Learn Hardcore Hausa: Ni na yi aiki tsawon rana, shi ya sa ina jin gajiya sosai. - I worked all day, that’s why I feel very tired.

ni = the independent pronoun “I”, used for emphasis or contrast.
na (before a verb) = the perfective marker for 1st person singular (“I did / I have done”).

So Na yi aiki tsawon rana = “I worked all day” (neutral).

Ni na yi aiki tsawon rana = “I worked all day (not someone else)” or “It was me that worked all day.”

The ni … na … structure puts a special focus on who did the action.

Is Na yi aiki tsawon rana still correct, and what is the difference in meaning?

Yes, Na yi aiki tsawon rana is completely correct.

Na yi aiki tsawon rana – simple statement: “I worked all day.”
Ni na yi aiki tsawon rana – adds focus on the subject: “I worked all day,” often implying contrast, like:
- “Others rested, I worked all day.”
- “Don’t blame him, I am the one who worked all day.”

So it’s mostly a difference in emphasis, not in basic meaning.

Why is it na yi aiki and not ina aiki if the work lasted all day?

In Hausa:

na yi = perfective aspect → a completed action (“I worked / I did work”).
ina … = progressive / continuous → an ongoing action (“I am working / I’m in the middle of working”).

In the sentence, the speaker is describing a finished activity earlier that day, so na yi aiki tsawon rana = “I worked all day (it’s done now).”

If you said Ina aiki tsawon rana, you would usually need a time frame like:

Ina aiki tsawon rana yau. – “I am working all day today.” That sounds more like a plan / schedule or something still in progress.

What does tsawon rana literally mean, and how does it work?

tsawo = “length”
tsawon = “the length of …” (with a following noun)
rana = “day”

So tsawon rana literally = “the length of the day,” i.e. “for the whole day / all day long.”

Structure:

tsawon
- time word → “for the length of X / for X (a long time)”
  - tsawon rana – all day
  - tsawon mako – all week / for a week
  - tsawon wata – all month / for a month

Can I say duk rana instead of tsawon rana?

Yes, you can.

duk rana = “the whole day / all day”
tsawon rana = “for the length of the day / all day long”

Both are natural. Roughly:

Na yi aiki duk rana.
Na yi aiki tsawon rana.

In many contexts they are interchangeable. Tsawon rana can sound a bit more like duration, while duk rana is more like every part of the day, but in everyday speech, both work fine for “all day.”

What exactly does shi ya sa mean word-for-word?

Breakdown:

shi = “he/it” (3rd person singular masculine pronoun, often used in a neutral way for “it”)
ya = “he/it (3rd person singular) – subject marker before the verb”
sa = “to put, to cause, to make”

Literally, something like:

shi ya sa ≈ “it is it that caused (it)” / “that is what caused (it).”

In practice, it’s a fixed expression meaning:

“that’s why” / “for that reason” / “because of that.”

So:

Ni na yi aiki tsawon rana, shi ya sa ina jin gajiya sosai.
→ “I worked all day, that’s why I feel very tired.”

Could I replace shi ya sa with saboda haka or don haka?

Yes, very often you can.

shi ya sa – “that’s why / that is what caused it”
saboda haka – “because of that / therefore”
don haka – similar to saboda haka, “so / therefore”

Examples:

Na yi aiki tsawon rana, shi ya sa ina jin gajiya sosai.
Na yi aiki tsawon rana, saboda haka ina jin gajiya sosai.
Na yi aiki tsawon rana, don haka ina jin gajiya sosai.

All three are acceptable. Shi ya sa feels slightly more colloquial and tied directly to the previous statement as its cause.

Why is ina jin gajiya used instead of just ina gajiya?

Hausa often expresses physical and emotional states using the verb ji (“to feel, sense, hear”) and its verbal noun jin.

Pattern:

ina jin + [noun]

Common examples:

Ina jin gajiya. – I feel tired.
Ina jin ƙishirwa. – I feel thirsty.
Ina jin yunwa. – I feel hungry.
Ina jin zafi. – I feel pain / I feel hot.
Ina jin daɗi. – I feel good / I enjoy it.

So Ina jin gajiya sosai literally is “I am feeling tiredness a lot,” which corresponds to “I feel very tired.”

You might hear Ina gajiya, but Ina jin gajiya is more idiomatic for “I feel tired.”

Could I say Na gaji sosai instead of Ina jin gajiya sosai? Is there a difference?

You can say both, but there is a nuance:

Ina jin gajiya sosai.
→ “I feel very tired.” (describing your current state)
Na gaji sosai.
→ “I (have) become very tired / I got very tired.”
This focuses more on the change/result: you have reached a state of tiredness, often right after some effort.

In many everyday situations they overlap, but:

For calmly stating how you feel now, Ina jin gajiya sosai is very natural.
To emphasize that the activity really exhausted you, Na gaji sosai also works well, often with a bit more punch.

Why is the first part in the past (na yi aiki) but the second part in the present (ina jin gajiya)?

This is a natural cause–result structure:

Na yi aiki tsawon rana – past, completed action: “I worked all day.”
Ina jin gajiya sosai – present/progressive state: “I am (now) feeling very tired.”

Hausa, like English, often uses:

past action
- present state that results from it.

Compare:

English: “I worked all day, that’s why I’m very tired.”
Hausa: Na yi aiki tsawon rana, shi ya sa ina jin gajiya sosai.

Where should sosai go in the sentence? Can I move it?

In the given sentence, sosai comes after the phrase it modifies:

Ina jin gajiya sosai. – “I feel very tired.”

Other correct options to add emphasis:

Sosai nake jin gajiya. – “I’m very tired indeed.” (stronger fronted emphasis)
Ina jin gajiya ƙwarai. – another intensifier, “very / extremely.”

But *Ina sosai jin gajiya is not natural. Generally:

Put sosai at the end of the clause or after the state you’re intensifying.

Why do we keep shi in shi ya sa? Could we just say ya sa?

You will hear shi ya sa much more as a fixed connector, almost like one word meaning “that’s why.”

Technically:

ya sa = “he/it caused (it)” and would usually need a clear subject before it:
- Aikinsa ya sa na gaji. – “His work made me tired.”

But when you want the generic “that’s why / for that reason” referring to the whole previous sentence, Hausa normally uses:

Shi ya sa …

So:

Na yi aiki tsawon rana, shi ya sa ina jin gajiya sosai. – natural.
Na yi aiki tsawon rana, ya sa ina jin gajiya sosai. – feels incomplete/odd to most speakers.