Sunansa yana cikin jerin.

A simple breakdown is:

• sunansa = his name
• yana = is / is located
• cikin = in, inside, among
• jerin = the list / a list in this phrase

So the whole sentence means His name is in the list, which is the Hausa way to express what English often says as His name is on the list.

Because Hausa often attaches a possessive ending directly to the noun.

Here:

• suna = name
• -sa = his
• the extra -n- links the noun to the possessive ending

So:

• suna
  • -n-
    • sa → sunansa

This is very common in Hausa. Similar forms are:

• sunana = my name
• sunanka = your name (to a man)
• sunanki = your name (to a woman)
• sunanta = her name

It means his name.

For her name, Hausa uses sunanta.

So:

• sunansa = his name
• sunanta = her name

This is a very important distinction to learn early.

Because suna is a grammatically masculine noun in Hausa.

In Hausa, agreement often follows the grammatical gender of the noun, not the real-life sex of the person being talked about. The subject here is sunansa = his name, and the head noun is suna = name, which is masculine. So Hausa uses:

• yana for masculine singular

If the subject were a feminine noun, you would normally expect tana instead.

Here yana is the form Hausa uses to say that something is in a place or is in a certain state.

So yana cikin jerin means something like:

• is in the list
• is located in the list
• appears in the list

Even though yana can also appear in progressive-type sentences, here it is not about an action. It is simply expressing a state/location.

cikin literally means inside, in, or among, and it is very natural when talking about something being included within a group, text, list, or container.

So:

• cikin jerin = in the list / among the items in the list

Hausa can also use a in many location expressions, but cikin is especially good when the idea is being included within something.

That is why it works well with list.

This is a common Hausa pattern.

The basic word is:

• ciki = inside, interior

When it connects to another noun after it, Hausa often adds -n:

• cikin jerin = inside the list / in the list

So the -n is a linking element. You will see this kind of thing in many Hausa expressions.

The base noun is jeri, which can mean row, line, series, or list.

In connected expressions, Hausa often uses a form like jerin. In a learner-friendly way, you can think of jerin here as the form used in the phrase cikin jerin, meaning in the list.

So even if you learn the dictionary form as jeri, you should expect to meet jerin in real sentences.

Because languages do not always use the same prepositions.

English normally says:

• His name is on the list

But Hausa naturally says:

• Sunansa yana cikin jerin
• literally, His name is in the list

So this is not a mistake. It is simply the normal Hausa way to express the idea of being included in a list.

It can absolutely mean His name appears in the list or His name is included in the list.

That is often the most natural interpretation.

So depending on context, the sentence can be understood as:

• His name is in the list
• His name is on the list
• His name appears in the list
• His name is included in the list

All of those are close in meaning here.