Questions & Answers about Na karanta kwangila kafin na biya haya.
Because there are two separate clauses, and each clause needs its own subject marker.
- Na karanta kwangila = I read / I have read the contract
- kafin na biya haya = before I paid / before I pay the rent
In Hausa, when you join two clauses, you usually repeat the appropriate subject marker in the second clause as well. So the second na is not unnecessary repetition; it is normal Hausa grammar.
Here na is the 1st person singular subject marker used with the completive/perfective type of meaning, so it corresponds to I in a completed action:
- na karanta = I read / I have read
- na biya = I paid / I have paid
It is not just a standalone word meaning I in the same way English uses a separate pronoun. In Hausa, these subject markers are tied closely to tense/aspect patterns.
It can mean any of those in the right context.
Hausa often does not match English tense forms one-for-one. Na karanta generally expresses a completed action, so depending on context it could be translated as: