Yanzu Baba yana amfani da katin banki maimakon ya riƙe kuɗi da yawa a aljihu.

Now father uses a bank card instead of carrying a lot of cash in his pocket.

Breakdown of Yanzu Baba yana amfani da katin banki maimakon ya riƙe kuɗi da yawa a aljihu.

• ne: to be
• kudi: the money
• yanzu: now
• baba: the father

Questions & Answers about Yanzu Baba yana amfani da katin banki maimakon ya riƙe kuɗi da yawa a aljihu.

In Yanzu Baba yana amfani da katin banki…, why do we have both Baba and yana? Isn’t that like saying “Dad he is using”?

In Hausa this is normal and not redundant.

• Baba is a full noun (Dad / Father) placed at the beginning as the topic: “As for Dad, …”
• yana is a conjugated pronoun + aspect marker meaning roughly “he is (doing)”.
  
  • ya = he
  • na (in this combination) = progressive aspect “-ing”
  • together: yana = “he is (in the process of)”

So Hausa often has:

• [full noun] + [pronoun+aspect] + verb
  
  • Yanzu Baba yana amfani… ≈ “Right now, Dad, he is using …” (but in English we just say “Dad is using …”)

Grammatically, you normally cannot drop the pronoun part (ya- inside yana). You can drop Baba if the subject is already known:

• Yanzu yana amfani da katin banki. – Now he is using a bank card.

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What exactly does yana amfani da mean, and why is there no ordinary verb like “yani” for “use”?