’Yar uwata tana amfani da wuƙa ta yanka danyen tumatir.

to be

Breakdown of ’Yar uwata tana amfani da wuƙa ta yanka danyen tumatir.

• ’yar uwa: the sister
• amfani da: to use
• tumatir: the tomato

Questions & Answers about ’Yar uwata tana amfani da wuƙa ta yanka danyen tumatir.

What does ’yar mean here, and why does it start with an apostrophe?

’yar is the feminine form of ɗa / ’ya (child, offspring), and in combinations like ’yar uwa it means sister / female sibling.

• 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”?