Idan yara suna yin amo da yawa, uwa tana fusata.

to be

Breakdown of Idan yara suna yin amo da yawa, uwa tana fusata.

• yaro: the child
• yi: to do
• uwa: the mother

Questions & Answers about Idan yara suna yin amo da yawa, uwa tana fusata.

What exactly does Idan mean here—is it “when” or “if”?

Idan is a conditional word that can often mean both “when(ever)” and “if”, depending on context.

• In this sentence it naturally reads as “when(ever)” – describing something that typically happens whenever the children make a lot of noise.
• It can also be used with a more hypothetical “if” sense, e.g. Idan ya zo = If/When he comes.

So:

• Idan + clause, [result clause] = When/If X happens, Y happens.

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Why do we say yara suna yin amo instead of just yara suna amo?

In Hausa, many verbs are expressed with a progressive pronoun + verbal noun pattern.

• suna = “they are” (3rd person plural progressive form)
• yi = “to do / to make”
• yin amo = “doing noise / making noise”

So yara suna yin amo literally means “the children are doing/making noise.”

You can’t normally say *suna amo by itself, because amo (“noise”) is a noun, not a verb. You need a verb (yi) to express “make (noise)”, so you get:

• suna yin amo = they are making noise
  (suna = are, yin = doing, amo = noise)

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What is the difference between yi and yin in suna yin amo?