Learn Hardcore Hausa: A lokacin taron iyali mun yanke shawara mu tafi ƙauye a ƙarshen wata. - During the family meeting we decided to go to the village at the end of the month.

A lokacin – at the time (when)
- a – at / in / on (general locative or time preposition)
- lokacin – the time (from lokaci “time” + -n “the / of”)
taron iyali – family meeting / family gathering
- taro – meeting / gathering
- -n – linker “of”
- iyali – family
So lokacin taron iyali = “the time of the family meeting” → “during the family meeting”.
mun yanke shawara – we decided
- mu – we
- -n (attached) → mun – “we” in perfective aspect
- yanke – to cut; to make (a decision / judgment)
- shawara – advice / decision / plan
  Together yanke shawara literally “cut decision” → idiomatically “make a decision”.
mu tafi ƙauye – that we go to the village
- mu – we (subjunctive marker here)
- tafi – go
- ƙauye – a village / the village
a ƙarshen wata – at the end of the month
- a – at / in / on
- ƙarshen – the end (from ƙarshe “end” + -n “the / of”)
- wata – month

Altogether: A lokacin taron iyali mun yanke shawara mu tafi ƙauye a ƙarshen wata ≈
“At the time of the family meeting we decided that we would go to the village at the end of the month.”

Why is mu used twice, in mun yanke shawara and mu tafi? Aren’t they both “we”?

Yes, both are related to mu “we”, but they play different grammatical roles:

mun in mun yanke shawara
- This is mu (we) in the perfective verb form:
  - mu (we) + perfective marker → mun.
- It marks the subject and the aspect (“we have / we did”).
mu in mu tafi
- This is the subjunctive or irrealis form of “we go”.
- After verbs of deciding, wanting, planning, etc., Hausa often uses a subjunctive clause:
  - mun yanke shawara mu tafi… = “we decided that we should go…”

So:

mun yanke shawara = “we decided” (completed action)
mu tafi = “(that) we go / should go” (intended/future action)

They look the same historically, but in modern grammar they are treated as:

mun → perfective subject pronoun
mu → subjunctive subject pronoun.

Why is there no word like “that” before mu tafi (as in “we decided that we go”)?

In Hausa, a subordinate clause of this kind is often introduced directly by the subjunctive form of the verb, without a separate word for that:

English: “We decided that we would go to the village.”
Hausa: Mun yanke shawara mu tafi ƙauye.

The mu tafi part itself signals:

a new clause, and
that it is something intended / planned rather than already done.

You can’t normally add a separate “that” word here in natural Hausa; mu tafi alone does the job.

What does yanke shawara literally mean, and is it always “decide”?

Literally:

yanke – cut
shawara – advice, consultation, plan, decision

So yanke shawara is literally “cut advice/decision,” which idiomatically means “to make a decision”, “to come to a conclusion.”

Usage notes:

Very common and natural for “decide”:
- Mun yanke shawara mu tafi. – We decided to go.
Can be used in many contexts:
- personal decisions,
- group decisions,
- official decisions, etc.

Sometimes context adds nuance:

yanke shawara can be “to finalize a plan / settle a matter,” not just casually “think about it.”

Why is it ƙauye and not something like gari? What is the difference?

Both refer to places where people live, but they have different typical uses:

ƙauye – village, rural area, countryside
- Smaller, less urban, more “village life.”
- Can carry a “rural / rustic” flavor.
gari – town / city / settlement
- More urban; could be a town or a city.
- Often used like “town” or “the city” in English.

So mu tafi ƙauye suggests:

“we go to the village / our village / some rural village,”
even if our is not explicitly said.

If you said mu tafi gari, that would sound more like “we go to town.”

Why is there no zuwa (“to”) before ƙauye? Can I say mu tafi zuwa ƙauye?

Both are possible, but slightly different in feel:

mu tafi ƙauye
- Very common and natural.
- The direction “to” is understood from tafi (“go”).
- Smooth and everyday.
mu tafi zuwa ƙauye
- Also grammatical.
- Slightly more explicit (“go to the village”), sometimes a bit heavier in style.

Hausa often drops “to” after verbs of motion:

Na je kantin. – I went (to) the shop.
Sun dawo gida. – They returned (to) home.

So in your sentence, mu tafi ƙauye is the most natural default.

