Wannan shi ne sanadin matsalar.

Wannan means this or this one.

In this sentence, it is being used as a pronoun, not as an adjective before a noun. So instead of this problem or this cause, it simply means this.

So:

• wannan littafi = this book
• wannan = this / this one

In Wannan shi ne sanadin matsalar, wannan is the thing being identified.

Not necessarily. In this sentence, shi is not best understood as English he.

Hausa often uses a pronoun plus ne/ce in identification sentences, where English uses is. So shi ne here works like it is or simply part of the structure meaning is.

A very literal breakdown is:

• Wannan = this
• shi ne = it is / is
• sanadin matsalar = the cause of the problem

So the full sentence means This is the cause of the problem.

Ne is an identifying or focus marker used in sentences like this. It often shows that one thing is being equated with or identified as another thing.

English uses is for this kind of sentence, but Hausa does not always use a single normal verb in the same way English does.

So in a sentence like this, ne helps form the idea of:

• X is Y

You will often see it in structures such as:

• Audu malami ne = Audu is a teacher
• Wannan ne... = This is...

In your sentence, it appears as part of shi ne.

Yes. Wannan ne sanadin matsalar is also natural.

Compared with Wannan shi ne sanadin matsalar, the version with shi can sound a bit fuller or more emphatic, because the pronoun repeats the subject idea before ne.

So both are possible:

• Wannan ne sanadin matsalar
• Wannan shi ne sanadin matsalar

A learner will hear both kinds of patterns in Hausa.

The basic noun is sanadi, meaning cause.

When Hausa links one noun to another in a phrase like cause of the problem, the first noun often takes a linking ending, commonly -n or -r.

So:

• sanadi = cause
• sanadin matsalar = cause of the problem

That -n is doing the job that English often does with of.

There is no separate word for of here.

Hausa usually expresses this relationship by putting the nouns together and adding a linker to the first noun.

So:

• sanadin matsalar = cause of the problem

Literally, you can think of it as:

• sanadi-n matsalar
• cause-linker problem-the

This noun-linking pattern is very common in Hausa.

Matsala means problem.

Matsalar means the problem. The final -r is a definite ending here.

So:

• matsala = problem
• matsalar = the problem

That is why sanadin matsalar means the cause of the problem, not just cause of a problem.

Hausa does not use separate articles the same way English does.

Instead, definiteness is often shown by endings like -n or -r on nouns, and by the structure of the whole phrase.

In sanadin matsalar:

• matsalar = the problem
• because the second noun is definite, the whole phrase is understood as definite too

So the whole expression is naturally understood as the cause of the problem, even though there is no separate word exactly matching English the before sanadin.

A very literal breakdown is:

• Wannan = this
• shi ne = it is / is
• sanadin = cause of
• matsalar = the problem

So, word for word, it is roughly:

This it-is cause-of the-problem

But the natural English translation is:

This is the cause of the problem.

They can overlap, but they are not always exactly the same.

• sanadi often means cause
• dalili often means reason, grounds, or sometimes evidence/proof, depending on context

So in many situations both may be translated similarly, but sanadi is a very good choice when you want to emphasize actual causation.

You can say:

Wannan ba shi ne sanadin matsalar ba.

That means:

This is not the cause of the problem.

The negative pattern here is:

• ba ... ba

So you place ba before the core of the statement and another ba at the end.