Learn Hardcore Hausa: Matashi yana so ya koyi Hausa sosai. - A young man wants to learn Hausa very well.

Matashi means a young person, youth, young adult. In many contexts it implies a young man, but grammatically it’s not restricted to male only.

Common related words:

saurayi – young unmarried man, boyfriend
budurwa – young unmarried woman, girlfriend
samari – young men (plural)
yaro – boy / child (male)

In this sentence, Matashi is most naturally understood as “(a) young man / youth” from context.

Why is there no word for “a” or “the” before Matashi?

Hausa generally does not use articles like English “a” or “the”.

So:

Matashi can mean “a young man” or “the young man” depending on context.
Definiteness/indefiniteness (a vs. the) is usually inferred from the situation, previous discourse, or sometimes from word order and focus, not from separate words like “a/the”.

What is yana doing in yana so? Is it like English “is”?

Yana is the 3rd person masculine singular imperfective form of the verb to be / to do used as an aspect marker.

ya = he (subject marker)
na = imperfective marker (ongoing / present / habitual)
ya + na → yana

So yana so literally has the structure “he-IMPF want”, often translated as:

“he wants”
“he likes / loves” (depending on context)
sometimes close to “he is wanting / he is in a state of wanting”

It is not a simple “copula is” like in English; it’s directly tied to verb aspect (present/ongoing / habitual).

Why is it yana so and not just ya so?

Both forms exist, but they differ in aspect:

yana so – present / ongoing / habitual
- “he wants / likes (now or generally)”
ya so – perfective (completed event, often past or “already”)
- “he wanted / he liked (at some point, finished)”

In your sentence, we are talking about his current desire, so yana so is appropriate.

If we already have Matashi as the subject, why do we also need ya in ya koyi?

In Hausa, finite verbs almost always need a subject marker (like na, ka, ya, ta, mun, kun, sun), even if you’ve already mentioned the noun subject.

So:

Matashi = the full noun (“the young man”)
ya = the 3rd person masculine singular subject marker (“he”)

You normally say:

Matashi ya koyi Hausa. – “The young man learned Hausa.”
Shi ya koyi Hausa. – “He (emphatic) learned Hausa.”

Leaving out ya would be ungrammatical:
✗ Matashi koyi Hausa (wrong)
✓ Matashi ya koyi Hausa (correct)

Why is there no word for “to” before koyi, like “wants to learn”?

Hausa does not use a separate particle like English “to” before the verb in this kind of construction.

The structure is typically:

[verb of wanting/liking] + [clause with a finite verb]

So:

yana so ya koyi Hausa sosai
literally: “he-wants he-learn Hausa very well”

There is no separate “to”; instead, Hausa uses:

a subject marker (ya, in, su, etc.)
followed by the finite verb (koyi)

For example:

Ina so in koyi Hausa sosai. – “I want to learn Hausa well.”
- in = 1st person sg. subject marker in this kind of clause
- koyi = learn

What is the difference between koyo and koyi here?

They are related forms of the same root:

koyo – verbal noun / “learning”, also used in continuous aspect
- Ina koyo Hausa. – “I am learning Hausa.”
koyi – perfective/subjunctive verb form “(to) learn”
- Na koyi Hausa. – “I (have) learned Hausa.”
- Ina so in koyi Hausa. – “I want to learn Hausa.”

In your sentence:

ya koyi is the finite verb form that fits after so in this kind of complement clause:
yana so ya koyi Hausa sosai – “he wants (that) he learn Hausa well.”

Does Hausa here mean “the Hausa language” or “Hausa people”? Why don’t we specify?

In Hausa, the word Hausa can mean:

the Hausa language
the Hausa people / culture

Context decides.

After a verb like koyi (“learn”), Hausa almost always means the language. If you want to be explicit, you can say:

Harshe na Hausa – the Hausa language
Yaren Hausa – the Hausa language (dialect/idiom)
Mutanen Hausa – Hausa people

But in ya koyi Hausa sosai, native speakers automatically understand “he learn Hausa (language) well.”

What exactly does sosai mean, and how strong is it?

sosai is an adverb meaning roughly:

very, very much
thoroughly, a lot, really well

In your sentence:

ya koyi Hausa sosai – “he (wants to) learn Hausa very well / really well.”

It usually intensifies the verb phrase. Strength-wise it is similar to English “very”, sometimes closer to “really”.

Where should sosai go in the sentence? Could I say Matashi yana so sosai ya koyi Hausa?

The most natural position for sosai here is after the object or at the end of the verb phrase:

Matashi yana so ya koyi Hausa sosai. ✓
Matashi yana so ya koyi Hausa sosai ƙwarai. (even stronger, adding another intensifier)

Putting sosai between so and ya koyi is not natural:

✗ Matashi yana so sosai ya koyi Hausa. – sounds wrong/odd

Think of sosai as modifying the learning of Hausa, so it should stay close to “ya koyi Hausa”, usually at the end.

How would the sentence change if I wanted to say “I want to learn Hausa well” instead?

You keep the same pattern but change the subject forms:

Ni ina so in koyi Hausa sosai.
or simply
Ina so in koyi Hausa sosai.

Breakdown:

Ni – I (emphatic, can be dropped)
ina – 1st person sg. imperfective (“I am / I do”)
so – want/like
in – 1st person sg. subject marker in a subordinate clause
koyi Hausa sosai – learn Hausa very well

So the structure “[subject] ina so in koyi Hausa sosai” matches “Matashi yana so ya koyi Hausa sosai”, just with 1st vs. 3rd person.

Are there other correct ways to say the same idea, like using koyo or a noun after so?

Yes, there are a few natural alternatives, with slightly different nuances:

Matashi yana son koyo Hausa sosai.
- yana son = “he is in the state of having desire for” (the noun)
- koyo = learning (verbal noun)
  → “The young man likes/wants learning Hausa a lot / very much learning Hausa.”
Matashi yana son ya koyi Hausa sosai.
This can occur in speech, but many speakers prefer yana so ya koyi when the complement is a full clause.
Without yana (more general or timeless):
- Matashi na son koyo Hausa sosai. – “The young man likes learning Hausa a lot.”

Your original sentence:

Matashi yana so ya koyi Hausa sosai.
uses so + finite clause (“ya koyi Hausa sosai”), which is very common and natural for “want to do X”.