Learn Hardcore Hausa: Hauwa matashiya ce mai son karatu. - Hauwa is a young woman who likes studying.

In Hausa, the copula agrees with gender/number. Ce is used with feminine singular nouns like matashiya. With masculine, you’d typically use ne instead (e.g. Ali matashi ne – “Ali is a young man.”).

Why is ce at the end and not right after Hauwa?

In this kind of equational sentence, Hausa usually puts ne/ce at (or near) the end, after the main descriptive noun phrase:

Hauwa matashiya ce
Subject + predicate noun + ce

You don’t normally say *Hauwa ce matashiya in this simple, neutral statement. Sentence‑final ne/ce is the standard pattern when you’re saying “X is Y.”

What exactly does matashiya mean, and is it different from just “girl”?

Matashiya specifically means “young woman” or “female youth”, often late teens through twenties.

It emphasizes youth, but a bit older than a small child.
A very general word for “girl” (female child) is yarinya.

So:

yarinya – girl (child/young girl)
matashiya – young woman / female youth (not a little girl)

Is matashiya related to a masculine form?

Yes. The common pair is:

matashi – young man (male youth)
matashiya – young woman (female youth)

So matashiya is the feminine counterpart of matashi. The -ya ending here marks the feminine form.

What does mai son karatu literally mean, and how does mai work?

Literally, mai son karatu is something like “one who has love of reading/study”.

Breakdown:

mai – “owner/possessor of; one who has … / one who does …”
so – love/liking
son – the genitive/“of” form of so (used before another noun)
karatu – reading, studying, education

So mai son karatu = “a person who has love (liking) of reading/study” → naturally translated as “someone who likes reading/studying”.

Mai + noun/verbal noun is a very common way to form descriptive phrases in Hausa:

mai hankali – sensible (lit. one who has sense)
mai kudi – rich (lit. one who has money)

Why is it son and not so in son karatu?

So is the basic noun “love/liking.”

When it directly links to another noun (“love of X”), it appears in a construct/genitive form with a final -n, spelled son:

so (love) → son karatu (love of reading/study)

This -n behaves like a linker “of”, so son karatu means “love of reading/studying.”

What does karatu cover – is it just “reading” or also “studying”?

Karatu is broader than just “reading”:

It can mean reading (as an activity).
It also commonly means studying or schooling/education.

So mai son karatu could be understood as:

“someone who likes reading”
or
“someone who likes studying / values education,”
depending on context. In everyday speech, both ideas are often blended.

Could I say Hauwa tana son karatu instead, and what would change?

Yes, Hauwa tana son karatu is correct Hausa, but the nuance is different:

Hauwa matashiya ce mai son karatu.
Focus: describing what kind of person she is – “Hauwa is a young woman who is (by character) someone that likes reading.”
Hauwa tana son karatu.
Focus: describing what she does/feels now or habitually – “Hauwa likes reading / is fond of reading.”

So the original sentence is more like a character trait description; tana son karatu is a more straightforward statement about her preference.

Why do we use ce here and not ta (the feminine “she”)?

Ce and ta have different roles:

Ce is a copula (“is”) linking two nouns:
Hauwa matashiya ce – “Hauwa is a young woman.”
Ta is a pronoun/subject marker (“she”) used with verbs:
Ta karanta littafi. – “She read a book.”

In your sentence, we are linking Hauwa to matashiya, not attaching a verb to a subject, so the copula ce is the right choice, not ta.

If the person were male, how would the sentence change?

You’d change the noun and the copula to match masculine gender:

Feminine: Hauwa matashiya ce mai son karatu.
Masculine: Ali matashi ne mai son karatu.

Changes:

matashiya → matashi (young woman → young man)
ce → ne (feminine singular → masculine singular copula)

How would this look in the plural, e.g. “Hauwa and Fatima are young women who like reading”?

One natural version is:

Hauwa da Fatima matashiyoyi ne masu son karatu.

Breakdown:

matashiyoyi – plural of matashiya (“young women”)
ne – copula used here with the plural predicate
masu – plural of mai (“ones who have / people who …”)
son karatu – love of reading/studying

So literally: “Hauwa and Fatima are young women, (they are) ones who love reading/study.”

Where does the mai son karatu part go in relation to the noun it describes?

In Hausa, this kind of descriptive phrase normally comes after the noun it modifies:

matashiya mai son karatu – a young woman who likes reading
mutum mai hankali – a sensible person
gida mai kyau – a nice house

So in your sentence, matashiya is the noun, and mai son karatu comes right after it to describe what kind of young woman Hauwa is.