Kakauwi lang ni Ana, at hinahanap niya ang susi niya.

Kakauwi means has just arrived home / just got home.

It comes from the root uwi, which is about going home / coming home. The kaka- pattern tells you the action happened very recently. So:

• uwi = go/come home
• kakauwi = just got home

In this sentence, the most natural English translation is Ana just got home.

Lang often means just, only, or simply, depending on context.

Here, it reinforces the idea of recentness:

• kakauwi lang = just got home

So lang helps make the meaning sound natural and complete in English. Without it, kakauwi already suggests recent action, but lang makes the just now sense even clearer.

This is a very common learner question.

In the kaka- recent-completed construction, the person who did the action is often marked with ni for singular names.

So you get:

• Kakauwi lang ni Ana = Ana just got home

Compare that with a more ordinary verb sentence:

• Umuwi si Ana = Ana went home

So the marker changes because the grammar pattern is different. With kakauwi, ni Ana is the normal form.

Because Filipino often uses predicate-first word order.

That means the action, state, or description often comes before the person being talked about. So this is natural:

• Kakauwi lang ni Ana

Literally, it is closer to something like:

• Just-got-home Ana

But in proper English, we translate it as Ana just got home.

You can also say:

• Si Ana ay kakauwi lang

That is grammatical too, but it has a different feel and is often a bit more formal or marked.

Hinahanap means is looking for or is searching for.

It comes from the root hanap, meaning look for / search for.

Here is the basic pattern:

• hanap = search / look for
• hinanap = looked for
• hinahanap = is looking for

So hinahanap niya ang susi niya means she is looking for her key.

The repetition helps show aspect, especially an ongoing or incomplete action.

In hinahanap, the repeated part helps mark the verb as imperfective, which often corresponds to English is looking for, looks for, or was looking for, depending on context.

So the form tells you the action is not viewed as completed.

This kind of repetition is very common in Filipino verbs.

Because hinahanap is a form that puts the focus on the thing being looked for.

So the thing being searched for is marked with ang:

• hinahanap niya ang susi niya

Here:

• niya = the one doing the looking
• ang susi niya = the key being looked for

A useful comparison is:

• Hinahanap niya ang susi niya.
• Naghahanap siya ng susi niya.

Both can mean She is looking for her key, but the structure changes:

• hinahanap ... ang ... = focus on the thing sought
• naghahanap ... ng ... = focus on the searcher/action

Because the same form niya can do two different jobs.

In this sentence:

• hinahanap niya = she is looking for
• ang susi niya = her key

So the first niya refers to the doer of the action, while the second niya shows possession.

English uses different words here:

• she is looking for
• her key

But Filipino can use niya for both roles.

No. Niya is gender-neutral.

It can mean:

• his
• her
• sometimes he/she depending on grammar

In this sentence, we understand it as her because the person mentioned is Ana. But the word itself does not specifically mark feminine gender.

At means and.

It is the standard, neutral connector for joining two parts of a sentence:

• Kakauwi lang ni Ana, at hinahanap niya ang susi niya.

You may also hear tsaka in conversation, but at is the safer and more standard choice here.

Very roughly:

• at = and
• tsaka = and / and then / also, often more conversational

So at is perfectly natural in this sentence.

Yes:

• Naghahanap siya ng susi niya.

This also means She is looking for her key.

The difference is mainly in grammatical focus:

• Hinahanap niya ang susi niya
  Focuses more on the key as the thing being sought.

• Naghahanap siya ng susi niya
  Focuses more on Ana/the action of searching.

Both are natural, and learning both patterns is very useful.