Kada ka sha gubar.

Kada is the word used to make a negative command in Hausa. It means don’t in sentences like this.

So:

Kada ka sha gubar. = Don’t drink the poison.

A useful pattern is:

kada + subject marker + verb + object

So this is not just a word-for-word match with English; it is the normal Hausa way to say don’t do X.

Ka is the subject marker for you when speaking to one male person in this kind of construction.

So in:

Kada ka sha gubar.

ka tells you who is being addressed: you (singular, masculine).

In Hausa, this little pronoun is normally required here. You do not usually just say Kada sha gubar.

You change the subject marker:

• to one man: Kada ka sha gubar.
• to one woman: Kada ki sha gubar.
• to more than one person: Kada ku sha gubar.

So the part after kada changes depending on who you are speaking to.

Not always. Sha often means drink, but it can also mean take in / consume / ingest, depending on the object.

That is why it works naturally with poison. In English, drink poison is fine, but Hausa sha can be slightly broader than the English verb drink.

You will also see sha with things like:

• water
• medicine
• alcohol

So here it means something like drink / take in the poison.

The basic dictionary form is guba = poison.

Gubar is a marked form of the noun that learners often meet with feminine nouns. In many contexts, it corresponds to something like the poison or a more specific/identified noun.

So:

• guba = poison
• gubar = the poison / poison in this sentence’s natural form

This is a normal Hausa pattern. You will see similar pairs with other nouns too.

Structurally, yes, it contains a pronoun marker for you, but in natural English you would simply translate it as:

Don’t drink the poison.

So while ka is clearly present in the Hausa grammar, you do not need to force it into English as a separate you unless you want emphasis.

No, this is best understood as a prohibition or negative command, not a normal tense like present or past.

It tells someone not to do something. It is about instruction or warning, not about when the action happens.

So the main idea is:

Do not drink the poison.

Yes. Kar is a very common shortened form of kada in this kind of sentence.

So these are equivalent in meaning:

• Kada ka sha gubar.
• Kar ka sha gubar.

Both mean Don’t drink the poison.

Learners will hear and read both forms.

The basic order is:

kada + subject marker + verb + object

In this sentence:

• kada = don’t
• ka = you (singular masculine)
• sha = drink / ingest
• gubar = the poison

So Hausa builds the sentence in a very regular way. If you learn this pattern, you can make many other negative commands.

For example:

• Kada ka tafi. = Don’t go.
• Kada ki yi haka. = Don’t do that.
• Kada ku zo. = Don’t come.

A rough English-friendly guide is:

KAH-dah kah shah GOO-bar

A few helpful notes:

• sha sounds like shah
• u in gubar is like oo in food
• the final r is usually a light Hausa r, not a strong English r
• Hausa spelling normally does not show tone in everyday writing, so beginners usually learn the pronunciation from listening as well as reading

So if you say something close to KAH-dah kah shah GOO-bar, you will be in the right area.