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Yara suka tattara shara a buhu, suka kai ta waje.

Yara suka tattara shara a buhu, suka kai ta waje.
The children gathered the trash in a sack and took it outside.

Breakdown of Yara suka tattara shara a buhu, suka kai ta waje.

yaro
the child
a
in
waje
outside
kai
to take
ta
it
shara
the trash
tattara
to gather
buhu
the sack
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Questions & Answers about Yara suka tattara shara a buhu, suka kai ta waje.

What does suka mean here, and why isn’t it sun?

Suka is the 3rd‑person plural perfective subject marker (roughly “they [did]”) used when the subject is an explicit noun right before it, like Yara (children).

  • Yara suka tattara… = The children collected…
    If you don’t name the subject (you just mean “they”), you typically use sun:
  • Sun tattara shara… = They collected trash…
Why is suka repeated: suka tattara… suka kai…?

It’s common in Hausa to repeat the subject marker when you have a sequence of actions, especially in narrative style. It keeps the timing clear: first action completed, then the next action completed.
So suka tattara… suka kai… is like “they collected…, then they took it…”.

What is the role of ta in suka kai ta waje?

Ta is an object pronoun meaning it (feminine singular) and it refers back to shara (trash). Hausa often uses object pronouns to avoid repeating the noun:

  • suka kai ta waje = they took it outside (it = the trash)
Why is the pronoun ta (feminine)? Is shara grammatically feminine?

Yes—here shara is being treated as feminine singular, which is why the object pronoun is ta.
Hausa assigns grammatical gender to many nouns (even inanimate ones), and pronouns often reflect that gender:

  • masculine object pronoun: shi
  • feminine object pronoun: ta
  • plural object pronoun: su
Is Yara suka… a special word order or “focus” structure?

It’s a very normal Hausa pattern: noun subject + perfective marker + verb. Learners often notice it because English doesn’t have a separate “they” marker after a noun.
Structure here is essentially:

  • Yara (subject) + suka (they.PFV) + tattara (collected)
What does a buhu mean exactly—“in a sack” or “into a sack”?

a is a general location preposition that can cover in/at/on and, in many contexts, the idea of putting something into a place/container. So tattara shara a buhu can be understood as collecting the trash into a sack (i.e., putting it in there as they gather it).
If you want to be extra explicit about “inside,” Hausa can also use cikin (“inside”): cikin buhu.

Why is there no zuwa (“to”) before waje?

waje can function like an adverb meaning outside, so kai … waje can mean “take … outside” without adding zuwa.
You can also hear fuller options like zuwa waje, but the sentence as written is natural.

What tense/aspect is being used—past tense?

It’s the perfective aspect, which often corresponds to simple past in English in a story context: the actions are treated as completed. Hausa focuses more on aspect (completed vs ongoing) than strict tense.

How would I say this if it’s happening right now (ongoing)?

You’d usually use the imperfective/progressive pattern:

  • Yara suna tattara shara a buhu, suna kai ta waje.
    Meaning: “The children are collecting trash in a sack and taking it outside.”
How do you negate this sentence?

A common past/perfective negation is:

  • Yara ba su tattara shara a buhu ba, ba su kai ta waje ba.
    = “The children didn’t collect trash in a sack, and they didn’t take it outside.”
Does buhu need to be plural if there are multiple sacks?

Not necessarily. Hausa often leaves the noun unmarked if the number isn’t important or is understood from context. If you want to be clear it’s plural, you can specify it (e.g., with a number or a plural form depending on the noun), but the sentence as given simply says a sack / in a sack (or “in sacks” in a general sense, depending on context).

Anything important about pronunciation/spelling in tattara and shara?

Yes:

  • tattara has a double tt, which is pronounced with a stronger/longer t sound (a “geminated” consonant).
  • sh in shara is like English sh in shop.