Learn Hardcore Hausa: A lokacin azumi yara suna sha ruwan zuma bayan rana ta faɗi. - During the fasting period the children drink honey water after the sun has set.

A – preposition meaning “in / at / during / on” (here: during / at the time of).
lokacin – “time (of)”. Base noun is lokaci (time), and the final -n is a linker showing it’s followed by something that defines it (“time of …”).
azumi – “fasting / a fast” (usually religious fasting, often Ramadan in context).
- a lokacin azumi = “during the time of fasting” / “during the fast”
yara – “children” (plural of yaro “child”).
suna – plural subject marker for “they are …” in the present/progressive.
sha – verb “to drink” (also “to smoke / to consume” depending on context).
- yara suna sha = “the children are drinking / the children drink”
ruwan – “water of …” / “water (linked to another noun)”. Base noun is ruwa (water); -n links it to zuma.
zuma – “honey”.
- ruwan zuma = “honey water / water with honey” (literally “water of honey”).
bayan – preposition “after” (also “behind” in other contexts).
rana – “sun” (also “day” in other contexts).
ta – 3rd person singular feminine subject pronoun “she/it”; agrees with rana, which is grammatically feminine.
faɗi – verb “to fall / to go down”; with rana, it means “the sun set / went down”.
- rana ta faɗi = “the sun has set / the sun went down”

So structurally:

A lokacin azumi – during the fast
yara suna sha ruwan zuma – children drink honey water
bayan rana ta faɗi – after the sun has set

What does “A” in “A lokacin azumi” mean, and is it always necessary?

A is a preposition roughly meaning “in / at / on / during”.

In this sentence, A lokacin azumi = “During the time of fasting / During the fast”.
It’s very natural here and sounds like standard Hausa.

You can sometimes drop A and say just:

Lokacin azumi yara suna sha… – “(In) the fasting period, the children drink…”

That’s also grammatical. Using A makes it sound more explicitly like “at the time of … / during …”, but both forms are common.

Why is it “lokacin” and not just “lokaci”?

The base noun is:

lokaci – time

When Hausa links one noun to another (like “time of X”), it often adds a linker -n / -r to the first noun:

lokaci + -n = lokacin – “time of …”

Then it’s followed by the defining noun:

lokacin azumi – “time of fasting / fasting time”

So:

lokaci = “time” (by itself)
lokacin azumi = “time of fasting, fasting period”

What exactly is “azumi”? Does it mean specifically Ramadan, or any kind of fast?

Azumi means “fasting / a fast” as a noun, usually religious fasting.

In many Hausa-speaking contexts, if you say azumi without more detail, people will first think of Ramadan (Muslim month of fasting), because that’s the most common fast.
But azumi itself is not limited to Ramadan. It can refer to:
- Any religious fast (Islamic voluntary fasts, Christian fasting, etc.)
- Fasting in a more general sense, if the context makes that clear.

If you want to be explicit that it’s Ramadan, you can say:

azumin Ramadana – the fast of Ramadan
a lokacin azumin Ramadana – during the time of the Ramadan fast

What does “suna” mean in “yara suna sha”? Is that like “they are” in English?

Yes. Suna is the 3rd person plural continuous/present marker:

su = “they”
-na (here as part of suna) is used for the progressive / ongoing aspect.

So:

yara suna sha = “the children are drinking”
It can also express habitual action: “the children drink (regularly / usually)”, depending on context.

Other forms in the same pattern:

ina sha – I am drinking
kana sha – you (m.sg.) are drinking
yana sha – he is drinking
tana sha – she is drinking
muna sha – we are drinking
kuna sha – you (pl.) are drinking
suna sha – they are drinking

Could this also be “yara suna shan ruwan zuma”? What’s the difference between “sha” and “shan” here?

Yes, you can say:

Yara suna sha ruwan zuma.
Yara suna shan ruwan zuma.

Both are understood and used.

The difference is structural:

sha is the finite verb “to drink”.
- suna sha ruwan zuma = “they are drinking honey water”.
shan is the verbal noun
- linker -n:
  - suna shan ruwan zuma = literally “they are (in) the drinking of honey water”.

In practice:

Everyday speech: both forms are very common.
Textbook / “more formal” grammar often highlights auxiliary + verbal noun:
- suna shan ruwa, ina cin abinci, muna yin aiki, etc.

So your sentence with sha is fine and natural, and shan would also be perfectly correct.

Why is it “ruwan zuma” instead of just “ruwa zuma”?

