Uwa tana shirya kyauta ga yara.

Mother is preparing a gift for the children.

Breakdown of Uwa tana shirya kyauta ga yara.

• ne: to be
• yaro: the child
• uwa: the mother
• kyauta: the gift
• shirya: to prepare
• ga: to

Questions & Answers about Uwa tana shirya kyauta ga yara.

What is the basic word‑for‑word breakdown of Uwa tana shirya kyauta ga yara?

• Uwa – mother
• tana – she is (3rd person feminine singular + progressive marker)
• shirya – to prepare
• kyauta – a gift / present
• ga – to / for (preposition indicating direction or recipient)
• yara – children

So the structure is: Mother – she is – preparing – a gift – for – children.

Why do we have both Uwa and tana? Isn’t that like saying “Mother she is preparing…”?

Yes, it looks redundant from an English point of view, but in Hausa this is normal.

• Uwa is the full noun subject (mother).
• tana is composed of ta (3rd person feminine singular subject pronoun, she) + na (progressive aspect marker, be doing).

In standard Hausa, when the subject is a full noun like Uwa, it is usually followed by the corresponding subject pronoun + tense/aspect marker before the verb:

• Uwa tana shirya… – The mother is preparing…
• Yaro yana wasa. – The boy is playing.
• Mutane suna magana. – People are talking.

So Uwa tana is the normal way to say The mother is… in the progressive tense.

What exactly does tana express here? Is it present tense, continuous, or something else?

tana expresses the progressive / continuous aspect in the present for a feminine singular subject.

• ta = she (3rd person feminine singular)
• na = progressive marker (is doing, is in the process of)

So tana shirya means she is preparing or she is in the process of preparing. It focuses on the action as ongoing, not just a general fact.

Compare:

• Uwa tana shirya kyauta. – The mother is (right now / currently) preparing a gift.
• Uwa ta shirya kyauta. – The mother has prepared / prepared a gift. (completed action in the past, depending on context)

Could we say Uwa na shirya kyauta ga yara instead of Uwa tana shirya kyauta ga yara?

No, that would be incorrect or at least confusing.

• tana = ta + na (she + progressive) – this is required to form the progressive verb form.

• na by itself after a noun usually marks possession or association, like X of Y:

  • uwar yaro or uwa na yaro – the boy’s mother / mother of the boy
  • gidan malam or gida na malam – the teacher’s house

So Uwa na shirya… would sound like the mother of “shirya” (nonsensical) or just be ungrammatical.
For she is preparing, you must keep tana: Uwa tana shirya…

Does Uwa mean “the mother” or “a mother”? There is no the in the sentence.

Hausa does not use separate words for “the” and “a/an” like English does. Nouns are inherently bare, and definiteness is understood from context.

• Uwa can mean a mother or the mother, depending on what the speaker and listener know.

In this sentence, Uwa tana shirya kyauta ga yara, likely meanings are:

• The mother is preparing a gift for the children (if a specific family is in mind), or
• A mother is preparing a gift for (some) children (in a more general description).

Which article you choose in English comes from the surrounding context, not from a special word in Hausa.

What does shirya literally mean? Is it only “prepare” in the sense of cooking, or more general?

shirya is a general verb meaning to prepare, to get something ready, or to arrange.

It can be used for:

• Preparing food: ta shirya abinci – she prepared food
• Preparing things/documents: sun shirya rahoto – they prepared a report
• Making arrangements / organizing: sun shirya taro – they organized a meeting

So in tana shirya kyauta, it simply means she is preparing a gift (e.g., wrapping it, choosing it, getting it ready), not necessarily cooking.

Does kyauta always mean “gift”, or can it also mean “for free” like in some West African English?

kyauta has both related uses:

1. Noun: “gift / present / donation”

   • Na samu kyauta. – I got a gift.
   • kyautar Allah – God’s gift.

2. Adverb / expression: “for free / without payment”

   • Sun ba ni shi kyauta. – They gave it to me for free.
   • Babu komai, kyauta ce. – It’s nothing, it’s free / it’s a gift.

In your sentence:

• kyauta is clearly a noun: a gift / present.

What does ga mean in kyauta ga yara, and how is it different from other prepositions like zuwa or don?

In this sentence, ga introduces the recipient: for / to (someone).

• kyauta ga yara – a gift for the children / to the children

Common uses:

• Na ba shi littafi ga ɗalibi. – I gave the book to the student.
• Sako ga mahaifinka. – A message for your father.

Differences:

• ga – often for recipient / addressee / target (for/to someone).
• zuwa – more like to/towards in a directional sense: ina tafiya zuwa gida – I am going to home.
• don / domin – for (the purpose of):
  
  • kyauta don yara – a gift for the sake of the children / intended for children (more purpose-oriented).

In everyday speech, ga is very natural for the recipient in giving or preparing for someone.

Is yara the plural of yaro? Are there many irregular plurals like this in Hausa?

Yes:

• yaro – child / boy (singular)
• yara – children (plural)

This is a broken plural pattern (the word changes internally), quite common in Hausa.

Other examples:

• ɗa – son → ’ya’ya – children / sons and daughters
• mutum – person → mutane – people
• gida – house → gidaje – houses

So ga yara = for the children.

How is word order in this sentence compared to English? Is Hausa generally Subject–Verb–Object like English?

Yes, Hausa is basically SVO, but the tense/aspect marker sits between the subject and the verb.

Structure here:

• Uwa (Subject noun)
• tana (subject pronoun + progressive marker; behaves like a tense/aspect chunk)
• shirya (Verb)
• kyauta (Direct object)
• ga yara (Prepositional phrase indicating recipient)

So: Subject – TAM (tana) – Verb – Object – Recipient phrase.

This corresponds closely to English:

• The mother is preparing a gift for the children.

If I wanted to say “The mother prepares gifts for the children every year” (habitual action), would I still use tana?

For a habitual / general present (regular, repeated action), Hausa normally uses a different tense/aspect marker, not tana.

One natural way:

• Uwa kan shirya kyautai ga yara kowace shekara.
  
  • kan – marker for habitual / usually does
  • kyautai – plural of kyauta (gifts)
  • kowace shekara – every year

Or, more simply in some contexts:

• Uwa tana shirya kyautai ga yara kowace shekara.

In conversation, tana + time expression (every year) is often used and understood as habitual, but kan is more specifically habitual in meaning.