Izinin hanya yana cikin jaka.

The roadworthiness permit is in the bag.

Breakdown of Izinin hanya yana cikin jaka.

• cikin: in
• jaka: the bag
• ya: he/it
• izinin hanya: the roadworthiness permit

Questions & Answers about Izinin hanya yana cikin jaka.

What does each part of Izinin hanya yana cikin jaka do in the sentence?

A useful breakdown is:

• izinin hanya — the noun phrase acting as the subject
• yana — the masculine singular locative/progressive form used here for is
• cikin jaka — inside the bag / in the bag

More literally, Hausa is building something like:

• izinin hanya = permit of road/way
• yana = it is
• cikin jaka = inside bag

So the structure is basically [subject] + [is] + [location].

Why is it izinin hanya and not just izini hanya?

Because Hausa normally links two nouns in this kind of of relationship with a connector attached to the first noun.

Here:

• izini = permission, permit
• izinin = izini
  • linking -n
• hanya = road, way, route, method

So izinin hanya means something like the permit of the road/way or more naturally road permit / travel permit, depending on context.

That -n is very common in Hausa noun-to-noun linking.

Is izinin hanya a possessive phrase, like in English?