Tarbiya mai kyau tana da muhimmanci sosai ga iyali.

Good upbringing is very important for the family.

Breakdown of Tarbiya mai kyau tana da muhimmanci sosai ga iyali.

• ne: to be
• sosai: very
• mai kyau: good
• da: with
• muhimmanci: the importance
• ga: for
• iyali: the family
• tarbiya: the upbringing

Questions & Answers about Tarbiya mai kyau tana da muhimmanci sosai ga iyali.

In the sentence Tarbiya mai kyau tana da muhimmanci sosai ga iyali, which part is the subject, and what is the basic word order?

The subject is Tarbiya mai kyau (good upbringing).

The structure is essentially:

• Tarbiya mai kyau – subject (noun + its modifier)
• tana da – verb phrase (literally she/it is having)
• muhimmanci sosai – complement (literally importance very)
• ga iyali – prepositional phrase (for family)

So the word order is:

Subject + Verb phrase + Complement + Prepositional phrase

What exactly does tarbiya mean, and does it have a grammatical gender in Hausa?

Tarbiya is an abstract noun that covers ideas like:

• upbringing (how someone is raised)
• training
• moral/behavioral education
• discipline and manners

So Tarbiya mai kyau is not just school education, but the whole package of raising someone properly.

Grammatically, tarbiya is feminine in Hausa. That is why the verb form is tana (feminine) and not yana (masculine). The feminine subject pronoun is ta, which combines with the aspect marker na to give tana.

What is the role of mai in mai kyau, and why not just say kyau?

Mai is a very common Hausa word used to create adjectives from nouns. The pattern is:

NOUN + mai + NOUN-of-quality

and it means “NOUN that has NOUN-of-quality”.

Here:

• kyau = goodness / beauty / niceness
• mai kyau = having goodness, good, nice

So:

• tarbiya mai kyau = upbringing that has goodness → good upbringing
• mota mai tsada = car that has expensiveness → an expensive car
• mutum mai zuciya = person with (a good) heart → kind person

You would not normally say tarbiya kyau. You need either:

• tarbiya mai kyau (upbringing that has goodness), or
• an adjective like tarbiya nagari (good/upright upbringing, using nagari).

Why do we say tana da muhimmanci instead of something like muhimmi ce?

Hausa has two common ways to say that something is important:

1. NOUN + tana/yana da muhimmanci

   • literally: NOUN is having importance
   • e.g. Tarbiya mai kyau tana da muhimmanci sosai ga iyali.

2. NOUN + muhimmi ce/ne

   • literally: NOUN is important (with a copula ce/ne)
   • e.g. Tarbiya mai kyau muhimmi ce sosai ga iyali.

Both are grammatical and natural, but the sentence you were given uses pattern (1), with muhimmanci (importance, noun) plus tana da (is having).

The important point:

• tana da muhimmanci = is important
• muhimmanci here is not an adjective; it is a noun meaning importance. That is why da (“with, having”) is used.

Why is it tana and not yana in tana da muhimmanci?

Hausa verbs agree in gender with the subject in the 3rd person singular:

• ya / yana = he / it (masculine) is …
• ta / tana = she / it (feminine) is …

Because tarbiya is grammatically feminine, you must use the feminine form:

• Tarbiya mai kyau tana da muhimmanci … (correct)
• Tarbiya mai kyau yana da muhimmanci … (wrong)

For a masculine noun you would use yana instead. For example:

• Aiki mai kyau yana da muhimmanci sosai.
  (Good work is very important.)

What is the difference between muhimmanci and muhimmi?

They are related but different:

• muhimmanci – a noun: importance
  
  • tana da muhimmanci = it has importance → it is important
• muhimmi – an adjective: important

Some patterns:

• Tarbiya mai kyau tana da muhimmanci sosai.
  = Good upbringing has importance → is very important.

• Tarbiya mai kyau muhimmi ce sosai.
  = Good upbringing is important.

So in your sentence, muhimmanci is treated as a thing that the subject has.

What does sosai mean, and where does it usually go in the sentence?

Sosai means very, really, extremely, or a lot. It is an intensifier.

In your sentence:

• muhimmanci sosai = very important / a lot of importance

Typical placement:

• It usually comes after the word or phrase it is intensifying:
  • tana da muhimmanci sosai – it is very important
  • na gaji sosai – I am very tired
  • ya yi kyau sosai – it is very nice

You can front sosai for emphasis in some contexts (e.g. Sosai nake son shi – I really like him), but the neutral place after muhimmanci is what you see here.

What is the role of ga in ga iyali, and how should I understand it?

Ga is a preposition that often means to, for, towards. In this sentence:

• ga iyali = for (the) family / for a family

So tana da muhimmanci sosai ga iyali can be understood as:

it has a lot of importance for the family

Other uses of ga:

• bashi ga shi – give it to him
• magana ga yara – talk to children
• abu mai kyau ga al’umma – a good thing for society

You could in some contexts use domin / don (for the sake of, in order to) or a (in, at), but ga iyali here nicely expresses for the benefit of the family / as far as the family is concerned.

What exactly does iyali mean here? Is it “the family”, “a family”, or “families in general”?

Iyali means family / household, including the people who live together as a family unit. It can also extend to one’s dependents.

In this general statement:

• ga iyali is best understood as for a family / for families in general. Hausa often does not use a separate word for the or a in these generic statements.

So:

• ga iyali could be translated as:
  • for the family (in general)
  • for a family
  • for families

The idea is a general truth about any family, not one particular, specific family already mentioned in the conversation.

Could this idea be expressed in another natural way in Hausa, and would the meaning change?

Yes, there are several natural alternatives that keep essentially the same meaning. For example:

1. Tarbiya mai kyau muhimmi ce sosai ga iyali.

   • Uses the adjective muhimmi with ce instead of tana da muhimmanci.
   • Still means: Good upbringing is very important for a family.

2. Tarbiya mai kyau tana da matuƙar muhimmanci ga iyali.

   • matuƙar = extremely / greatly
   • Stronger emphasis: Good upbringing is extremely important for a family.

3. Tarbiya mai kyau abu ne mai muhimmanci ga iyali.

   • literally: Good upbringing is a thing that is important for a family.
   • Slightly more formal or explanatory style.

All of these keep the same core message: good upbringing is (very) important for a family. The original version with tana da muhimmanci sosai ga iyali is a very standard and natural way to say it.