Garinmu yana arewa da birni, amma makarantar jami'a tana kudu.

Garinmu is one word made from:

• gari – town
• -nmu – our (possessive suffix)

So garinmu = gari + nmu = our town.

In Hausa, possession is usually shown by adding a suffix to the noun, not by a separate word like our in English. With gari, you get:

• garina – my town
• garinka – your town (to a man)
• garinki – your town (to a woman)
• garinsa – his town
• garinta – her town
• garinmu – our town
• garinku – your town (plural)
• garinsu – their town

So you don’t say mu gari for our town; you attach -nmu to gari and get garinmu.

The verb form agrees with grammatical gender in Hausa:

• gari (and so garinmu) is masculine → use yana
  
  • Garinmu yana… – Our town is…
• makaranta (and makarantar jami'a) is feminine → use tana
  
  • Makarantar jami'a tana… – The university (school) is…

So:

• y-forms (like yana) go with masculine subjects.
• t-forms (like tana) go with feminine subjects.

That’s why the sentence switches from yana to tana.

Yana / tana are present‑tense progressive / continuous forms, but they are also used for location and some other “state” meanings.

So in:

• Garinmu yana arewa da birni…
• …makarantar jami'a tana kudu.

the idea is “Our town is (situated) north of the city”, “the university (school) is (situated) south.”

You can think of yana / tana here as:

• “is (located)”, not just a bare “is”.

For pure equation like “Ali is a teacher”, Hausa often uses ne/ce (e.g. Ali malami ne), but for where something is, yana/tana is very natural.

The pattern is:

[Place A] yana/tana [direction] da [Place B]

Meaning:

Place A is [direction] of/from Place B

So:

• arewa – north
• da – literally “with / at / to / from”, but in this pattern it links the direction with the reference point
• birni – the city

arewa da birni = north (relative) to the city, i.e. to the north of the city.

This same structure works with other directions:

• kudu da birni – south of the city
• gabas da birni – east of the city
• yamma da birni – west of the city

Yes, you can say:

• arewacin birni – literally “the north of the city”.

Compare:

1. Garinmu yana arewa da birni.
   – Our town is to the north of the city. (location relative to the city)

2. Garinmu yana arewacin birni.
   – Our town is in the northern part of the city (or in the city’s north), depending on context.

Rough guide:

• [direction] da [place] – outside/around that place, positioned in that direction.
• [direction]-cin [place] – often “the [direction] part of [place]”.

In many everyday contexts, speakers may use them loosely and context will clarify which is meant.

They overlap in English but are not identical:

• gari – general town / settlement, also used as “place” in some expressions. It can be small or medium‑sized.
• birni – typically a big town / city, often a more important urban center (historically: walled city, capital, royal city).

So in the sentence:

• Garinmu – our town (maybe smaller, where we live)
• birni – the city (bigger nearby city we compare our town to)

You can often translate both simply as “town / city”, but birni usually feels larger / more urban.

Makarantar jami'a is a genitive (possessive / “of”) construction:

• makaranta – school
• jami'a – university
• When makaranta is followed by another noun that specifies it, it takes the linker -r:
  • makaranta + r + jami'a → makarantar jami'a

So the structure is:

makarantar jami'a = the school of the university / university school

In practice, this phrase is used to mean “the university (as a school)”, i.e. the university.

The -r or -n you see on nouns (like makarantar, garin) is a regular linking element in Hausa when one noun is directly followed by another noun that relates to it.

Yes, in many contexts jami'a alone is enough:

• Jami'a tana kudu.
  – The university is in the south / to the south.

Makarantar jami'a is a bit more explicit, literally “the school (which is) the university”. Both are acceptable; the choice depends on style and context:

• If everyone already knows you’re talking about the university, jami'a alone is natural.
• makarantar jami'a can sound a little more formal or descriptive, stressing that it’s an educational institution.

Amma means “but / however”, introducing a contrast.

In:

• Garinmu yana arewa da birni, amma makarantar jami'a tana kudu.

the contrast is:

• Our town = north of the city
• The university = south

Typical position:

• At the start of the contrasting clause, just like English “but”:
  • … , amma …

In careful writing, you usually keep amma right before the clause it contrasts. In very casual speech, it might sometimes appear earlier for emphasis, but the default and clearest pattern is exactly as in the sentence.

No, you normally cannot drop yana / tana here.

Hausa usually needs a verb or copular element in such sentences. For location or position, you normally use yana / tana:

• ✅ Garinmu yana arewa da birni. – correct, complete sentence
• ❌ Garinmu arewa da birni. – feels incomplete / ungrammatical

You could rephrase using another structure (for example with ne/ce and a different word order), but with this word order and meaning, yana / tana are needed to express “is (located)”.