Fartanyar tana nan.

Tana is the feminine singular subject marker/pronoun. In this sentence, it agrees with fartanya, which is a feminine noun. So tana nan means something like it is here.

Even though English uses it for things, Hausa still assigns nouns to grammatical genders, so a thing can take the same agreement pattern as she would.

Fartanya is the basic dictionary form of the noun. Fartanyar is a form often used when the noun is specific, roughly like the hoe.

That final -r is very common with feminine nouns in this kind of use. You can think of it as a feminine linking/determined form. A very rough learner-friendly idea is:

• fartanya = hoe
• fartanyar = the hoe / that specific hoe

So in this sentence, fartanyar tana nan means the hoe is here.

Not in the same way English does.

In a sentence like this, Hausa does not need a separate present-tense verb is. Instead, it uses the subject marker plus the location word:

• tana = it is / she is in this kind of structure
• nan = here

So tana nan works as is here.

Here, nan means here or present.

So tana nan can mean:

• it is here
• it is present
• it is around / available here

The exact best translation depends on context, but here is the most direct meaning.

Because that is normal Hausa sentence structure.

Hausa often names the subject and then also uses a matching subject marker inside the clause. So the pattern is:

• fartanyar = the subject noun
• tana = the agreeing subject marker
• nan = here

A very literal English-style breakdown would be:

• The hoe, it is here

But normal English drops that extra pronoun and just says:

• The hoe is here

You can tell from the agreement.

In this sentence, the clue is tana. If the noun were masculine, you would normally expect yana instead. The -r in fartanyar is also a clue, because feminine nouns often take -r in this kind of form.

So learners often identify noun gender by watching what kind of agreement it triggers.

As a learner, it is safer to copy fartanyar tana nan for this meaning.

The bare form fartanya is the basic noun, but when talking about a particular, identifiable hoe, Hausa commonly uses fartanyar. So fartanyar tana nan is the more natural model for the hoe is here.

Not always.

Depending on context, tana nan can mean:

• is here
• is present
• is available
• is still around

So it can describe physical location, but it can also describe presence or availability more generally.

The pattern is:

noun + agreeing subject marker + location

So here you get:

• Fartanyar = the hoe
• tana = it is
• nan = here

That word order is very common in simple Hausa location sentences.