous/habitual marker
kawo – to bring

It can mean:

is bringing (progressive)
brings (habitual/generic)

Here, it is generic/habitual:

soyayya tana kawo zaman lafiya
= love brings peace (in general)

What is the literal meaning of zaman lafiya, and how is it used?

zaman lafiya literally is:

zaman – verbal noun from zama (to sit, stay, live, reside)
lafiya – health, well-being, peace

So zaman lafiya literally means something like “living/sitting in peace/well-being”, and idiomatically:

peaceful living
peaceful coexistence
simply peace

In the sentence:

soyayya tana kawo zaman lafiya
= love brings peace / peaceful living.

How do you pronounce ’yan, and what is the purpose of the apostrophe?

’yan is pronounced roughly like “yan” in “yarn” (without the final r), with a short a.

The apostrophe ’ marks that this y came from a dropped initial vowel in a longer form and can also signal a glottal stop in some contexts. Here:

Underlyingly related to ’ya’ya (children, descendants)
’yan is the plural form used before another noun:
- ’yan uwa – children/relatives (of the same parent)
- ’yan kasa – citizens (children of the land)

So:

’yan uwa ≈ relatives / siblings,
pronounced like “yan uwa”, with smooth linking between yan and uwa.