Learn Hardcore Hausa: Gwamnati tana aiki don tsaro a gari namu. - The government works for security in our town.

So Gwamnati is naturally understood as “the government”, not just “a government,” and gari namu is clearly “our town,” not “a town of ours.”

Why is it tana and not yana here?

In Hausa, nouns have grammatical gender, and subject pronouns agree with that gender.

yana = “he is / it (masc.) is …”
tana = “she is / it (fem.) is …”

The noun gwamnati (government) is grammatically feminine, so you must use the feminine form tana, not yana:

Gwamnati tana aiki… – The government is working…

If the subject were masculine, you’d see yana instead:

Gwamna yana aiki… – The governor (masc.) is working…

Is aiki here a noun or a verb? How does “to work” work in Hausa?

Aiki is originally a noun meaning “work / job / task.”
However, Hausa often uses a noun or verbal noun after the progressive marker to express “-ing” verbs.

tana aiki = literally “she is (in a state of) work” → “she is working”
Ina aiki – “I am working”
Suna aiki – “They are working”

You will also meet the verb yi (to do), combined with aiki:

ta yi aiki – “she worked / she did work”
za ta yi aiki – “she will work / she is going to work”

So in your sentence:

tana aiki uses aiki as the “working” part of “is working.”

What exactly does don mean here, and are there alternatives?

don is a preposition that mainly means:

for
for the sake of
in order to
sometimes because of (in some contexts)

In your sentence:

don tsaro = “for security” / “for the sake of security”

Other words you might see with similar meanings:

domin – often a bit more formal, close to “in order to / so that”
saboda – usually “because (of)”

In this specific sentence, don tsaro sounds natural and idiomatic for “for security” or “for safety.”

Does tsaro mean “security” like police/military, or just “safety”?

tsaro covers a broad range:

security (police, military, border security, anti‑crime efforts)
safety / protection in general

Examples:

tsaron gari – security of the town (can imply police, vigilance, etc.)
tsaron iyali – safety/protection of the family
ji daɗin tsaro – a sense of safety/security

In don tsaro a gari namu, the most natural reading is:

“for (public) security / for keeping the town safe.”

It can include police, crime prevention, and general public safety.

Why do we use a before gari? Could we say something else for “in our town”?

a is a very common Hausa preposition meaning “in / at / on.”

a gari – in the town
a gida – at home
a makaranta – at school

So:

a gari namu = “in our town”

You can also use other locative expressions for extra nuance:

cikin gari namu – “inside our town” (a bit more “inside the town itself”)
a garinmu – same meaning as a gari namu, just a different possessive form (see next question)

In your sentence, a gari namu is perfectly fine for “in our town.”

What’s the difference between gari namu and garinmu? Do they both mean “our town”?

Both can mean “our town,” but there is a form and nuance difference.

garinmu
- gari
  - -n (linker/definiteness) + mu (our)
- Written together: garinmu
- Very common, neutral way to say “our town.”
gari namu
- gari
  - namu
- namu is an independent possessive pronoun meaning “ours / our (own)”
- Often gives a slight emphasis: our own town (as opposed to someone else’s).

So:

a garinmu – in our town (neutral)
a gari namu – in our (own) town, with a bit of emphasis on “ours”

In many everyday contexts, you will hear both, and the difference is often subtle. For a learner, you can treat them as variants of “our town.”

What is the basic word order in this sentence? Can I move the parts around?

Hausa generally uses Subject – Verb – (Objects) – Other phrases, similar to English.

Your sentence:

Gwamnati – Subject
tana aiki – Verb phrase (“is working”)
don tsaro – Purpose phrase (“for security”)
a gari namu – Place phrase (“in our town”)

So the order is:

[Subject] [Verb] [Purpose] [Place]
Gwamnati – tana aiki – don tsaro – a gari namu.

You have some flexibility in moving the last two phrases:

Gwamnati tana aiki a gari namu don tsaro.
Gwamnati tana aiki don tsaro a gari namu.

Both are understandable. The original order (don tsaro before a gari namu) slightly highlights the reason (“for security”) before specifying where it is happening.

How would you make this sentence negative: “The government is not working for security in our town”?

To negate this kind of sentence, Hausa uses ba … ba around the verb, and the progressive marker na inside tana usually disappears.

From:

Gwamnati tana aiki don tsaro a gari namu.

You can say:

Gwamnati ba ta aiki don tsaro a gari namu ba.
– The government is not working for security in our town.

Or, if the subject is already clear from context, a shorter version:

Ba ta aiki don tsaro a gari namu ba.
– It/she (the government) is not working for security in our town.

Key points:

tana aiki → ba ta aiki (ba) in the negative.
The ba at the end of the sentence is common but can sometimes be dropped in casual speech.

How would you say the same idea with a different tense, like past or future?

Starting from Gwamnati tana aiki don tsaro a gari namu:

Past: “The government worked / has worked for security in our town.”
Use a past/completive form, often with yi (“to do”):
- Gwamnati ta yi aiki don tsaro a gari namu.
Future: “The government will work for security in our town.”
Use a future marker like za ta:
- Gwamnati za ta yi aiki don tsaro a gari namu.
Habitual / general statement: “The government works (generally) for security in our town.”
You can still use tana aiki if you mean “it is (typically) at work for security,” or rephrase:
- Gwamnati tana aiki kullum don tsaro a gari namu. – The government works every day for security in our town.

So, tana aiki is specifically “is working (right now / currently / in progress),” and ta yi aiki / za ta yi aiki shift it to past or future.