A Grade 4 command keeps the Grade 4 -e stem but replaces its ordinary lexical tone with the special imperative melody. This matters because boko writes Rufe!, Rufe ƙofar!, and Rufe ta! with the same verb, although the command pattern and the following object create real differences in speech. Grade 4 includes both basic verbs such as rufe “close” and derived forms such as cinye “eat up completely,” so a correct command requires both morphology and the verb’s established meaning. The broader grade-sensitive imperative guide places this pattern alongside other verb classes.
All unlabelled examples are (neutral Nigerian Standard Hausa). Ordinary boko does not mark tone or vowel length. The symbols H and L below are (academic/pedagogical) descriptions of spoken patterns, not alternative spellings.
The bare command has its own tone melody
The special bare imperative is an affirmative command to one addressee, male or female. It has no preverbal subject marker and does not itself distinguish the addressee’s gender. Its characteristic melody is L–H, with low tone up to a final high endpoint; this replaces the ordinary Grade 4 H–L(–H) melody.
Rufe yanzu; ƙura tana shigowa.
Close it now; dust is coming in. (one addressee, object understood)
Ajiye a nan har sai na dawo.
Put it away here until I return. (one addressee, object understood)
Cinye kafin abincin ya huce.
Finish eating it before the food gets cold. (one addressee, object understood)
The imperative melody belongs to the command construction, not to Grade 4 itself. In a statement, ya rufe keeps the ordinary Grade 4 melody; in the bare command Rufe!, the imperative melody takes over. English signals a command mostly by leaving out you. Hausa likewise omits the addressee here, but also changes the verb’s tone.
One verb in four command frames
Use rufe “close” to keep the object environments separate. The ordinary spelling stays rufe in all four, but the noun-object C-form has a short final vowel and an all-low command realization. The other frames retain the longer Grade 4 base/D-form behavior under the imperative pattern.
| Frame | Command | What follows the verb |
|---|---|---|
| no following object | Rufe! | nothing; the thing may be understood |
| noun direct object | Rufe ƙofar! | ƙofar |
| direct-object pronoun | Rufe ta! | ta |
| indirect object | Rufe mini ƙofar! | mini, then the theme ƙofar |
Rufe! Za mu buɗe bayan ruwan sama ya tsaya.
Close it! We will open it after the rain stops.
Rufe ƙofar kafin yara su kwanta.
Close the door before the children go to bed. (noun direct object)
Rufe ta da kyau; makullin ba ya kama da sauri.
Close it properly; the lock does not catch easily. (feminine direct-object pronoun)
Rufe mini ƙofar ofis idan za ka fita.
Close the office door for me if you are going out. (beneficiary immediately after the verb)
The last sentence does not make mini the thing closed. It is the beneficiary, and ƙofar ofis remains the theme. The grade system supplies a D-form environment, but the construction must still make sense with the lexical verb.
A noun object creates the special all-low command form
With regular Grade 1 and Grade 4 verbs, the bare imperative before a noun direct object is exceptional: the verb is all low and its final vowel is short. Standard boko does not show those properties. Thus the visible sequence rufe ƙofar must be learned with its spoken command pattern rather than pronounced as though it were the statement ya rufe ƙofar with the subject–TAM material removed.
Wanke kofunan nan kafin baƙi su iso.
Wash these cups before the guests arrive. (noun object)
Yanke igiyar a inda na sa alama.
Cut through the rope where I made a mark. (noun object)
Ajiye wayarka lokacin da darasi ya fara.
Put your phone away when the lesson begins. (noun object)
These verbs do not all express “total completion” in the same transparent way. Rufe and ajiye are ordinary lexical Grade 4 verbs; cinye more clearly adds an exhaustive meaning to ci “eat.” Grade membership predicts the form, but the dictionary meaning decides what the command actually asks someone to do.
Pronoun objects stay directly after the verb
A direct-object pronoun follows a regular Grade 4 verb without da. Use ni, ka, ki, shi, ta, mu, ku, su in this position. The imperative melody extends over the close verb–pronoun unit in speech, even though standard writing separates the words.
Wanke su yanzu; muna buƙatar kofunan da yamma.
Wash them now; we need the cups this evening.
Ajiye shi a cikin aljihunka kada ya ɓace.
Put it in your pocket so it does not get lost. (masculine object)
Rufe ta saboda iska tana da ƙarfi.
Close it because the wind is strong. (feminine object)
Do not substitute an independent pronoun in this neutral object slot. Ita can be focused or occur after a preposition, but ordinary “close it/her” is rufe ta, not rufe ita. Also do not copy the Grade 5 pattern -ar da onto a Grade 4 command: rufe da ita does not mean neutral “close it.”
Marking gender or a plural addressee uses the subjunctive command
To identify the addressee’s gender or number overtly, use a short low-tone subjunctive subject marker: ka for one man, ki for one woman, and ku for several people. The bare imperative remains available to either one man or one woman; the verb with ka/ki makes the gender explicit. The verb then appears in the form required by its ordinary object frame rather than in the special subjectless imperative.
Ki rufe tagar kafin ki kunna na’urar sanyaya ɗaki.
