Use kuna when addressing more than one person and presenting their action, routine, or state from within: Kuna aiki can mean “You all are working” or “You all work.” English you hides number, but Hausa distinguishes singular masculine kana, singular feminine kina, and plural kuna.
All unlabelled examples are (neutral Nigerian Standard Hausa). Ordinary boko does not mark tone or vowel length. The expression after kuna follows continuative verbal-noun syntax, so it cannot always be copied directly from the completive.
Compare the complete person set on the continuative subject–TAM page before memorizing this plural addressee form.
Kuna in the complete paradigm
| Person | Plain continuative | With zuwa “coming/going” |
|---|---|---|
| 1st singular | ina | ina zuwa |
| 2nd masculine singular | kana | kana zuwa |
| 2nd feminine singular | kina | kina zuwa |
| 3rd masculine singular | yana | yana zuwa |
| 3rd feminine singular | tana | tana zuwa |
| 1st plural | muna | muna zuwa |
| 2nd plural | kuna | kuna zuwa |
| 3rd plural | suna | suna zuwa |
| impersonal | ana | ana zuwa |
Kuna shirya ɗakin taro yanzu.
You all are preparing the meeting room now.
Kuna jiran malaminku a waje?
Are you all waiting for your teacher outside?
Kuna magana da ni ne?
Are you all speaking to me?
Kuna already marks the addressees as plural. Independent ku is added for contrast or topic, not as an obligatory English-style subject pronoun.
Ongoing events and group routines
An immediate context yields an in-progress reading.
Kuna sauke kayan daga mota yanzu.
You all are unloading the goods from the vehicle now.
With a frequency expression, the same marker describes a routine.
Kuna zuwa wannan aji kowace Litinin.
You all come to this class every Monday.
Kuna cin abincin rana tare a ranakun aiki.
You all eat lunch together on workdays.
English changes between are …-ing and a simple present. Hausa keeps kuna, while time and frequency phrases guide the interpretation.
State-like predicates with kuna
Several common predicates are continuative in Hausa although English translates them with a simple state verb.
Kuna son ku zauna kusa da taga?
Do you all want to sit near the window?
Kuna buƙatar ƙarin lokaci?
Do you all need more time?
Kuna jin abin da nake faɗa?
Can you all hear what I am saying?
Avoid unnatural translations such as Are you all needing…? Conversely, established-state completive kun sani normally means “you all know.” The English category “state verb” does not mechanically determine the Hausa construction.
Kuna can refer to past, present, or future time
An explicit reference time locates the situation; the continuative marker itself remains kuna.
Jiya da ƙarfe huɗu kuna jiran bas a tasha.
Yesterday at four you all were waiting for a bus at the station.
Yanzu kuna tattauna sabon tsarin.
You all are discussing the new plan now.
Gobe da wannan lokaci kuna tafiya zuwa Jos.
At this time tomorrow you all will be travelling to Jos.
English supplies were/are/will be. Hausa uses jiya, yanzu, gobe, and wider context to locate the continuative situation.
The predicate after kuna is a verbal noun
Compare completive kun zo “you all came” with continuative kuna zuwa “you all are coming/you all come.”
Kun zo da wuri jiya.
You all came early yesterday. (completive)
Kuna zuwa da wuri idan kuna da jarabawa.
You all come early when you have an examination. (continuative)
Kuna shan ruwa sosai a lokacin zafi.
You all drink plenty of water in hot weather.
Kuna sayen littattafanku daga wannan shago?
Do you all buy your books from this shop?
The predicates zuwa, shan, and sayen show different verbal-noun patterns. The -n in shan ruwa and sayen littattafai is a genitive linker before a noun object. Hausa has no single universal “continuous ending.”
Addressing a named group
A vocative can identify the addressees without replacing kuna.
Ɗalibai, kuna ganin rubutun da ke kan allo?
Students, can you all see the writing on the board?
Amina da Musa, kuna zuwa taron tare da mu?
Amina and Musa, are you both coming to the meeting with us?
The comma matters: these names are people being addressed. In a report about them, use third-person plural suna:
Amina da Musa suna zuwa taron tare da mu.
Amina and Musa are coming to the meeting with us.
Independent ku adds contrast while kuna remains the finite marker:
Ku kuna aikin safe, mu kuma muna aikin dare.
You all work the morning shift, while we work the night shift.
