Breakdown of ’Yar uwata tana son fannin lafiya, ba fannin gwamnati ba.
Questions & Answers about ’Yar uwata tana son fannin lafiya, ba fannin gwamnati ba.
Breakdown:
- ’yar = female child, daughter, girl
- uwa = mother
- -ta (attached to uwa) = my (a special possessive form used with uwa)
So uwata literally means “my mother”.
Then:
- ’yar uwata = “the daughter of my mother” → in natural English: my sister.
This is a very common way to say “my sister” in Hausa: literally, “my mother’s daughter.”
Hausa usually shows possession by attaching a suffix to the noun, not by using a separate word like English my.
For example:
- gida = house
- gidana = my house
- uwa = mother
- uwata = my mother
So in ’yar uwata, the -ta on uwa is doing the job of English my. You don’t say uwa na for “my mother” in standard Hausa; you normally use the attached form uwata.
Hausa doesn’t have separate words for “the” or “a/an” the way English does.
Definiteness is usually understood from context or shown by structure.
- fanni = (a) field, (an) area (of study/work)
- fannin lafiya = the field of health / health-related field
The izafi (genitive/“of”) construction (fannin X) often makes the phrase feel definite in English, so we translate it with “the field of …”, but Hausa doesn’t insert any article.
tana is the 3rd person singular feminine form of the continuous/progressive aspect:
- ta = she (simple/perfective: “she did / she has done”)
- tana = she is (doing) / she (habitually) does
Structure:
- ta (she) + na (progressive marker) → tana
In this sentence, tana son fannin lafiya conveys a current or general state:
- tana son fannin lafiya ≈ “she likes the health field / she is fond of the health field.”
If you said ta so fannin lafiya, it would sound more like “she liked / she has liked the health field” (perfective, more event-like).
The verb so (“to want / to love / to like”) is stative. In Hausa, stative verbs very often use the tana / yana … pattern to express a present state that in English we use a simple present for.
- tana son X literally: “she is in a state of wanting X”
- natural English: “she likes X” or “she loves X”
So even though tana son is formally progressive, it is normally translated as a simple present (“likes, loves, wants”) because that is how we talk about stable preferences in English.
- so = to love / to like / to want (verb)
- so also has a verbal noun form (like a gerund) meaning “love / wanting.”
- In the genitive (of-) form, that becomes son (so + -n).
So:
- tana son fannin lafiya = “she is in [a state of] love/want of the health field.”
The -n on so (giving son) is the same genitive/izafi -n you see on fanni → fannin.
This is the izafi or genitive/construct construction, used to say “X of Y”.
- Base noun: fanni = field / area / branch
- In genitive before another noun: fannin = field-of
So:
- fannin lafiya = health field / field of health
- fannin gwamnati = government field / field of government
The -n (or -in) is a linker meaning roughly “of”, and the first noun often changes form slightly when you add it. You’ll see this pattern all over Hausa:
- sunan Ali = Ali’s name (name-of Ali)
- littafin Turanci = English book (book-of English)
fanni means a field, area, branch, discipline, especially in academic or professional contexts.
Examples:
- fannin likitanci = the field of medicine
- fannin kimiyya = the field of science
- fannin koyarwa = the field of teaching
- fannin tattalin arziki = the field of economics
So fannin lafiya is “the health field” (public health, health sciences, medical-related fields), and fannin gwamnati is “the government/public administration/politics field.”
Here, ba … ba is negating a noun phrase for contrast:
- fannin lafiya, ba fannin gwamnati ba
= “the health field, not the government field.”
Key points:
- ba comes before the thing being negated.
- A second ba often appears at the end of the phrase or clause, especially in careful or written Hausa: ba X ba.
In this sentence, the verb phrase tana son … is understood from the first half, so the second half is a shortened negative contrast:
- (tana son) fannin lafiya,
- ba (tana son) fannin gwamnati ba.
Only the object (the field) is overtly said; the verb is ellipted.
Yes, you can, and it is perfectly correct. The nuance is slightly different:
Original:
’Yar uwata tana son fannin lafiya, ba fannin gwamnati ba.
→ Focuses first on what she likes, then contrasts it with what she does not like. Structure: “She likes health, not government.”Alternative:
’Yar uwata ba ta son fannin gwamnati; tana son fannin lafiya.
→ Starts with what she does not like, then adds what she does like. Structure: “She doesn’t like government; she likes health.”
Both are natural; the difference is mainly in which preference you put in focus first.
Hausa verbs agree with grammatical gender of the subject:
- yana = he is (doing) / he (habitually) does
- tana = she is (doing) / she (habitually) does
Because ’yar uwata is explicitly female (“my sister”), the verb must use the feminine form:
- ’Yar uwata tana son … = My sister likes …
If you were talking about a brother, you would say:
- ’Dan uwana yana son fannin lafiya, ba fannin gwamnati ba.
= My brother likes the health field, not the government field.
In everyday usage:
- ’yar uwa literally: “female child of (the same) mother”
- Primary meaning: sister
However, ’dan uwa / ’yar uwa can sometimes be used more loosely for close relatives or cousins, especially in some regions or in less precise speech. Context usually makes the intended relationship clear.
In a simple, core sentence like this, ’yar uwata will normally be understood as “my sister”, not just any female relative.
Yes. A very common alternative uses sha’awa (“interest”) instead of so:
- ’Yar uwata tana sha’awar fannin lafiya, ba fannin gwamnati ba.
= My sister is interested in the health field, not the government field.
Compare:
- tana son fannin lafiya = she likes / prefers the health field
- tana sha’awar fannin lafiya = she is interested in / has an interest in the health field
Both are natural; son is a bit more about liking or wanting, sha’awa is more explicitly about interest.