Learn Hardcore Hausa: ’Yar uwata tana amfani da wuƙa ta yanka danyen tumatir. - My sister uses a knife to cut raw tomatoes.

The apostrophe marks a glottal stop that is part of the word. In many learning materials it’s written as ’yar to show that the vowel starts with a slight catch in the throat.
So ’yar uwa is literally daughter of (the) mother, which is how Hausa expresses sister.
In this sentence ’Yar uwata = my sister (female sibling).

What does ’yar uwata literally mean, and how does it end up meaning my sister?

Breakdown:

’yar = daughter / female child
uwa = mother
uwa + ta = uwata = my mother
(the suffix -ta here marks possession with a feminine noun)

So ’yar uwata = daughter of my mother.
In normal English we just say my sister, but Hausa keeps the literal kinship expression.

Note: ’yar uwata does not say whether she’s older or younger; it simply means “my (female) sibling.”

Why is it uwata and not something like uwana for “my mother”?

In Hausa, the possessive suffix agrees with the grammatical gender of the possessed noun, not with the speaker:

Masculine noun + -na → gidana (my house)
Feminine noun + -ta → motata (my car), uwata (my mother)

Uwa (mother) is grammatically feminine, so it takes -ta:
uwa + ta → uwata = my mother.

What is the function of tana in tana amfani da wuƙa?

tana is:

ta = she (3rd person feminine)
na (here fused) = progressive aspect marker (“be doing”)

Together tana = she is (in the process of) ….

So ’Yar uwata tana amfani da wuƙa = My sister is using a knife (ongoing / right now or in a current situation), not just “uses a knife” in a general habitual sense.

What does amfani da mean, and why don’t we see the verb yi (“to do”) here?

amfani = use, benefit
The idiomatic expression yin amfani da X = to make use of X / to use X.

In the progressive, Hausa often drops explicit yi:

Full form: tana yin amfani da wuƙa
Common spoken form: tana amfani da wuƙa

Both mean she is using a knife. So amfani da by itself is understood as part of the fixed phrase yin amfani da … (“to use …”).

Why is there another ta in wuƙa ta yanka if we already have tana before?

Here the sentence has two verbs that share the same subject (“my sister”):

tana amfani da wuƙa – she is using a knife
ta yanka danyen tumatir – she is cutting raw tomato

Hausa normally repeats the subject pronoun for each verb, so you get:

’Yar uwata tana amfani da wuƙa ta yanka danyen tumatir
= My sister is using a knife to cut raw tomato.

You cannot just say … da wuƙa yanka danyen tumatir without ta, because yanka needs a subject marker (ta) in a normal finite clause. The repeated ta makes the second verb clause complete.

Is ta yanka here past tense (“she cut”), or does it really mean “to cut”?

Formally, ta yanka is the perfective of “she cuts / she cut”. But Hausa frequently uses a perfective clause after another verb to express purpose or result, which in English we translate with “to …”:

tana amfani da wuƙa ta yanka danyen tumatir
literally: “she is using a knife, she cut(s) raw tomato”
functionally: “she is using a knife to cut raw tomato”

So in context you should understand ta yanka as expressing purpose (“in order to cut”), not a finished past action.

What does wuƙa mean, and why doesn’t it have any ending like -r or -n?

wuƙa = knife (a knife).

Hausa often marks definiteness with a suffix:

wuƙa = a knife (indefinite)
wuƙar / wuƙar nan = the knife / this knife (definite, with a demonstrative or in context)

In this sentence the knife is not previously known or specific; it’s just “a knife”, so plain wuƙa is used with no definite ending.

How does danyen tumatir work grammatically? Why danyen, not just danye or danye tumatir?

The adjective is danye = raw, unripe, fresh (not cooked).

Hausa adjectives have a special attributive form when they stand before the noun. For danye, the attributive is danyen:

tumatir danye = the tomato is raw / a tomato that is raw (noun + adjective after it)
danyen tumatir = raw tomato (adjective in front, attributive form)

So in danyen tumatir:

danyen is the attributive form of danye
tumatir is the noun “tomato”

Together: danyen tumatir = raw tomato.

Can the adjective come after the noun instead, like tumatir danye?

Yes, but the nuance is slightly different:

danyen tumatir is like English raw tomato (as a descriptive phrase, often used when you’re talking about the type of tomato you’re dealing with).
tumatir danye ne (with a copula like ne / ce) is more like the tomato is raw, describing its state.

In many practical contexts they overlap in meaning, but:

danyen tumatir = a raw tomato (as an item you’re cutting, buying, cooking with)
tumatir danye ne = the tomato is (in a raw state).

What exactly does danyen mean? Is it only “raw”, or also “unripe/green”?

danye (attributive danyen) can mean:

raw, not cooked – e.g. danyen nama (raw meat)
unripe / green – e.g. ayaba danye (unripe banana)

So danyen tumatir can be understood either as:

tomato that is raw (not cooked), or
tomato that is still unripe (depending on context).

In a cooking/food-preparation sentence like this, learners usually interpret it as raw (uncooked) tomato.

Is tumatir singular or plural here? How do you say “tomatoes” in Hausa?

In everyday Hausa, tumatir often works like an uncountable or mass noun, and the same form is used for “tomato” and “tomatoes”, especially when talking about food preparation.

danyen tumatir = raw tomato / raw tomatoes (context decides)
You may see plurals like tumatirai or tumatirori in some varieties or careful speech, but in many contexts speakers simply say tumatir for both.

So the sentence can naturally be understood as cutting raw tomato or cutting raw tomatoes.

Is there a more straightforward way to say “My sister is using a knife to cut raw tomato” in Hausa?

A very natural alternative is to put the instrument (wuƙa) at the end with da:

’Yar uwata tana yankan danyen tumatir da wuƙa.

Here:

tana yankan danyen tumatir = she is cutting raw tomato (progressive with verbal noun yankan)
da wuƙa = with a knife

Both your original sentence and this alternative are understandable, but many speakers would find this version especially idiomatic for “is using a knife to cut raw tomato.”