Ina duba diddige yayin da ake duba igiyar takalmi.

Here ina is the 1st-person singular present/progressive marker, so ina duba means I am checking / I am looking at.

It is spelled the same as ina? meaning where?, so that can confuse learners at first. Context tells you which one it is:

• Ina duba diddige = I am checking the heel
• Ina diddige? = Where is the heel?

Because the sentence has two clauses, and each clause has its own verb:

• Ina duba diddige = I am checking the heel
• yayin da ake duba igiyar takalmi = while the shoelace is being checked

So Hausa repeats duba because both actions are expressed fully.

Yayin da means while, as, or during the time that. It links the two actions and shows that they happen at the same time.

So in this sentence it introduces the second action:

• yayin da ake duba igiyar takalmi = while the shoelace is being checked

This is a very common grammar question.

Ana duba is a normal main-clause form meaning something like people are checking or it is being checked.

After expressions like yayin da ... da, Hausa often uses a relative/subordinate form, and that is why you get ake instead of ana.

So:

• Ana duba igiyar takalmi. = The shoelace is being checked.
• yayin da ake duba igiyar takalmi = while the shoelace is being checked

A useful way to think of ake here is:

• one is checking
• or in natural English, it is being checked

Diddige means heel. Depending on context, it can mean:

• the heel of a foot
• the heel part of a shoe

In a sentence that also mentions igiyar takalmi (shoelace), many learners will naturally understand it as the heel area of the shoe, but the exact meaning depends on context.

Because Hausa often changes the first noun when it is linked to another noun in a possessive/genitive relationship.

Here:

• igiya = rope, cord, lace
• takalmi = shoe

When igiya is followed by another noun, it becomes igiyar:

• igiyar takalmi = shoelace
• literally, the lace/cord of a shoe

This -r is a normal linking pattern for many feminine nouns ending in -a.

Because Hausa often expresses this kind of idea with a noun-plus-noun structure.

So instead of a single English-style compound like shoelace, Hausa says something more like:

• igiyar takalmi = lace/cord of shoe

This is completely normal Hausa structure. English often packs ideas into one word, but Hausa frequently uses linked nouns instead.

Hausa does not use articles the same way English does. There is no direct word that always works exactly like the or a/an.

So nouns like diddige and igiyar takalmi can be understood as:

• a heel / the heel
• a shoelace / the shoelace

The exact meaning comes from context. That is normal in Hausa.

Usually ina duba is understood as a present or ongoing action: I am checking.

Depending on context, Hausa forms like this can sometimes also have a broader present-time sense, but in this sentence, because of yayin da (while), the most natural reading is that both actions are happening at the same time.

So the basic learner-friendly understanding is:

• ina duba = I am checking

The structure is:

• Ina = I am
• duba = checking / looking at
• diddige = heel

So the order is basically:

subject marker + verb + object

That is why diddige comes after duba:

• Ina duba diddige = I am checking the heel