Ni bana son in zauna tsawon lokaci ba tare da motsa jiki ba.

In Hausa, Ni is an independent pronoun (I), and -na inside bana is also “I”.
So Ni bana son… is literally like saying “Me, I don’t like…”.

You can say:

• Bana son in zauna… – I don’t like to sit… (perfectly correct)
• Ni bana son in zauna… – Me, I don’t like to sit… (adds emphasis, contrast, or clarity)

The extra Ni is used for emphasis, focus, or when contrasting yourself with others, just like in English:
“I don’t like sitting for a long time (even if others do).”

Bana is usually written as one word, but it comes from two parts:

• ba – negative marker
• na – “I” (progressive/habitual subject)

So:

• Ina son… = I like / I want…
• Ba na son… (often pronounced and written bana son) = I don’t like / I don’t want…

In running speech, ba na fuses to bana, which is why you often see bana son instead of ba na son. Both are understood; bana is just the common spoken (and now standard) form.

The basic word is so = to like / to love / to want.

In Hausa, so behaves like a verbal noun, and before its “object” (a thing, a person, or a clause), it usually takes a linking -n:

• so + abinci → son abinci – liking of food → “likes food”
• so + in zauna → son in zauna – liking of (my) sitting → “likes to sit”

So:

• Ina so. – I want / I like (in general).
• Ina son abinci. – I like food.
• Bana son in zauna. – I don’t like to sit.

You can think of son as “so + of”, used before whatever you like/want.

In here is the subjunctive / complement marker for “I”:

• in + zauna ≈ that I sit / for me to sit / to sit

When so/son is followed by a verb, Hausa normally uses this subjunctive form:

• Ina son in zauna. – I want to sit (I want that I sit).
• Bana son in yi haka. – I don’t like to do that.

So in is not the English word “in”; it’s a grammatical particle meaning roughly “that I (should) …”.

They are different forms of the verb zauna (to sit / stay / reside), with different meanings:

• in zauna – subjunctive: that I sit / (for me) to sit
  
  • Used after verbs like so: Ina son in zauna. – I want to sit.
• ina zaune – progressive state: I am sitting / I am (in a sitting state).
  
  • Ina zaune a gida. – I am staying at home.
• zan zauna – future: I will sit / I will stay.
  
  • Zan zauna a nan. – I will sit/stay here.

In Ni bana son in zauna…, you need in zauna because it’s the complement of son (“to sit”), not a description of what you are doing now or will do later.

Literally:

• tsawo – length (tallness/longness)
• lokaci – time

When tsawo is followed by another noun in a possessive/genitive relationship, it takes a linking -n, becoming tsawon:

• tsawo + n lokaci → tsawon lokaci – length of time

Idiomatic meaning: “for a long time / a long period”.

So in zauna tsawon lokaci = to sit/stay for a long time.

You could also hear dogon lokaci (a long time), but tsawon lokaci focuses on the duration/length more literally.

Ba … ba is a common negative “wrapper” in Hausa.
The structure here is:

• tare da motsa jiki – together with exercise / with physical movement
• ba … ba around it → ba tare da motsa jiki ba – not with exercise → without exercise

So:

• tare da = together with, along with, with
• ba tare da … ba = without … (literally: not together with …)

You often see this pattern:

• Ya tafi ba tare da ni ba. – He went without me.
• Ta ci abinci ba tare da ruwa ba. – She ate without water.

In your sentence:

• tsawon lokaci ba tare da motsa jiki ba
  = for a long time without exercise

The idea is:

• tare da X – together with X / with X
• Make it negative: ba tare da X ba – not together with X → without X

So Hausa expresses “without X” as “not together with X”.

• Tare da abokai – with friends
• Ba tare da abokai ba – without friends
• tare da motsa jiki – with exercise
• ba tare da motsa jiki ba – without exercise

Literally:

• motsa – to move (something), to stir
• jiki – body

So motsa jiki = moving the body.

Idiomatic meaning: exercise, physical exercise.

It’s a very common fixed phrase:

• Ina yin motsa jiki. – I do exercise / I work out.
• Motsa jiki yana da muhimmanci. – Exercise is important.

So in your sentence, ba tare da motsa jiki ba is best understood as “without exercise”, not just any random “body movement”.

Some movement is possible, but the given order is very natural:

• Ni bana son in zauna tsawon lokaci ba tare da motsa jiki ba.

You could also say, for example:

• Ni bana son in zauna ba tare da motsa jiki ba tsawon lokaci.
  (grammatical, but less smooth and less typical)
• Bana son in zauna tsawon lokaci ba tare da motsa jiki ba.
  (dropping Ni—still natural)

Normally, the duration phrase (tsawon lokaci) comes right after the verb, and the “without …” part (ba tare da motsa jiki ba) comes afterwards, exactly as in the original sentence.

Yes, that is also a natural sentence, with a slightly different structure:

• bana son in zauna… – literally: I don’t like to sit… (I don’t like that I sit…)
• bana son zama… – literally: I don’t like sitting… (I don’t like the act of sitting…)

Zama is a verbal noun meaning sitting / staying.
Both forms are acceptable and common; the meaning difference is subtle, like English “I don’t like to sit…” vs “I don’t like sitting…”.

In Hausa, duration is often expressed just by putting a time expression after the verb, without a preposition:

• Na jira shi awa biyu. – I waited (for) two hours.
• Ya yi aiki shekara ɗaya. – He worked (for) one year.

Similarly:

• in zauna tsawon lokaci – to sit (for) a long time

So tsawon lokaci by itself, after the verb, already carries the sense of “for a long time”. No extra word like English “for” is needed.