Learn Hardcore Hausa: ’Yar uwata tana kallon kanta a madubi kafin ta tafi makaranta. - My sister looks at herself in the mirror before she goes to school.

The mark ’ in front of y shows this is a special consonant in Hausa (a “glottalized” /y/), different from plain y. In practice you can think of it as a slightly “harder” y sound; many learners just pronounce it like yar.

If uwa means mother, why does ’yar uwata mean my sister and not my daughter?

Literally, ’yar uwata is:

’yar = daughter
uwa = mother
-ta = my (on a feminine noun; more on this below)

So ’yar uwata is daughter of my mother. In normal usage, that is understood as my sister (female child of my mother).

For my daughter, you would typically say ’yata (my daughter), not ’yar uwata.

What does the ending -ta in uwata mean? Could I say uwana instead?

-ta here is the 1st person singular possessive suffix (my) used with many feminine nouns.

uwa = mother
uwata = my mother

This is a pattern: many feminine kinship words take -ta for my:

’ya → ’yata (my daughter)
kaka → kakata (my grandmother)

You would not normally say uwana for my mother; uwana would sound strange. So:

uwata = my mother
’yar uwata = my sister (daughter of my mother)

What is tana exactly? Is it the same as ta na, and why is it used here?

tana is a combination of:

ta = she (3rd person singular feminine subject pronoun)
na = marker used for the progressive / continuous aspect

So ta + na → tana, often written as one word.

tana before a verbal noun expresses something like she is doing X or she does X (habitually).

In this sentence:

tana kallon… = she is looking (at…)

You can sometimes see it written as ta na, but tana as one word is very common and standard in many modern texts.

The verb I know is kalli or the noun kallo. What is kallon in tana kallon kanta?

kallo is the verbal noun (like looking / watching / viewing).

When a verbal noun directly links to what it is acting on, Hausa usually adds a linking -n (or -r) called the genitive linker:

kallo
- -n
  - kanta → kallon kanta

Literally: the looking of herself → looking at herself.

So the structure is:

tana (she is)
kallon (doing the act of looking)
kanta (herself)

How does kanta mean herself? What is its literal meaning?

Literally,

kai = head
kanta = her head (kan
- -ta “her”)

Hausa often uses “head” words as reflexive pronouns (“myself, yourself, himself, herself…”). So:

kaina = my head → myself
kansa = his head → himself
kanta = her head → herself
kansu = their head → themselves

So tana kallon kanta literally: she is doing the looking of her head, but idiomatically: she is looking at herself.

Why do we say a madubi for in the mirror? What does a mean here?

a is a very common preposition in Hausa. It often corresponds to in, at, on in English, depending on context.

a madubi = in the mirror / in a mirror
a gida = at home / in the house
a kasuwa = at the market

You could also hear a cikin madubi (“inside the mirror”), but a madubi is perfectly normal and natural here.

What exactly does kafin mean in kafin ta tafi makaranta?

kafin means before (in time). It introduces something that happens earlier than another event.

It can be followed by:

a noun / verbal noun:
- kafin tafiya = before going / before the trip
or a full clause:
- kafin ta tafi makaranta = before she goes to school

So here it marks the time relationship: the looking in the mirror happens before the going-to-school event.

Why do we need the pronoun ta again in kafin ta tafi makaranta? Can we just say kafin tafi makaranta?

In Hausa, each clause usually needs its own subject pronoun, even if the subject is the same as in the previous clause.

So:

Main clause: ’Yar uwata tana kallon kanta a madubi
- subject = she (’yar uwata / ta)
Subordinate clause: kafin ta tafi makaranta
- subject = she (ta) again

Saying kafin tafi makaranta without ta is ungrammatical or at least very unnatural in standard Hausa. The ta there is required to mark who is going.

What tense or aspect is ta tafi here? Does it mean she went or she will go?

Outside of this construction, ta tafi is the perfective form and normally means she went / she has gone.

But after kafin and some other time words, Hausa often uses this same perfective form for an event that is later in time (from the point of view of the main action).

So:

main action: she is looking at herself
later action: she goes / will go to school

The combination kafin + ta tafi makaranta is best translated as before she goes to school, even though grammatically ta tafi is in the perfective form. Context and kafin give it that future-ish meaning in English.

Can we move the before clause to the start, like in English Before she goes to school, my sister is looking…?

Yes, that is possible and grammatical in Hausa. You can say:

Kafin ta tafi makaranta, ’yar uwata tana kallon kanta a madubi.

The meaning is the same; changing the order just shifts the emphasis a little. Both:

’Yar uwata tana kallon kanta a madubi kafin ta tafi makaranta.
Kafin ta tafi makaranta, ’yar uwata tana kallon kanta a madubi.

are natural sentences.

How would I say My brother is looking at himself in the mirror before he goes to school?

You mainly need to change the kinship word and the gender agreement:

’yar uwata (my sister) → ɗan uwana (my brother / my male sibling)
tana (she is) → yana (he is)
kanta (herself) → kansa (himself)
ta tafi (she goes / went) → ya tafi (he goes / went)

So a natural sentence is:

ɗan uwana yana kallon kansa a madubi kafin ya tafi makaranta.

How would I say My sisters are looking at themselves in the mirror before they go to school?

You need plural forms for sister, the verb, and the reflexive:

’yar uwa = sister
’yan uwa = siblings / brothers & sisters; context can make it “sisters”
’yan uwata = my siblings / my sisters (here)
suna = they are (3rd person plural progressive)
kansu = themselves (their own heads)
su tafi = they go

A natural plural version is:

’Yan uwata suna kallon kansu a madubi kafin su tafi makaranta.

Literally: My siblings are doing the looking of themselves in the mirror before they go to school.