Plain Completive: Second Person Masculine Singular (ka)

The affirmative plain-completive form for one male addressee is ka. It stands before the predicate: Ka zo “You came,” Ka gama “You have finished,” Ka sani “You know.” Hausa requires the speaker to choose masculine ka or feminine kin even though English uses undifferentiated you.

All unlabelled examples here are (neutral Nigerian Standard Hausa). Ordinary boko writes several grammatically different forms as ka because it does not show tone and vowel length. Position, clause type, discourse context—and, in speech, tone and vowel length—distinguish plain-completive ka, relative-completive ka, subjunctive ka, and direct-object ka.

Ka in the plain-completive paradigm

Ka addresses one man or boy. Use kin for one woman or girl and kun for two or more addressees regardless of gender.

The plain completive presents the event as a whole. A time phrase or discourse context tells English whether simple past or present perfect sounds more natural.

Active predicates usually describe a completed action

With active predicates, ka commonly reports what the male addressee did.

In ka ba shi, completive ka is followed by lexical ba “give” and its recipient shi. The verb ba exceptionally selects ni/ka/ki/shi/ta/mu/ku/su as recipient forms; ka ba masa is not the neutral standard construction for “you gave him.”

Questions such as Ka karɓi saƙona? keep the plain-completive marker. Standard Hausa polar-question interpretation belongs to the whole clause and does not depend on one obligatory English-style final rise.

Stative predicates can describe a present state

With predicates of knowledge, ability, perception, or comparison, plain-completive ka can receive an English present translation.

The marker has not changed into a present tense. Rather, the completive presents the state or relation as established at the reference time. Compare an active predicate:

English past drank versus present know/can comes from the interaction of completive viewpoint and lexical meaning. See active and stative interpretations.

Time words locate the event

The last example uses a completive within a future reference frame: completion is viewed as already achieved by tomorrow morning. Ordinary future Za ka kammala rahoton gobe instead predicts the later event. Hausa therefore does not map ka to one absolute English tense.

Independent kai and a name do not replace ka

Independent kai can add contrast or emphasis, but completive ka remains:

In the first sentence, kai sets the addressee against Amina. The following ka makes the clause finite. English normally translates only one overt you, but the two Hausa forms have different jobs.

A name can occur as a vocative—the person being addressed—while ka remains the grammatical subject marker:

The comma reflects the structure: Musa calls the addressee; ka karɓi asks what that male addressee did. By contrast, when Musa is discussed in the third person, use Musa ya karɓi saƙona “Musa received my message.”

Plain ka and relative ka share their spelling

The second-person masculine singular relative completive is also written ka. Neutral reporting uses plain ka; a constituent question, focus construction, or relative clause can select relative ka.

The spelling gives no visible clue. The fronted me and focus frame kai ne license the relative form. It is wrong to call every ka plain merely because the letters match.

Ka has other grammatical jobs

Postverbal ka can be a direct object referring to one male:

The first ka follows kira and is an object. The second stands before ɗaga inside a negative-completive subject frame. Position and surrounding morphology separate them.

Subjunctive ka also precedes a verb after triggers such as wanting, requesting, purpose, or a prior command:

Here ka zo does not assert that coming is complete. It names the desired action. Again, ordinary boko hides the spoken distinction, so learners must read the whole construction.

Negative completive is ba ka … ba

To deny a completed event or established state for one male addressee, use ba ka … ba.

The first two active predicates translate with English past, while stative sani translates with present do not know. Do not add or remove the final ba by analogy with the negative continuative ba ka zuwa “you do not come/are not coming,” which has no closing ba in the standard pattern.

Practice: choose the correct male-addressee frame

English repeats you, but Hausa chooses ka, za ka, kana according to viewpoint and clause type.

Common Mistakes

1. Using ka for a female addressee.

2. Replacing the marker with independent kai.

3. Translating every completive ka as past.

4. Omitting the closing ba in a negative completive.

5. Calling focused ka plain because the spelling is identical.

Key Takeaways

• Ka is the affirmative plain-completive form for one male addressee; feminine singular is kin and plural is kun.
• Active predicates normally yield a completed-event reading; stative predicates can yield an English present reading.
• Independent kai adds contrast, while preverbal ka makes the completive clause finite.
• Plain-completive, relative-completive, subjunctive, and object ka can share ordinary spelling but occupy different structures.
• Negative completive uses ba ka … ba.
• Time expressions can anchor ka in past, present-state, or future-perfect interpretations.