Subject focus selects relative kuke:
Ku ne kuke kula da wannan ofishin.
You all are the ones who look after this office.
Plain kuna and relative kuke
Neutral statements and yes/no questions use kuna. Constituent questions, focus, and relative clauses use kuke.
Kuna jiran wani?
Are you all waiting for someone? (yes/no question)
Wane direba kuke jira a tashar?
Which driver are you all waiting for at the station?
Wannan shi ne aikin da kuke yi yanzu.
This is the work that you all are doing now.
A ina kuke ajiye kayan?
Where do you all keep the goods?
Relative kuke does not express past time. It retains the continuative viewpoint but appears in a different syntactic environment. Completive kun packages an event as a whole:
Kun duba rahoton; yanzu kuna gyara kurakuran.
You all reviewed the report; now you are correcting the errors.
Negative second person plural is ba kwa
The standard negative continuative is ba kwa + verbal noun, normally without final ba.
Ba kwa aiki ranar Lahadi.
You all do not work on Sunday.
Ba kwa jiran kowa yanzu.
You all are not waiting for anyone now.
Ba kwa son ku makara wajen taron.
You all do not want to be late for the meeting.
Negative completive uses ba ku + finite predicate + ba:
Ba ku kammala aikin jiya ba.
You all did not finish the work yesterday.
Thus ba kwa zuwa is negative continuative “you all do not come/are not coming,” while ba ku zo ba is negative completive “you all did not come.”
Practice
Choose kuna, kuke, ba kwa, or kun: (1) _ aiki yanzu “You all are working now”; (2) Me _ yi? “What are you all doing?”; (3) _ zuwa nan ranar Lahadi “You all do not come here on Sunday”; (4) _ gama aikin jiya “You all finished the work yesterday.” Answers: kuna, kuke, ba kwa, kun.
Common Mistakes
1. Using a singular form for a group.
❌ Ɗalibai, kana ganin abin da ke kan allo?
Incorrect when addressing the students as a group; kana is masculine singular.
✅ Ɗalibai, kuna ganin abin da ke kan allo?
Students, can you all see what is on the board?
2. Replacing kuna with independent ku.
❌ Ku jiran mota?
Incorrect — ku alone does not make a finite continuative question.
✅ Kuna jiran mota?
Are you all waiting for a vehicle?
3. Using finite zo after kuna.
❌ Kuna zo nan kowace rana.
Incorrect in the standard continuative construction.
✅ Kuna zuwa nan kowace rana.
You all come here every day.
4. Keeping plain kuna in a constituent question.
❌ Me kuna saye a kasuwa?
Incorrect in the standard constituent-question pattern.
✅ Me kuke saye a kasuwa?
What are you all buying at the market?
5. Using ba ku as the negative continuative.
❌ Ba ku aiki yau.
Incorrect for the intended standard negative continuative.
✅ Ba kwa aiki yau.
You all are not working today.
Key Takeaways
- Kuna addresses a plural “you”; singular addressees take kana or kina.
- It covers unfolding actions, routines, and several state-like meanings in any time frame supplied by context.
- Names before kuna are normally vocatives; in a report about that group, use third-person suna.
- Continuative verbal-noun syntax distinguishes kuna zuwa from completive kun zo.
- Use relative kuke in focus, constituent questions, and relative clauses; use negative ba kwa without final ba.
Related Topics
- Continuative: Second Person Masculine Singular (kana)A2 — Address one male with continuative kana and distinguish its verbal-noun construction from feminine, relative, negative, and completive patterns.
- Continuative: Second Person Feminine Singular (kina)A2 — Address one female with continuative kina and use its verbal-noun predicate, relative kike, and negative ba kya forms accurately.
- Continuative: First Person Plural (muna)A2 — Use muna for first-person plural situations and distinguish it from relative muke, negative ba ma, independent mu, and completive mun.
- Continuative PronounsA2 — Use ina, kana, kina, yana, tana, muna, kuna, suna, and ana for ongoing, habitual, and state-like situations in neutral Hausa clauses.
- Relative Continuative PronounsA2 — Use nake, kake, kike, yake, take, muke, kuke, suke, and ake for ongoing or habitual situations in focus, questions, and relative clauses.
- Negative Subject Pronoun SetsA2 — Distinguish Hausa negative completive, continuative, future, potential, and subjunctive subject patterns instead of applying one universal ba rule.