Close the window before you turn on the air conditioner. (to one woman)
Ku ajiye takardunku a kan tebur kafin ku fita.
Put your papers on the table before you leave. (to several people)
Ka cinye abincin da kake so; kada ka tilasta wa kanka.
Finish the food you like; do not force yourself. (to one man)
For negative commands, Hausa normally uses kada or conversational contraction kar plus the subjunctive. There is no negative counterpart made by simply placing a negative word before the bare imperative.
Kada ka rufe shagon tukuna; akwai kwastoma a ciki.
Do not close the shop yet; there is a customer inside.
Kar ku ajiye kayan a waje; ana shirin ruwa.
Do not leave the goods outside; it looks like rain. (informal contraction)
Basic and derived Grade 4 commands
Grade 4 often contributes totality, completion, separation, or movement away, but those are tendencies. Compare basic ci “eat” with derived Grade 4 cinye “eat up, finish eating,” and basic sha “drink” with shanye “drink up.” The -nye found with these monosyllabic bases is part of the established Grade 4 extension.
Ci abinci kaɗan kafin ka sha maganin.
Eat a little food before you take the medicine. (basic ci)
Cinye abin da kake so; sauran ka bari.
Finish what you like; leave the rest. (derived Grade 4 cinye)
Sha ruwa kafin ka ci gaba da tafiya.
Drink water before you continue the journey. (basic sha)
Shanye ruwan da ke kofin; za mu wanke shi.
Drink up the water in the cup; we will wash it.
The difference is lexical as well as morphological. Do not manufacture a Grade 4 command from every verb merely because English adds up, away, or completely. Learn whether the extended verb is attested and what its normal object frames are.
Practice
Transform the neutral instruction ka rufe ƙofar into four forms: bare command with a noun (Rufe ƙofar!), bare command with the feminine pronoun (Rufe ta!), a command to one woman (Ki rufe ƙofar!), and a command to a group (Ku rufe ƙofar!). Then contrast Ci tuwon “eat the tuwo” with Cinye tuwon “finish the tuwo”: the second is not merely a stronger tone of voice but a different, derived Grade 4 verb.
Common Mistakes
1. Keeping statement pronunciation in the bare command.
❌ Rufe ƙofar.
Incorrect delivery if rufe keeps its ordinary statement melody; the bare noun-object command has its own all-low pattern.
✅ Rufe ƙofar kafin ka fita.
Close the door before you leave — use the Grade 4 noun-object command pattern.
2. Inserting da before an ordinary Grade 4 object.
❌ Rufe da ƙofar.
Incorrect for ‘close the door’ — rufe takes the noun object directly.
✅ Rufe ƙofar da kyau.
Close the door properly.
3. Using an independent pronoun as the neutral direct object.
❌ Rufe ita yanzu.
Incorrect in the intended neutral object frame.
✅ Rufe ta yanzu.
Close it now. (feminine object)
4. Treating the bare imperative as the ordinary plural command.
❌ Rufe ƙofofin yanzu.
Incorrect if the instruction is explicitly addressed to several people without a context that permits an unmarked bare command.
✅ Ku rufe ƙofofin yanzu.
Close the doors now. (to several people)
5. Creating a totality verb mechanically.
❌ Ana iya mayar da kowane fi’ili Grade 4 domin a ce ‘gama aikin.’
Incorrect claim — Grade 4 derivation and meaning are lexically restricted.
✅ Shanye ruwan kafin mu tafi.
Drink up the water before we leave. (established shanye)
Key Takeaways
- The bare Grade 4 imperative keeps -e but takes the imperative L–H melody.
- Before a noun direct object, a regular Grade 4 bare command is all low with short final -e, though boko does not show it.
- Direct-object pronouns follow immediately: rufe ta, not rufe ita or rufe da ita.
- Use ka/ki/ku + Grade 4 verb for an overtly marked addressee, and kada/kar + subjunctive for a negative command.
- Grade 4 meaning is lexical: cinye and shanye express total consumption, while verbs such as rufe and ajiye must simply be learned as Grade 4 lexemes.
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Start learning Hausa →Related Topics
- Singular Imperatives: Basic FormationA2 — Form affirmative commands to one Hausa addressee with the special subjectless imperative while respecting its tonal and verb-class limits.
- Grade-Sensitive Imperative FormsA2 — Recognize how Hausa verb grade and following-object type shape commands without confusing stem alternations with person, tense, or politeness.
- Imperatives with Direct ObjectsA2 — Place noun and pronoun objects correctly in Hausa commands while preserving person marking and the Grade 2 object-conditioned verb forms.
- Imperatives with Indirect ObjectsA2 — Give Hausa commands with recipients and beneficiaries, keeping the ordinary ma-series distinct from the exceptional recipient forms selected by ba ‘give’.
- Direct Objects after Regular VerbsA2 — Place Hausa direct-object pronouns immediately after regular Grade 1 and Grade 4 verbs while preserving the verb's correct pre-pronoun form.
- The Three Object EnvironmentsA2 — Choose Hausa verb forms by whether no object, a noun direct object, or a direct-object pronoun immediately follows, while treating indirect objects separately.