Akwatin yana cike da tufafi saboda za mu zauna kwana uku a ƙauye.

Akwati means “box / suitcase”.

The -n on the end is the definite suffix, roughly like English “the”.

• akwati = a box / suitcase (indefinite)
• akwatin = the box / suitcase (definite)

So Akwatin yana cike… means “The box/suitcase is full…”, not just a box is full…

Yana is the 3rd person singular progressive/circumstantial form, agreeing with a masculine subject.

Roughly:

• yana = he/it is …-ing / it is (in a state of)…
• tana = the same but for feminine subjects (usually feminine-gender nouns and female humans).

In Hausa, nouns have grammatical gender. Akwati is grammatically masculine, so you use yana:

• Akwatin yana cike… = The box is full…
• Motar tana cike da tufafi. = The car is full of clothes. (car = mota, feminine)

Here yana functions like a copula + aspect marker, linking the subject akwatin with the state cike (“full”).

Cike behaves a bit like both: it’s often translated as “full”, but in Hausa it combines with yana / tana / suna to express a state.

• akwatin yana cike da tufafi
  literally: the box is being/full with clothes
  idiomatically: “the box is full of clothes.”

So the typical pattern is:

• [Subject] + yana/tana/suna + cike da + [thing]
  
  • Gidansu yana cike da mutane. – Their house is full of people.
  • Jakata tana cike da littattafai. – My bag is full of books.

You don’t normally say “akwati cike da tufafi” on its own; it sounds incomplete without some form of “is”, like yana or yake.

Yes, you can, and it’s correct, but there is a nuance:

• Akwatin yana cike da tufafi.
  – Focuses on the current state: The box is (right now) full of clothes.

• Akwatin ya cika da tufafi.
  – Uses ya cika (perfective of cika “to become full”), often suggesting the change into that state is complete:
  The box has filled up with clothes / The box got full of clothes.

In many everyday contexts, both get interpreted simply as “the box is full,” but yana cike is more clearly about the ongoing state, while ya cika can highlight the result of filling up.

Tufafi means “clothes”, and it is plural.

Common related forms:

• tufafi – clothes (general; plural)
• tufa – a piece of clothing / garment (less commonly used in everyday speech than just naming the item: riga “shirt/dress”, wando “trousers”, etc.)

In normal conversation, people usually say:

• tufafi – clothes (collective)
• or they name the individual items:
  
  • riga – shirt/dress
  • wando – trousers
  • zanne – wrapper, etc.

In cike da tufafi, da is best thought of as “with”, but it often corresponds to English “of” in this particular structure.

Literally:

• cike da tufafi ≈ full with clothes
  Natural English:
• full of clothes

This cike da + [noun] pattern is very common:

• cike da ruwa – full of water
• cike da mutane – full of people
• cike da haske – full of light

Saboda is a causal conjunction/preposition meaning “because / because of / due to.”

In the sentence:

• …saboda za mu zauna kwana uku a ƙauye.
  – “…because we will stay three nights in the village.”

You can often replace saboda with domin, but there is a subtle difference:

• saboda – very common, general “because/because of”
• domin – also “because/for,” but can have more of a purpose/for the sake of feel in many contexts.

Here, both are possible:

• Akwatin yana cike da tufafi saboda za mu zauna kwana uku a ƙauye.
• Akwatin yana cike da tufafi domin za mu zauna kwana uku a ƙauye.

Everyday speech strongly favors saboda in this type of causal explanation.

Za is a future marker. It combines with the short subject pronoun:

• za ni → I will…
• za ka / za ki → you (m/f sg) will…
• za shi / za ya → he will…
• za ta → she will…
• za mu → we will…
• za ku → you (pl) will…
• za su → they will…

So:

• za mu zauna = we will stay / we are going to stay.

Mu zauna without za is different:

• Mu zauna. (often) = Let’s sit / let’s stay. (hortative/“let’s …”)

So:

• za mu zauna – future: we will stay
• mu zauna – suggestion/command: let’s stay

Zauna basically means “sit / dwell / stay”, and its meaning depends on context:

1. Physical sitting

   • Zauna nan. – Sit here.

2. Staying/remaining somewhere

   • Za mu zauna kwana uku a ƙauye.
     – We will stay three nights in the village.

3. Living/residing (often with ina / suke zaune or zauna a…)

   • Ina zaune a Kano. – I live in Kano.
   • Suna zaune a ƙauyen nan. – They live in this village.

So here it clearly means “stay” because it’s about a temporary visit for three nights.

Kwana here means something like “nights (spent)” or “overnights”.

The phrase kwana + number is a very common way to express how many nights you will stay:

• kwana ɗaya – one night
• kwana biyu – two nights
• kwana uku – three nights
• za mu kwana a nan – we will spend the night here

So:

• za mu zauna kwana uku
  literally: we will stay (for) three nights
  → we will stay three nights.

You can also see kwanaki uku (“three days”) for durations measured in days, but:

• kwana uku – three nights (often used in travel/stay contexts)
• kwanaki uku – three days (more neutral duration in days)

Yes, that is very normal. Hausa often uses “nights” to count the length of a trip or stay, because you typically count how many nights you sleep in a place.

So even if in English you might say:

• “We will stay three days in the village,”

a very natural Hausa version is:

• Za mu zauna kwana uku a ƙauye.
  – We will stay three nights in the village.

Depending on context and what you want to emphasize, you might also hear:

• Za mu zauna kwanaki uku a ƙauye. – We will stay three days in the village.

But kwana uku is extremely common when talking about visits and trips.

A is a preposition meaning roughly “in / at / on”, depending on context.

• ƙauye = village
• a ƙauye = “in a/the village.”

Hausa does not always mark the difference between “a village” and “the village” as clearly as English; context decides whether it feels definite or indefinite.

Examples:

• Ina zaune a ƙauye. – I live in a village.
• Sun tafi a ƙauye. – They went to the village / to a village (context decides).

They are related but not the same:

• ƙauye – village, rural settlement
• gari – town/city, or more generally “town” as opposed to village

So:

• Za mu zauna kwana uku a ƙauye.
  – We’ll stay three nights in a village (countryside).

• Za mu zauna kwana uku a gari.
  – We’ll stay three nights in town/the city.

Hausa has two different “k” sounds:

• k – ordinary velar stop, like k in English “kid”
• ƙ – an implosive k, made with a slight inward movement of air; it sounds “heavier”/tenser.

For learners, the practical advice is:

• Make sure you distinguish spelling ƙ vs k, because it changes meaning (for example, kasa vs ƙasa are different words).
• If you can’t reliably produce the implosive yet, a clear k is usually understood, but aim to learn the difference over time.

So ƙauye should be pronounced with that “heavy” ƙ, not a plain k.