What does A lokacin taron iyali express exactly? Is it “at”, “during”, or “when”?

A lokacin taron iyali literally is:

a – at / in
lokacin – the time
taron iyali – the family meeting / family gathering

So it’s “at the time of the family meeting.”

Depending on context, in English you might translate it as:

“at the family meeting”
“during the family gathering”
“when the family had a meeting”

All are acceptable translations; Hausa does not need separate words for “at” vs “during” vs “when” here—a lokacin X covers that range of meanings.

What is the function of a in a ƙarshen wata and A lokacin taron iyali?

a is a very general preposition that often means:

at (time or place)
in
on

In your sentence:

A lokacin taron iyali – at / during the time of the family meeting
a ƙarshen wata – at the end of the month

Other examples:

a makaranta – at school
a gida – at home
a safiya – in the morning

So a is the default preposition for many location and time expressions.

What does a ƙarshen wata literally mean, and can I use ƙarshen with other nouns?

Literally:

a – at
ƙarshen – the end (from ƙarshe, “end”)
wata – month

So a ƙarshen wata = “at the end of (the) month.”

Yes, ƙarshen is very productive:

ƙarshen mako – the end of the week
ƙarshen shekara – the end of the year
ƙarshen sati – the end of the week (using sati instead of mako in some dialects)

There are also common pairs:

farkon wata – the beginning of the month
tsakiyar wata – the middle of the month
ƙarshen wata – the end of the month

Could I move a ƙarshen wata to a different place in the sentence, like at the beginning or after ƙauye?

Yes, Hausa allows some flexibility in the placement of time expressions. All of these are natural, with slightly different emphasis:

A lokacin taron iyali mun yanke shawara mu tafi ƙauye a ƙarshen wata.
- Neutral; time-of-decision first, time-of-trip at the end.
A ƙarshen wata mun yanke shawara mu tafi ƙauye.
- Now you’re saying the decision happened at the end of the month, which slightly changes the meaning.
Mun yanke shawara mu tafi ƙauye a ƙarshen wata.
- No mention of the meeting; just “we decided to go to the village at the end of the month.”

If you keep the original meaning (decision during the meeting; trip at the end of the month), the original order is the clearest:

first A lokacin taron iyali (when you made the decision),
then a ƙarshen wata (when you will actually go).

Why is it taron iyali and not something like iyalin taro? How does possession / “of” work here?

Hausa typically forms “of”/possessive relations like this:

Noun 1 + -n/-r + Noun 2

Where:

Noun 1 = the main noun
-n / -r = linker (kind of like “of the”)
Noun 2 = the possessor / qualifier

In your phrase:

taro – meeting
-n – of
iyali – family

So taron iyali = “meeting of (the) family” → “family meeting.”

Other examples:

motar Malam – Malam’s car / the teacher’s car
littafin ɗalibi – the student’s book
gidanmu – our house (here the possessive pronoun is attached)

So iyalin taro would mean something like “the family of the meeting,” which is not what you want.

Is there any difference between A lokacin taron iyali and just Lokacin taron iyali?

They are very close in meaning, but with a slight nuance:

A lokacin taron iyali
- Literally: “at the time of the family meeting.”
- Feels a bit more explicitly adverbial (clearly marking time: at that time).
Lokacin taron iyali
- Literally: “the time of the family meeting.”
- Often used similarly, and can introduce a clause just like English “when the family met…”
- In a full sentence you might say:
  - Lokacin taron iyali ne muka yanke shawara… – It was at the time of the family meeting that we decided…

In your original sentence, A lokacin taron iyali is the most straightforward way to say “During the family meeting…” at the beginning of the sentence.

How important is the difference between k and ƙ in ƙauye? Does it change the meaning?

The difference is important:

k – a voiceless velar stop (like English “k” in “cat”)
ƙ – an ejective / glottalized “k” (pronounced with a little glottal “pop”)

Many Hausa word pairs differ only by k / ƙ, and they can have completely different meanings. For ƙauye:

ƙauye – village, rural area
kauye (with plain k, as written) is either incorrect or would be read as a misspelling / different word.

So:

In writing, use the correct hooked ƙ.
In speech, try to produce the “popped” sound (even if it’s not perfect, learners are usually understood, but it’s good to aim for the contrast).