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A wani kanti kusa da tashar mota, na hango kwastoma tana tambayar ko za a iya biya ta waya.

A wani kanti kusa da tashar mota, na hango kwastoma tana tambayar ko za a iya biya ta waya.
At a shop near the motor park, I saw a female customer asking whether it’s possible to pay by phone.
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Questions & Answers about A wani kanti kusa da tashar mota, na hango kwastoma tana tambayar ko za a iya biya ta waya.

What does a mean at the start (A wani kanti…)?

A is a locative preposition meaning in/at. It commonly introduces a place where something happens: A wani kanti… = At/In a certain shop….

Why is it wani and not wata? How do I know which one to use?

Wani / wata mean a certain / some (indefinite). Which one you use depends on the grammatical gender of the noun:

  • wani
    • masculine noun
  • wata
    • feminine noun

Here, kanti (shop) is treated as masculine, so you get wani kanti.

Is kusa da one word or two, and how does it work?

It’s two words:

  • kusa = near
  • da = to/of/with (here it links to what you’re near)

So kusa da tashar mota literally is near the motor-station → near the bus station.

Why does it say tashar mota and not something like tasha ta mota?

tashar mota is a common Hausa genitive/construct form:

  • tasha = station/stop
  • tashar = tasha in a possessed/linked form (often called the “construct state”)
  • mota = vehicle/car (often used in compounds like tashar mota for bus/motor station)

So tashar mota means vehicle station / motor park / bus station.

What tense/aspect is na hango?

na hango is the perfective (completed action) in 1st person singular:

  • na = I (perfective subject marker)
  • hango = catch sight of / notice / spot

So it’s I spotted / I saw (as a complete event).

Why is there no word for I by itself—why is na doing that job?

In Hausa, subject pronouns are often built into the verb phrase as subject markers (like na, ka, ya, ta, mun, kun, sun). So na hango already contains I, and you usually don’t add a separate standalone ni unless you want emphasis or contrast.

Why does it say kwastoma tana…? What is tana exactly?

tana is 3rd person singular feminine in the imperfective/progressive pattern:

  • ta = she
  • na (in this construction) helps form the progressive/imperfective

So tana tambayar = she is asking / she was asking (depending on context).

Does kwastoma have to be feminine because tana is feminine?

Not strictly. kwastoma (customer) can refer to any gender as a noun, but the speaker chooses agreement based on the real person being talked about. Using tana signals that the customer is being treated as female in this sentence. If it were a male customer, you’d typically hear kwastoma yana tambayar….

What’s the difference between tambaya and tambayar here?
  • tambaya = the noun question
  • tambaya(r) can also be used as a verb meaning ask

Here tambayar is the verb form used in this pattern: tana tambayar… = she is asking…. The -r you see is part of the form that often appears before what follows.

What does ko do in …tana tambayar ko…?

ko introduces a yes/no question, and it’s also used for indirect yes/no questions after verbs like ask:

  • ta tambaya: “Za a iya…?” = she asked: “Is it possible…?”
  • tana tambayar ko za a iya… = she’s asking whether it’s possible…

So here ko is like whether/if.

What is going on with za a iya? Who is the subject?

This is an impersonal construction:

  • za = future marker (will)
  • a = impersonal subject (one/people/it, like “they” in “they say…”)
  • iya = be able / be possible

So za a iya means it will be possible / can it be done. It avoids naming a specific subject (like “can you…”), which is very common in Hausa.

In biya ta waya, what does ta mean? Is it “her”?

Here ta is not her. It’s the preposition ta meaning by/through/via (instrument/method):

  • biya = pay
  • ta waya = via phone / by phone

So a biya ta waya = to pay via phone (e.g., mobile payment).