Learn Hardcore Hausa: Injiniya tana aiki a fannin gina gidaje, tana da tasiri a garinmu. - An engineer works in the field of building houses and has an impact in our town.

an action happening right now:
- Injiniya tana aiki. = The engineer is working (now).
a habitual action:
- Injiniya tana aiki a fannin gina gidaje. = The engineer works in the field of house construction.

So you choose “she works” or “she is working” in English based on the wider context, not from grammar alone.

How is tana formed, and why is it feminine?

Tana is a combination of:

ta – 3rd person singular feminine subject pronoun (she), and
-na – the imperfective marker (ongoing / habitual aspect).

So ta + na → tana = “she (is) …-ing / she usually …”.

Compare with other forms:

yana aiki – he is working / he works
ina aiki – I am working / I work
suna aiki – they are working / they work

The t- at the start signals feminine singular here.

Why is Injiniya treated as feminine here? Does the word itself change for male vs female engineers?

The word injiniya itself does not change for gender; it can refer to an engineer of any gender.

You know it is feminine here because the verb is tana (feminine), not yana (masculine):

Injiniya tana aiki… → The (female) engineer works…
Injiniya yana aiki… → The (male) engineer works…

So in this sentence, Injiniya is understood as a woman because of the verb agreement, not because the noun shape is different.

What does a fannin mean literally, and how is fanni used?

a = in / at / on (a general locative preposition).
fanni = side, area, field, domain (e.g. field of study, line of work).
a fannin … = “in the field of …” / “in the area of …”.

So a fannin gina gidaje is literally “in the field of building houses”.

You’ll often see a fannin with areas of expertise:

a fannin likitanci – in the field of medicine
a fannin ilimi – in the field of education
a fannin kasuwanci – in the field of business

What exactly is the structure of a fannin gina gidaje? Which word depends on which?

The phrase breaks down like this:

a – preposition: in / at
fannin – “field, area” (here in a linking/genitive form)
gina – verbal noun: building, construction (the activity)
gidaje – houses (plural)

So:

fannin gina gidaje = the field of building houses
- fannin (field)
  - gina gidaje (building houses) explains what kind of field.

Overall: a [fannin [gina [gidaje]]] → in the field of building houses.

What is gina here – a verb or a noun? Why not use gini?

In a fannin gina gidaje, gina is a verbal noun (a noun formed from a verb), meaning “building / constructing” as an activity.

gina (as a verb) – to build
gina (as a verbal noun) – building (the act of building)
gini – a building, a structure (the thing that has been built)

So:

a fannin gina gidaje – in the field of building houses (focus on the process / profession)
gini would focus more on the physical building, not the activity or field, so gini gidaje here would be odd.

Why is gidaje (houses) plural here instead of singular gida (house)?

Hausa often uses the indefinite plural to talk about activities or professions in a general way:

a fannin gina gidaje – in the field of building houses (in general)
→ not one specific house, but the kind of work she does.

Using singular gida would sound like building one particular house. Plural gidaje fits the idea of house construction as a line of work.

How is the plural gidaje formed from gida?

The singular is:

gida – house, home

The common plural is:

gidaje – houses

Pattern-wise:

The final -a often changes to -aje in this class:
- gida → gidaje
- (another example of a similar pattern is doka → dokoki, but that uses a different plural suffix; Hausa has several plural patterns.)

So when you see gidaje, you should recognise it as the plural of gida.

What does tana da tasiri literally mean, and how does da express “have”?

Literally:

tana – she is (in imperfective form)
da – with
tasiri – influence, impact

So tana da tasiri is literally “she is with influence”, which in Hausa is the normal way to say “she has influence / she is influential.”

This da is very common for possession:

Ina da kudi. – I have money.
Suna da mota. – They have a car.
Muna da lokaci. – We have time.

What does tasiri mean here? Is it like “influence”, “power”, or “impact”?

Tasiri covers several related ideas:

influence – social or political influence
impact / effect – the effect something has on people or a situation

In tana da tasiri a garinmu, the most natural translation is:

She has influence in our town.
or She is influential in our town.

It implies people know her, respect her, and her actions or opinions affect the community.

How is garinmu formed? Why garin- instead of just gari mu?

Breakdown:

gari – town, city (or settlement)
-n – linking/possessive ending (often written as -n / -r on nouns)
mu – we / our (possessive pronoun here)

So:

gari + -n + mu → garinmu = “our town”

In Hausa, you usually can’t just put two nouns side by side for possession; you use this linker:

gidanmu – our house (gida + -n + mu)
motar su – their car (mota + -r + su)
sunansa – his name (suna + -n + sa)

So garinmu is the standard possessed form of gari.

Why is tana repeated in the second part (…, tana da tasiri a garinmu) instead of just saying …, da tasiri a garinmu?

Repeating tana starts a new clause and makes the sentence clearer and more natural:

Injiniya tana aiki …, tana da tasiri …
- Clause 1: The engineer works …
- Clause 2: She has influence …

If you said only …, da tasiri a garinmu, it would sound incomplete or like “…, with influence in our town” attached to the first verb, which is less clear.

You can also make the link even more explicit with kuma:

Injiniya tana aiki a fannin gina gidaje, kuma tana da tasiri a garinmu.
→ The engineer works in the field of building houses, and she has influence in our town.