Again, this is the linker -n at work.

ruwa – “water”
ruwa + -n = ruwan – “water of … / water (linked to another noun)”
zuma – “honey”

So:

ruwan zuma = “water of honey” → honey water / water with honey

Without the -n, ruwa zuma would sound wrong or at least incomplete. When two nouns form a tight possessive/“of” relationship like this, Hausa normally puts -n / -r on the first noun:

ruwan sanyi – cold water
gidan malam – the teacher’s house (gida + -n)
lokacin azumi – time of fasting (lokaci + -n)

Could I say “ruwa mai zuma” instead of “ruwan zuma”? Would that sound different?

You could say ruwa mai zuma, but it sounds a bit unusual or more descriptive, like:

ruwa mai zuma – “water that has honey / water with honey”

Grammatically:

mai is a particle roughly meaning “that has / that possesses / with”.
It’s often used like:
- gida mai bene – a house that has an upstairs / storey
- mota mai sauri – a fast car (car that has speed)

For honey water as a simple noun phrase, ruwan zuma is shorter and more idiomatic.

So:

ruwan zuma – the normal, compact way to say “honey water”.
ruwa mai zuma – understandable, but feels more like “water which has honey in it” as a description.

What does “bayan” mean in “bayan rana ta faɗi”? Does it only mean “after”?

Bayan is a preposition that can mean:

“after (in time)”, e.g.
- bayan rana ta faɗi – after the sun has set
- bayan karatu – after the reading / after study
“behind (in space)”, e.g.
- bayan gida – behind the house
- ya tsaya a bayana – he stood behind me

In your sentence, the meaning is clearly “after” because it refers to an event (the sun setting) and fits the time context of fasting.

In “rana ta faɗi”, what is “ta” doing? Why not just say “rana faɗi”?

In Hausa, many clauses need a subject pronoun before the verb, even if the subject noun is already mentioned.

rana – “sun”
ta – 3rd person singular feminine subject pronoun (“she / it”), agreeing with rana
faɗi – “to fall / go down”

So:

rana ta faɗi – literally “the sun, it fell” → “the sun set”

You cannot normally drop ta and say rana faɗi; that would be ungrammatical.

The pattern is:

mutum ya tafi – the man went
mace ta tafi – the woman went
rana ta faɗi – the sun set
yara sun tafi – the children have gone

The pronoun (ya, ta, sun, etc.) is part of the clause structure, not optional decoration.

Why is “rana” treated as feminine (“ta faɗi”)?

In Hausa, nouns belong to gender classes (broadly “masculine” and “feminine”), and the verb pronouns agree with the noun’s grammatical gender, not necessarily biological sex.

rana (sun / day) is grammatically feminine, so you use ta:
- rana ta fito – the sun has come out
- rana ta faɗi – the sun has set

Some other feminine nouns you’ll see with ta:

mace ta zo – the woman came
ƙofa ta buɗe – the door opened
ƙasa ta motsa – the earth moved

Masculine nouns take ya:

mutum ya zo – the man came
gida ya rushe – the house collapsed

So ta is simply agreeing with the grammatical gender of rana.

Does “faɗi” here just mean “fall”? How does that end up meaning “the sun set”?

Yes, the core meaning of faɗi is “to fall / to go down / to drop”.

When used with rana (“sun”), rana ta faɗi is the normal idiomatic way to say:

“the sun has set / the sun went down”

So semantically:

“the sun fell / went down” = “the sun set”

Other uses of faɗi:

ya faɗi ƙasa – he fell to the ground
gida ya faɗi – the house fell / collapsed

(Note: there is another verb written the same way faɗi that can mean “to say / speak”, but it’s distinguished by tone in spoken Hausa. In your sentence, only the “fall/go down” meaning fits.)

Does “yara suna sha ruwan zuma bayan rana ta faɗi” mean they do this habitually every day of the fast, or just once?

By itself, suna sha is aspectually neutral between:

ongoing / right now – “are drinking”
regular / habitual – “(usually) drink / (always) drink”

Context usually disambiguates. In the context of fasting:

A lokacin azumi yara suna sha ruwan zuma bayan rana ta faɗi.

is most naturally understood as a repeated, regular action:

“During the fasting period, the children (usually / every day) drink honey water after the sun has set.”

If you want to be very explicit about repetition, you could add adverbs:

kullum bayan rana ta faɗi – every day after sunset
ko da yaushe bayan rana ta faɗi – always after the sun has set

But it isn’t necessary; the sentence as given already strongly suggests a habitual practice during the fast.