The affirmative plain-completive marker for more than one addressee is kun: Kun zo “You came,” Kun gama “You have finished,” and Kun sani “You know.” It makes no gender distinction. Use the same plural form for a group of men, a group of women, or a mixed group.
Kun can also address one respected person with plural agreement (polite/formal). The social choice does not change the grammar: whether there are several literal addressees or one honorifically plural addressee, kun remains the subject–TAM form.
All other unlabelled examples are (neutral Nigerian Standard Hausa). Ordinary boko writes kun without tone or vowel-length notation.
Kun in the plain-completive paradigm
| Person | Plain completive | With zo “come” |
|---|---|---|
| 1st singular | na | na zo |
| 2nd masculine singular | ka | ka zo |
| 2nd feminine singular | kin | kin zo |
| 3rd masculine singular | ya | ya zo |
| 3rd feminine singular | ta | ta zo |
| 1st plural | mun | mun zo |
| 2nd plural | kun | kun zo |
| 3rd plural | sun | sun zo |
| impersonal | an | an zo |
Kun dawo lafiya?
Did you all get back safely?
Kun gama aikin.
You all finished the work / You have all finished the work.
Kun karɓi saƙona?
Did you all receive my message?
English you leaves number unstated. Hausa requires ka for one male, kin for one female, and kun for a plural addressee. English translations often add all only to make the Hausa number visible; all is not a separate word inside kun.
Active predicates report a completed event
With action predicates, kun presents the event as a complete whole.
Jiya kun kira ni sau biyu.
Yesterday you all called me twice.
Kun ajiye kayan a cikin mota.
You all put the things in the car.
Kun ba su kuɗin mota?
Did you give them the bus fare?
In kun ba su, kun marks the plural addressee and completive viewpoint, ba is the lexical verb “give,” and su is the plural recipient. The exceptional recipient pattern of ba requires su, not musu.
The completive does not decide by itself between English simple past and present perfect. Kun gama can report what a group did or announce that its work is now finished.
Names and group descriptions do not replace kun
A list or group description can identify the people addressed. It normally functions as a vocative or apposition, while kun remains the finite subject–TAM marker.
Amina da Musa, kun tura saƙon?
Amina and Musa, did you send the message?
Ku ɗaliban aji na biyu, kun kammala jarrabawar.
You second-year students have finished the examination.
Independent ku adds contrast or makes the addressed group explicit; kun carries the completive frame.
Ku kun kawo ruwan; su kuma sun kawo abincin.
You brought the water; they brought the food. (plural contrastive you)
If Amina and Musa are being discussed rather than addressed, third-person plural sun is required: Amina da Musa sun tura saƙon “Amina and Musa sent the message.” Punctuation and conversational context therefore matter.
Stative predicates often receive a present translation
With knowledge, ability, perception, or comparison, the completive can describe an established state.
Kun san inda ofishin yake.
You all know where the office is.
Kun iya yin wannan aikin.
You can do this work.
Kun fi su yawa.
You are more numerous than they are.
The present English translations do not turn kun into a present-tense pronoun. The lexical meanings of sani, iya, and fi describe states or relations that are already established. With active Kun koyi yadda ake yin aikin, the natural translation is “You learned how the work is done.”
Time expressions anchor the viewpoint
Jiya kun kammala rahoton.
Yesterday you completed the report.
Yanzu kun gane matsalar.
Now you understand the problem.
Zuwa gobe da safe, kun kammala rahoton.
By tomorrow morning, you will have completed the report.
The last sentence sets tomorrow morning as a reference point and views the report as complete by then. Za ku kammala rahoton gobe “You will complete the report tomorrow” instead predicts the event. The same lexical verb can therefore receive different English tense forms when the Hausa viewpoint and time frame change.
Plain kun contrasts with relative kuka
The second-person plural relative completive is kuka, not kun. Neutral statements and whole-proposition polar questions use plain kun. Constituent questions, focus, and appropriate relative clauses select kuka.
Kun sayi sabuwar mota.
You bought a new car. (plain completive; plural you)
Me kuka saya?
What did you buy? (relative completive; plural you)
Ku ne kuka sayi sabuwar motar?
Are you the ones who bought the new car?
The contrast is not optional. Kun sayi mota? “Did you buy a car?” questions the proposition and keeps the plain form. Me kuka saya? focuses the unknown object and requires the relative paradigm. Relative kuka is not a more emphatic version of kun and does not mean a different past tense.
See plain and relative TAM forms for the larger distributional pattern.
