Learn Hardcore Hausa: Ni ina jin daɗi sosai a cikin gida.

Ni is an independent (stressable) pronoun “I / me.”
Ina is a subject–aspect form meaning roughly “I am (doing).” The -na part shows the subject “I.”

So Ni ina… is literally like saying “Me, I am…”
You use both when you want extra emphasis on the subject, for example to contrast with others:

Ni ina jin daɗi sosai a cikin gida.
Me, I feel very good at home (even if others don’t).

In ordinary, neutral speech you can usually just say:

Ina jin daɗi sosai a cikin gida.
I feel very good at home.

Can I drop Ni and only say Ina jin daɗi sosai a cikin gida?

Yes. Ina jin daɗi sosai a cikin gida is fully correct and actually more common in everyday speech.

With Ni: more emphasis on I (contrast, focus, emotion).
Without Ni: plain statement, “I feel very good at home.”

What does jin daɗi literally mean, and why is it used for “feeling good / enjoying”?

Literally:

ji = to hear, feel, sense
jin = the verbal noun/“-ing” form → “feeling”
daɗi = pleasantness, sweetness, pleasure, comfort

So jin daɗi is literally “feeling pleasantness.”
Idiomatically it covers several ideas in English, depending on context:

“to feel good / comfortable”
“to enjoy (something)”
“to be happy / pleased”

In your sentence it’s something like “I feel very comfortable / I really enjoy being at home.”

Why is it jin daɗi and not ji daɗi? What’s the function of -n?

jin is the verbal noun (sometimes called the “-ing” or gerund form) of ji “to feel; to hear.”

Many Hausa verbs have a special form used before objects:

ji → jin (feel(ing), hear(ing))
sha → shan (drink(ing))
ci → cin (eat(ing))

When ji comes right before its object daɗi, it usually appears as jin:

Ina jin daɗi. – I feel good.
Ina jin zafi. – I feel pain / it hurts.

So jin + daɗi is “the feeling of pleasantness.”

What exactly does sosai mean? Is it the same as “very”?

sosai is an intensifier. In this sentence it’s close to “very” or “really.”

Ina jin daɗi. – I feel good.
Ina jin daɗi sosai. – I feel very good / I feel really good.

Other common intensifiers are matuƙa, ƙwarai, but sosai is very frequent and quite neutral in tone.

Where does sosai usually go in the sentence? Can I move it around?

The most natural place is after the verb phrase it’s intensifying:

Ina jin daɗi sosai a cikin gida.
I feel very good at home.

You might hear it in other positions, but some are awkward or emphatic in unusual ways. For a learner, keep:

[subject + ina
- jin daɗi
  - sosai
    - (place/time)]

So: Ina jin daɗi sosai a cikin gida is the best pattern to copy.

What’s the difference between a cikin gida and just a gida?

Both involve the preposition a (“in / at / on”), but:

a gida → “at home / at the house” (more general location)
a cikin gida → “inside the house / inside (the) home” (emphasizes the interior)

So:

Ina jin daɗi a gida. – I feel good at home (general).
Ina jin daɗi sosai a cikin gida. – I feel very good inside the house/home (more about the inside space, being indoors).

Does gida mean “house” or “home”?

gida can mean both, depending on context:

house / building: a physical structure
home: the place you live, emotionally and socially

In many everyday sentences, bare gida functions like English “home”:

Zan tafi gida. – I’m going home.
Ina gida. – I’m at home.

So here, a cikin gida is most naturally understood as “at home / in the house.”

Is ina like the English verb “am”? Does it always show the present tense?

ina is part of a set of continuous / progressive forms:

ina – I am (doing)
kana / kina – you (m/f sg) are (doing)
yana / tana – he / she is (doing)
muna – we are (doing)
kuna – you (pl) are (doing)
suna – they are (doing)

With most verbs, it means something like “am/are/is V‑ing” or a current/habitual state:

Ina cin abinci. – I am eating / I eat (now).
Ina jin daɗi. – I (am) feel(ing) good / I feel good.

So yes, ina marks a present, ongoing or current state here, similar to English “am” + -ing, but the usage is a bit broader and can cover simple present in many contexts.

How would I say this in the past tense, like “I felt very good at home”?

Use the perfect/past subject form na with ji:

Na ji daɗi sosai a cikin gida.
I felt very good at home. / I really enjoyed being at home.

Compare:

Ina jin daɗi sosai a cikin gida. – I (am) feel(ing) very good at home (now / generally).
Na ji daɗi sosai a cikin gida. – I felt very good at home (then / on that occasion).

How would I make the sentence negative, like “I don’t feel very good at home”?

One common negative pattern with jin daɗi is:

Ba ni jin daɗi sosai a cikin gida ba.
I don’t feel very good at home.

Structure:

Ba ni… ba → negative around the clause
jin daɗi → feeling good
sosai → very
a cikin gida → at home / inside the house

So you literally have: “It is not I who is feeling very good at home.”

How is the sound ɗ in daɗi pronounced? Is it different from a normal d?

Yes, ɗ is a different consonant from plain d in Hausa.

d: a regular /d/ like English “dog.”
ɗ: an implosive d; you pull a bit of air inward as you pronounce it. It’s written with a dot below: ɗ.

In many learning materials you’ll see the dot, and it’s important because it can change meaning. So daɗi is not spelled dadi in standard orthography; it’s daɗi with that special consonant.

Does this sentence change if the speaker is female instead of male?

No. The whole sentence:

Ni ina jin daɗi sosai a cikin gida.

is the same whether the speaker is male or female. Hausa doesn’t change pronouns or verb forms for speaker gender in the first person.