Breakdown of Ni ina da buri in yi aiki a fannin lafiya.
Questions & Answers about Ni ina da buri in yi aiki a fannin lafiya.
They are both related to “I”, but they play different roles.
- Ni is the independent pronoun meaning “I / me”. It’s mainly used for emphasis or as a topic: “Me, I…”
- ina is a verb form meaning “I am” (progressive/habitual), and in the pattern ina da it gives the meaning “I have”.
So:
- Ni ina da buri… ≈ “Me, I have an ambition…” (emphasizing the subject “I”)
- Ina da buri… ≈ “I have an ambition…” (neutral)
You don’t need Ni here; it just adds emphasis: “As for me, I have a dream…”
Yes, absolutely—and that’s actually the more common, neutral way to say it.
- Ni ina da buri… – sounds a bit more emphatic: “Me, I have an ambition to…”
- Ina da buri… – simple statement: “I have an ambition to…”
Both are correct; dropping Ni does not change the basic meaning, only the emphasis.
Hausa usually expresses possession using a structure that literally means “be with”:
- ina da = “I am with” → idiomatically “I have”
- kana da = “you (m.sg.) are with” → “you have”
- yana da = “he is with” → “he has”
- muna da = “we have”, etc.
So in your sentence:
- Ina da buri… = “I have an ambition…”
The word da here is the same da that often means “with/and” in other contexts.
Buri means something like:
- ambition
- life goal
- serious wish / dream
It usually implies something important and long-term, not a casual wish. Some rough comparisons:
- so – liking/wanting (more general: “Ina so in yi aiki…” = “I’d like to work…”)
- fata – hope (“Ina fata in yi aiki…” = “I hope to work…”)
- sha’awa – interest, attraction (“Ina da sha’awar aiki a fannin lafiya” = “I’m interested in working in health”)
- buri – ambition / serious aspiration (“Ina da buri in yi aiki…” = “I have the ambition / dream of working…”)
So buri is relatively strong, closer to “life goal” or “serious dream” than to a light “I’d like to…”.
in yi is a subjunctive form and it includes the meaning of “I” inside it.
- in here is a subjunctive marker for 1st person singular (≈ “that I should…” / “for me to…”).
- yi is the base form of the verb “do”.
Together:
- in yi ≈ “(that) I do” / “for me to do”
In your sentence:
- buri in yi aiki… ≈ “an ambition that I should work…” or “a dream to work…”
You cannot normally just say buri yi aiki; you need something like:
- buri in yi aiki (clause: “ambition that I should work”)
- or buri na yin aiki (noun phrase: “ambition of working”)
Hausa in can indeed mean “if/when” in many contexts, but here it’s functioning differently:
Conditional “in” = if/when
- In na tafi, zan kira ka. – If I go, I’ll call you.
Subjunctive “in” with no explicit pronoun (as in your sentence):
- Ina da buri in yi aiki… – I have an ambition to work…
Here, in is acting as a subjunctive marker meaning roughly “that I (should)”. It does not mean “if” in this sentence.
Also note:
- in na yi usually starts a conditional: “if I do…”
- in yi (without na) after verbs like so, buri, shirin… is typically a purpose/intention: “to do / that I should do”
Yes—yi aiki together means “to work”.
- yi = “do, make”
- aiki = “work” (as a noun)
Hausa often uses yi + a noun to express actions that in English are just simple verbs:
- yi aiki – do work → to work
- yi tafiya – do a journey → to travel
- yi magana – do speech → to speak / talk
So in your sentence:
- in yi aiki ≈ “to work” / “that I should work”
Breakdown:
- a – preposition meaning “in, at, on”
- fanni – field, area, sector, domain (often academic/professional)
- fannin lafiya – “the field of health” (fannin is the genitive/linked form of fanni)
- lafiya – health, wellbeing
So a fannin lafiya literally means:
“in the field/sector of health”
In natural English: “in the health field / in healthcare / in the health sector.”
No, a lafiya would not mean the same thing:
- a fannin lafiya – in the health field / health sector / health domain
- lafiya by itself is more like “health, wellbeing, being fine”
a lafiya is more likely to be understood as “in (a state of) health / in good health”, not “in the health field as a profession.”
To express “in the health field,” you need a “field/area” word, for example:
- a fannin lafiya – in the field of health
- a bangaren lafiya – in the area/section of health
- a harkar lafiya – in the business/affairs of health
- a fannin kiwon lafiya – in the field of healthcare (more specifically medical care)
You can use so (“to like/want”) instead of buri:
- Ina so in yi aiki a fannin lafiya.
= “I would like to work in the health field.” / “I want to work in the health field.”
Compare:
- Ina da buri in yi aiki a fannin lafiya. – I have the ambition/dream of working…
- Ina so in yi aiki a fannin lafiya. – I want/would like to work… (less heavy, more everyday)
Use the negative possession pattern ba … da:
- Ba ni da buri in yi aiki a fannin lafiya.
= “I don’t have the ambition to work in the health field.”
Structure:
- Ba ni da… – I do not have…
- buri in yi aiki a fannin lafiya – an ambition to work in the health field
Spoken Hausa often writes this as “Bani da…”, but the clearer, more standard form is “Ba ni da…” in careful writing.
Yes, a very natural variant is to make buri explicitly possessive and use a verbal noun:
- Burina shi ne in yi aiki a fannin lafiya.
= “My ambition is to work in the health field.”
Or:
- Buri na shi ne yin aiki a fannin lafiya.
= “My ambition is (the) working in the health field.”
Notes:
- burina / buri na – “my ambition” (possessive)
- shi ne – a copular structure: “it is”
- in yi aiki – “that I (should) work”
- yin aiki – “working” (verbal noun form)
All of these are natural; your original sentence is just a simpler, very common pattern.