Distinguishing kun from ku, kuna, and -ku
| Form | Function | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ku | independent or object/recipient pronoun; also a subjunctive marker in its own construction | Na kira ku; ina so ku zo. |
| kun | plain-completive subject–TAM | Kun zo. |
| kuka | relative-completive subject–TAM | Ina kuka je? |
| kuna | continuative subject–TAM | Kuna aiki. |
| -ku | possessive suffix | gidanku |
Na kira ku jiya, amma ba ku ɗaga waya ba.
I called you yesterday, but you did not answer the phone.
The first ku follows kira and is the direct object “you.” The second is the subject form inside the negative-completive frame. Neither is affirmative kun.
Kun shiga gidanku, kuka rufe ƙofar.
You entered your house and closed the door.
In gidanku, -ku expresses possession “your.” Kun shiga is plain completive. Linked kuka rufe uses the relative-completive form in this narrative connection; it should not be treated as a pronunciation variant of kun.
Kuna aiki yanzu, amma kun huta da safe.
You are working now, but you rested in the morning.
Continuative kuna aiki presents an activity in progress; completive kun huta presents a bounded period of rest.
Respectful singular address
Plural address forms are also available for one respected person (polite/formal), particularly where social distance, age, or office calls for deference.
Ranka ya daɗe, kun karɓi wasiƙar?
Sir, have you received the letter? (polite/formal singular address)
The grammar remains plural even though one person is addressed. Do not mix respectful kun with a singular continuation in the same subject–TAM chain. The exact social preference varies with relationship and setting; ordinary peers normally use singular ka or kin to one person.
Negative completive is ba ku … ba
The plural negative-completive subject form is ku, framed by ba … ba.
Ba ku kira ni jiya ba.
You did not call me yesterday.
Ba ku gama aikin ba.
You did not finish the work.
Ba ku san amsar ba.
You do not know the answer.
The closing ba is required in this negative-completive pattern. Negative continuative Ba kwa zuwa ranar Lahadi “You do not come on Sunday” belongs to another TAM series and normally lacks the closing ba.
Common Mistakes
1. Using a singular marker for a group.
❌ Ka gama aikin?
Incorrect when asking a group; ka addresses one male.
✅ Kun gama aikin?
Have you finished the work? (to a group)
2. Replacing kun with independent ku.
❌ Ku gama aikin.
Incorrect for ‘You finished the work’; this can instead be a subjunctive command-like form, ‘You should finish the work.’
✅ Kun gama aikin.
You finished the work.
3. Keeping kun in a constituent question.
❌ Me kun saya?
Incorrect in the standard relative-completive pattern.
✅ Me kuka saya?
What did you buy? (plural you)
4. Keeping affirmative kun inside the negative frame.
❌ Ba kun gama aikin ba.
Incorrect — negative completive uses ku, not kun.
✅ Ba ku gama aikin ba.
You did not finish the work.
5. Translating every kun clause as English past.
❌ Kun san amsar.
Incorrect if automatically translated as ‘You knew the answer’; the usual stative reading is current knowledge.
✅ Kun san amsar.
You know the answer. (plural or respectfully plural you)
Key Takeaways
- Kun is the affirmative plain-completive marker for plural addressees, with no gender distinction.
- It can also address one respected person (polite/formal) while retaining plural grammar.
- Independent/object ku, possessive -ku, continuative kuna, and relative-completive kuka are distinct.
- An explicit vocative or group phrase does not replace the required preverbal kun.
- Constituent focus selects kuka; negative completive uses ba ku … ba.
- Active predicates normally yield completed-event readings, while stative predicates can yield present established-state readings.
Related Topics
- Plain Completive: Second Person Masculine Singular (ka)A2 — Use masculine-singular ka for a male addressee in neutral completive clauses and distinguish it from feminine, object, relative, and subjunctive forms.
- Plain Completive: Second Person Feminine Singular (kin)A2 — Use kin for one female addressee in neutral completive clauses and distinguish it from kika, ki, kina, and other second-person forms.
- Plain Completive: First Person Plural (mun)A2 — Use mun for a first-person plural subject in neutral completive clauses and distinguish it from mu, muka, muna, and possessive -mu.
- Plain and Relative TAM FormsA1 — Choose plain Hausa completive and continuative forms for neutral clauses, and relative forms for focus, constituent questions, and relative clauses.
- Completive Meaning with Active VerbsA2 — Understand how Hausa plain-completive markers present actions, processes, and changes as bounded wholes rather than simply marking past tense.
- Relative Completive: Complete Person ParadigmB1 — Master all nine Hausa relative-completive subject markers and recognize their focus, relative, temporal, narrative, negative, and stative uses.