Learn Hardcore Hausa: Don Allah ka rufe ƙofa idan ka fita waje. - Please close the door if you go outside.

In everyday speech it functions as a very common way to say please, often with a slightly stronger emotional tone, like please / please, I beg you / for goodness’ sake.

In this sentence, it softens the request and makes it polite:

Don Allah ka rufe ƙofa… → Please close the door…

Why do we say ka rufe instead of just rufe for “close (the door)”?

Hausa has two common ways to tell someone to do something:

Bare imperative (more direct):
- Rufe ƙofa! – Close the door!
  This is a straightforward command.
Pronoun + verb (softer / instructional):
- Ka rufe ƙofa. – Literally you closed the door, but very often used as you should close the door / go ahead and close the door.

In requests, people often use Don Allah + ka + verb to sound polite but still clear:

Don Allah ka rufe ƙofa… – Please close the door…

So ka rufe here is a polite, slightly softer way of giving the instruction.

What exactly does ka mean here, and why does it appear twice?

Ka is the 2nd person singular masculine subject pronoun in Hausa, roughly you (male).

In this sentence it appears twice because there are two clauses, and each clause needs its own subject:

Don Allah ka rufe ƙofa
- ka = you (who is being asked to close the door)
idan ka fita waje
- ka = you again (the same person who goes outside)

Structurally:

ka rufe → you close
ka fita → you go out

You cannot normally say idan fita waje without ka; the verb fita still needs a subject.

Does ka always mean “you (male)”? What if I’m speaking to a woman or to several people?

No, Hausa changes the subject pronoun depending on gender and number for 2nd person:

ka = you (singular, masculine)
ki = you (singular, feminine)
ku = you (plural, any gender)

So the pattern of this sentence changes as follows:

To a man:
Don Allah ka rufe ƙofa idan ka fita waje.
To a woman:
Don Allah ki rufe ƙofa idan ki fita waje.
To more than one person:
Don Allah ku rufe ƙofa idan ku fita waje.

In real speech, people sometimes simplify or use ka more broadly, but the textbook standard is to match gender/number.

What does ƙofa mean, and what is that special letter ƙ?

ƙofa means door.

The letter ƙ is not the same as k in Hausa:

k – a plain k sound (like English k in key)
ƙ – an ejective k, made with a little “pop” of air from the throat; it sounds stronger and tighter than normal k

You can approximate ƙ with a very hard, tense k sound.

So:

kofa (with plain k) is a spelling mistake in standard Hausa.
ƙofa (with ƙ) is the correct word for door.

What does idan mean here? Is it “if” or “when”?

Idan can mean both if and when, depending on context:

If (conditional)
When / whenever (time, especially repeated situations)

In idan ka fita waje, given the context (“please close the door when you go outside”), it is understood as:

when you go outside or whenever you go outside

So the whole clause:

idan ka fita waje → when you go outside / whenever you go out

How does fita differ from tafi? Could I say tafi waje instead of fita waje?

Both fita and tafi involve movement, but they are used differently:

fita = to go out / to exit (focus on leaving an enclosed space)
tafi = to go / to leave / to travel (more general motion)

In this sentence:

idan ka fita waje literally: if/when you go out outside, which idiomatically is when you go outside.
This is standard and very natural.

You could say:

idan ka tafi waje – when you go outside

This is understandable and used, but fita waje is the very common set phrase for go outside / go out(side), especially contrasting indoors vs outdoors.

Why is waje added after fita? Isn’t fita already “go out”?

Yes, fita already means to go out / exit, but Hausa often reinforces direction with extra words:

fita waje – literally go out (to) outside
shiga ciki – go in (to) inside

So waje means outside, and together:

fita waje = go outside / go out of the room/house

You can say just idan ka fita in context and it can still mean when you go out, but idan ka fita waje is very clear that you mean outside, not just “leave (this place)” in some other way.

What tense or time does ka fita express here? Is it present, past, or future?

Formally, ka fita (with ka + perfective verb) often looks like you went out.
However, inside an idan clause, Hausa commonly uses this form to talk about:

future events, and
general / repeated events.

So in idan ka fita waje, it naturally means:

when you go outside (in the future or habitually)

Context tells us this is not about one specific past event, but about what should happen each time or whenever that situation occurs.

Is the word order here typical Hausa word order? How can I roughly map it to English structure?

Yes, this is very typical Hausa word order: basically Subject – Verb – Object, with clauses following one another. Breaking it down:

Don Allah – please / for God’s sake (polite opener)
ka rufe – you close
ƙofa – (the) door
idan – if / when
ka fita – you go out
waje – outside

So a rough structure mapping:

Don Allah → Please
ka rufe ƙofa → you close the door
idan ka fita waje → when you go outside

Word order by clause:

Main clause: [Please] [you] [close] [door]
Subordinate clause: [when] [you] [go out] [outside]

It lines up quite comfortably with English in this case.

How polite or strong is this sentence? Can I use it with friends, children, or a boss?

The sentence is polite but clear, thanks to Don Allah and the ka rufe form:

To friends/family: Sounds like a normal, polite request:
Please close the door when you go outside.
To children: Also fine. It is still a request, but with a bit of authority (as from a parent or teacher).
To a boss / someone above you: It’s usually okay if the situation makes such a request natural (for example, reminding them politely). If you want to be extra deferential you might adjust your tone, or say something even softer like:
- Da fatan za ka rufe ƙofa idan ka fita waje.
  (I hope you will close the door when you go outside.)

But in most everyday contexts, the original sentence is politely acceptable.

How would I say “Please don’t close the door when you go outside”?

To make a negative command / request in Hausa, you often use kar or kada plus the pronoun:

Don Allah kar ka rufe ƙofa idan ka fita waje.
or
Don Allah kada ka rufe ƙofa idan ka fita waje.

Both mean:

Please don’t close the door when you go outside.

Change ka to ki or ku as needed (female or plural):

Don Allah kar ki rufe ƙofa idan ki fita waje.
Don Allah kar ku rufe ƙofa idan ku fita waje.

Are there shorter or more casual ways to say the same thing?

Yes, you can make it shorter or more casual in several ways:

Drop Don Allah to sound less formal/polite (like just giving an instruction):
- Ka rufe ƙofa idan ka fita waje.
  Close the door when you go outside.
Drop idan ka if the context is obvious (you are speaking just as someone is about to leave):
- Don Allah ka rufe ƙofa kafin ka fita. – Please close the door before you go.
- Or simply Don Allah ka rufe ƙofa. if it’s clear they are about to go out.
Very casual, with a friend:
- Ka rufe ƙofa idan ka fita waje, fa.
  (Adding fa gives an informal emphasis, like okay? / yeah?)

All of these keep the same basic idea, just with different degrees of brevity and tone.