Learn Hardcore Hausa: Ruwan zuma da gyada suna ba yara ƙarfi sosai. - Honey water and groundnuts give children a lot of strength.

ruwan – the water / liquid / juice of … (literally ruwa = water + -n “of”)
zuma – honey
da – and / with
gyada – groundnut, peanut
suna – they (are) … (3rd person plural pronoun used for present/habitual)
ba – give
yara – children (plural of yaro “child”)
ƙarfi – strength, energy, power
sosai – very, very much, a lot

So more literally: “The water/juice of honey and (of) groundnut, they give children strength very-much.”

What does ruwan zuma da gyada mean exactly? Is it just “honey and groundnut”?

Ruwan zuma da gyada is a compact Hausa way of talking about a liquid preparation made from honey and groundnuts.

ruwan = “the water / liquid / juice of”
zuma da gyada = “honey and groundnut(s)”

So ruwan zuma da gyada is best understood in natural English as something like:

“a honey-and-groundnut drink”
“a mixture/liquid made from honey and peanuts”

In many contexts, ruwa before a food word can mean “the liquid form of it” (drink, sauce, etc.), not just literal water mixed with it.

Why is it ruwan zuma, not just ruwa zuma? What does the -n do?

The -n in ruwan is the linker / genitive marker. It roughly corresponds to “of” in English and links two nouns:

ruwa = water
ruwan zuma = “water of honey” → “honey water / honey drink”

In Hausa, when a word like ruwa is followed by another noun that specifies it, you usually add this linker:

ruwan zuma – honey water / honey drink
ruwan lemo – orange drink / soda
ruwan madara – milk (lit. water of milk)

So ruwan zuma da gyada is “the drink (made) of honey and groundnut(s).”

What is the role of da in zuma da gyada?

Here da simply means “and” joining two nouns:

zuma da gyada = “honey and groundnut(s)”

So the structure is:

ruwan [zuma da gyada] = “the liquid of [honey and groundnuts].”

Keep in mind that da can also mean “with” or function as a conjunction meaning something like “when/as” in other structures, but in this sentence it’s just “and.”

Why do we have suna if the subject ruwan zuma da gyada is already there?

In Hausa, in the normal present / habitual tense you usually need a subject pronoun before the main verb, even if you already mentioned the noun phrase.

So:

Ruwan zuma da gyada suna ba yara ƙarfi sosai.
- ruwan zuma da gyada – noun phrase (honey-and-groundnut drink)
- suna – “they (are)” (3rd person plural subject pronoun)
- ba – give

This repetition is normal in Hausa and is often called a “pronoun copy” or “subject marker”:

Ali yana cin abinci. – Ali is eating food.
Yara suna wasa. – The children are playing.

Here, because ruwan zuma da gyada is thought of as a plural-like substance or items, you get the plural pronoun suna (“they”), not singular yana (“he/it”) or na.

Does suna mean present tense, like “are giving”, or habitual, like “give”?

suna marks present / ongoing / habitual aspect. Depending on context, it can be translated as:

present ongoing: “are giving”
habitual / general fact: “(generally) give”

In this sentence it’s clearly a general statement about nutrition, so a natural translation is:

“Honey-and-groundnut drink gives children a lot of strength.”
or
“Honey and groundnuts give children a lot of strength.”

English chooses simple present for that kind of general truth, but Hausa still uses suna here.

I thought ba means “not” in Hausa. Here it looks like “give”. What’s going on?

There are two different words spelled the same way ba in Hausa:

ba (verb) = to give
- Na ba yara abinci. – I gave the children food.
- suna ba yara ƙarfi sosai. – they give children a lot of strength.
ba (particle) = a negative marker, found in negative sentences like:
- Ba ni da kuɗi. – I don’t have money.
- Ba su zo ba. – They didn’t come.

You distinguish them by position and structure:

If it’s right before the recipient and followed by some noun being transferred, it’s usually the verb “give”:
- suna ba yara ƙarfi – “they give children strength”
If it’s at the very beginning and/or end of a negative clause, it’s the negative particle:
- Ba su ba yara ƙarfi ba. – They do not give children strength.

In suna ba yara ƙarfi sosai, which part is the “thing given” and which part is the “recipient”?

The usual order with ba (give) is:

giver – ba – recipient – thing given

In this sentence:

(implicit giver) = ruwan zuma da gyada (honey-and-groundnut drink)
ba = give
yara = recipient (children)
ƙarfi sosai = thing given (a lot of strength)

So literally: “(They) give children very-much strength.”
In English we more naturally say: “They give children a lot of strength / energy.”

What does ƙarfi sosai mean? Why is sosai after ƙarfi?

ƙarfi = strength, power, energy
sosai = very, very much, a lot

sosai is an intensifier. In Hausa, intensifiers like sosai usually come after the word they intensify:

gajiya sosai – very tired
ɗaci sosai – very bitter
ƙarfi sosai – a lot of strength / very strong (in terms of effect)

So ƙarfi sosai here means “a lot of strength / great strength.”

Why is there no word for “the” or “a” before yara (children)?

Hausa does not use separate words for “the” and “a/an” the way English does.

yara can be “children”, “the children”, or “some children” depending on context.
Definiteness is usually understood from the situation or expressed with demonstratives:
- yaran nan – these children
- yaran – the children (often with a genitive-like marker)

In this sentence, English adds articles to sound natural:

“…give children a lot of strength.”
You could also say “…give the children a lot of strength”, depending on context, but Hausa just says yara.

Why is yara “children”? What is the singular form?

yara is the plural form meaning “children.”
The singular is:

yaro – child (boy/child; context decides gender)

Hausa plurals are often irregular and involve internal changes, not just adding an -s like in English. A few examples:

yaro → yara – child → children
ɗa → ‘ya’ya – child/offspring → children
mutum → mutane – person → people

So yara by itself always means children (more than one child).

Could the sentence mean “Honey-and-groundnut drink are very strong children”? How do we know what ƙarfi sosai is describing?

No, in this structure ƙarfi sosai is clearly the object of “give”, not something describing yara:

suna ba [yara] [ƙarfi sosai].
- yara – indirect object (who receives)
- ƙarfi sosai – direct object (what they receive)

If Hausa wanted to say “The children are very strong”, it would look more like:

Yara suna da ƙarfi sosai. – The children are very strong / have a lot of strength.

So in the original sentence, the structure firmly tells us that strength is what is being given to the children.

How do you pronounce the letter ƙ in ƙarfi? Is it the same as k?

The letter ƙ represents a different sound from plain k in Hausa:

k – an ordinary voiceless “k” sound (like in English “coat”).
ƙ – an ejective k, produced with a kind of “popping” sound in the throat.

To an English speaker, ƙ can sound similar to a strong k pronounced with more tension and a slight glottal “kick.” Even if you don’t get it perfect, people will usually understand you, but Hausa does distinguish words with k and ƙ:

kasa – ground / earth
ƙasa – country / nation

So ƙarfi should ideally be pronounced with that ejective ƙ, not the plain k.