Injin yana aiki da man fetur; na canza giya.

Because yana is the 3rd-person singular masculine imperfective form, and injin (engine) is treated as a masculine singular noun in Hausa.

So:

• injin = engine
• yana = it/he is, it/he does
• aiki = working / functioning

Even though injin is inanimate, Hausa still uses grammatical gender for singular nouns. So yana here means it is or it does.

It can mean either, depending on context.

yana aiki is an imperfective form, so it often covers meanings such as:

• is working
• works
• is functioning
• runs

With an engine, English often prefers runs or is running, so Injin yana aiki da man fetur is naturally understood as The engine runs on petrol or The engine is running on petrol.

Here da means something like with, by means of, or using.

So aiki da man fetur literally means work with petrol/fuel, but in natural English that becomes:

• run on petrol
• operate using petrol

da is a very common Hausa word with several meanings, including with, and, and sometimes other related ideas depending on context.

man fetur means petrol, gasoline, or fuel in this context.

Literally, it is a noun phrase built around mai/man meaning oil, so the expression is something like petroleum oil / petrol fuel. In normal usage, though, you should just understand man fetur as petrol/gasoline.

So:

• man fetur = petrol / gasoline / fuel

Here na means I in the perfective/completed-action form.

So:

• na canza = I changed / I have changed

This is not the independent pronoun ni. In Hausa, subject marking is often built into forms like na, ka, ya, ta, etc.

So the sentence does not need a separate word for I before na.

Because na already includes the subject meaning I.

In Hausa, the independent pronouns such as ni are not always used the way English uses I. Very often, Hausa uses a subject marker instead.

So:

• na canza giya = I changed gear
• ni na canza giya would be more emphatic, like I’m the one who changed gear or I did change gear

Without special emphasis, na by itself is enough.

It can mean both.

The Hausa perfective often corresponds to several English translations, depending on context:

• I changed gear
• I have changed gear
• sometimes even I did change gear

So if you are learning the structure, the key idea is that na canza giya describes a completed action.

Yes, that is a very reasonable question.

In many contexts, giya does mean beer or alcoholic drink. But in mechanical/driving contexts, giya can also be used for gear, from English gear adapted into Hausa pronunciation/spelling.

So context is what tells you the meaning:

• in a bar or food context: giya = beer/alcohol
• in a driving/mechanical context: giya = gear

Since the sentence talks about an engine, the intended meaning is clearly gear.

Because Hausa does not have articles that work like English the and a/an.

So a Hausa noun like injin can mean:

• an engine
• the engine

And giya can mean:

• a gear
• the gear

The exact English translation depends on context.

That is why Injin yana aiki da man fetur; na canza giya can be translated naturally with the in English even though no separate Hausa word appears for it.

The basic order here is:

• na = subject marker (I)
• canza = verb (change)
• giya = object (gear)

So the pattern is essentially:

subject marker + verb + object

That is why na canza giya straightforwardly means I changed gear.

Yes. The semicolon simply links two closely related statements:

• Injin yana aiki da man fetur
• na canza giya

You could also write them as two separate sentences without changing the grammar:

• Injin yana aiki da man fetur. Na canza giya.

The semicolon is just a punctuation choice showing that the two ideas are connected.