Harbin yana da sauri.

Because Hausa normally keeps an agreeing subject marker in the clause even when the full noun is also stated.

So Harbin yana da sauri is structurally like:

• Harbin = the subject noun
• yana = an agreeing subject/TAM form
• da sauri = the predicate

A helpful rough way to think of it is:

• Harbin, it has speed

That sounds odd in English, but it is normal Hausa grammar.

Yana is the 3rd person singular masculine form used in the imperfective/continuous set.

In this sentence, though, it does not mean something awkward like is being fast. With expressions of state or quality, it usually just gives a normal present meaning:

• yana da sauri = it is fast / it has speed

So here yana is part of the standard way to say that something has a certain quality.

Because harbin is treated as a masculine singular noun.

In Hausa, nouns belong to grammatical gender classes, and the agreeing form changes:

• masculine singular: yana
• feminine singular: tana

So this sentence shows you that harbin takes masculine singular agreement.

No. Here da does not mean and.

In this sentence, da means something like:

• with
• having

So yana da sauri literally means something like it has speed/quickness.

That is why the whole phrase means is fast.

Not exactly. Sauri is basically a noun, meaning speed or quickness.

Hausa often uses a structure like:

• da + noun

to express a quality that English would often express with an adjective.

So:

• da sauri = with speed
• yana da sauri = it has speed = it is fast

This is very common in Hausa, so it is worth getting used to early.

The basic form is harbi. The form harbin is a common marked form of the noun, often called a linked or determinate form in descriptions of Hausa.

For a learner, the safest takeaway is:

• harbin is not a plural
• the -n is part of how the noun appears in certain grammatical contexts
• it often gives a more specific/identified feel than the bare base form

So you should not read harbin as harbi + some separate word. It is the noun in a particular form.

No. Even though yana belongs to a form set that is often taught as continuous/imperfective, Hausa uses it in several kinds of present-time statements.

With qualities and possession, it often simply gives the normal present meaning:

• yana da sauri = is fast

So in this sentence, do not force an English progressive meaning.

Yes. That is a very useful thing to notice.

The phrase da sauri can be used:

• as part of a predicate of quality: yana da sauri = it is fast
• adverbially after a verb: ya tafi da sauri = he went quickly

So the same Hausa words may correspond to either fast or quickly in English, depending on the sentence.

Because Hausa does not always use a single separate verb that matches English is.

Instead, Hausa often builds these meanings through patterns such as:

• subject + agreeing form + da
  • noun

So in this sentence, the idea of is is carried by the whole structure yana da ..., not by one standalone word equal to English is.

Yes, that is actually a helpful literal guide.

A very rough literal breakdown is:

• Harbin = the shot / the shooting
• yana = it is / it has
• da sauri = with speed

So the literal picture is:

• The shot, it has speed

That is not natural English, but it helps explain why Hausa uses da sauri where English simply says fast.