Breakdown of Ka rufe taga idan sanyi ya yi sosai a waje.
Questions & Answers about Ka rufe taga idan sanyi ya yi sosai a waje.
Ka is the 2nd person masculine singular subject pronoun in the imperative/subjunctive form.
- Here it means “you (male), do X”.
- It shows that the speaker is talking to one male person.
Other forms you might see:
- ki rufe taga – talking to one female
- ku rufe taga – talking to more than one person (mixed or all male/female)
So Ka rufe taga ≈ “(You, male) close the window.”
In Hausa, you can give commands in two main ways:
With the pronoun (softer / more common in many contexts):
- Ka rufe taga. – to one male
- Ki rufe taga. – to one female
- Ku rufe taga. – to several people
Bare verb (often stronger / more abrupt):
- Rufe taga. – “Close the window.” (can sound more like a direct order)
So Ka rufe taga is a normal, neutral-sounding command addressed to one male, not as “barky” as a bare Rufe taga on its own.
Rufe is the verb meaning “to close / to shut” (a door, window, lid, etc.).
- In form, rufe here is the perfective/subjunctive verb form.
- In Hausa imperatives with ka/ki/ku, the verb typically appears in this same shape:
- Ka rufe taga. – Close the window.
- Ku bude kofa. – Open the door.
Negative commands use a different pattern, for example:
- Kada ka rufe taga. / Kar ka rufe taga. – “Don’t close the window.”
Taga means “window” (a window in a building, car, etc.).
- Singular: taga – a/the window
- Plural: tagogi – windows
Hausa does not use separate words for “a” or “the” like English.
Taga can mean “a window” or “the window” depending on context:
- Ka rufe taga. – Close the window. (the one we’re both aware of)
- Na bude taga. – I opened a/the window. (context decides which)
Idan can mean both “if” and “when”, depending on context:
- Conditional “if”: something that may or may not happen
- Temporal “when”: something that does happen (whenever that condition is met)
In Ka rufe taga idan sanyi ya yi sosai a waje, it is best understood as:
- “when/whenever it is very cold outside”,
but it still feels conditional in English: “if it gets very cold outside”.
You can think of it as: “if/when (the condition is true)”.
Literally, sanyi ya yi is something like “cold has done / has happened”, but idiomatically it means “it is cold / it has become cold” (especially in weather talk).
- sanyi – cold (coldness, coolness)
- ya – “he/it” (masculine pronoun agreeing with sanyi)
- yi – “to do”, “to make”, but in this pattern it functions like “to be / to become (a certain state)”
Hausa often uses yi with things like sanyi (cold), zafi (heat), dumi (warmth):
- Sanyi ya yi. – It is (has become) cold.
- Zafi ya yi. – It is hot.
- Dumi ya yi kadan. – It’s a bit warm.
This is a very common way to talk about the weather or temperature.
Hausa nouns have grammatical gender (masculine / feminine), and pronouns must agree with the gender of the noun.
- sanyi is treated as masculine, so it takes ya (“he/it”)
- a feminine noun would take ta (“she/it”)
So:
- Sanyi ya yi sosai. – It’s very cold.
- If the subject were feminine, for example rana (sun):
- Rana ta fito. – The sun has come out.
In your sentence, sanyi is the subject, so the agreeing pronoun is ya.
Ya yi is the perfective form of yi.
- Literally: “(it) has done / has become”
- In weather and state expressions, Hausa often uses the perfective for a current resulting state, which English usually expresses with the present:
So:
- Sanyi ya yi sosai.
- Very literally: “Cold has (now) happened a lot.”
- Natural English: “It’s very cold.” / “It has become very cold.”
This is normal in Hausa: the perfective can describe a state resulting from a completed change.
Sosai means “very, a lot, greatly, really” – it’s an intensifier.
- sanyi ya yi sosai – “it’s very cold / really cold”
Placement:
- Sosai usually comes after the verb or adjective/quality it is modifying:
- Na gaji sosai. – I’m very tired.
- Ya yi kyau sosai. – It’s very beautiful.
- Sanyi ya yi sosai. – It’s very cold.
You can sometimes place sosai earlier for emphasis, but in everyday speech after the phrase is most common and natural.
A waje means “outside” (literally: “at outside / in the outside”).
- waje – outside / outside place
- a – a general locative preposition: “at, in, on”
So:
- a gida – at home / in the house
- a kasuwa – at the market
- a waje – outside
In sanyi ya yi sosai a waje, a waje tells you where it is cold: “outside”.
The given order is very natural:
- idan [sanyi ya yi sosai a waje]
You may also hear:
- idan ya yi sanyi sosai a waje
Both are acceptable; the difference is subtle:
- idan sanyi ya yi sosai a waje
Focus is first on “cold” as the condition. - idan ya yi sanyi sosai a waje
Slightly more verb-centered: “if it gets very cold outside”.
For learners, it’s easiest to stick with the original pattern; it’s very common and fully correct.
Ka rufe taga is a neutral, direct command to one male: “Close the window.”
To soften or politeness-upgrade it, you can add politeness markers or rephrase:
- Add don Allah (“please / for God’s sake”):
- Don Allah ka rufe taga. – Please close the window.
- Make it a yes/no question, like English “Could you…?”:
- Za ka iya rufe taga? – Can/Could you close the window?
- Add something like dan Allah (variant of don Allah), etc.
To make it stronger or more blunt, you can drop the ka:
- Rufe taga! – Close the window! (more like a sharp order)
Yes, a few common variants (all natural):
Idan sanyi ya yi sosai a waje.
– When/if it is very cold outside. (your sentence)Idan ya yi sanyi sosai a waje.
– When/if it gets very cold outside. (slightly different word order)Idan ana sanyi sosai a waje.
– When it’s very cold outside.
(literally: “when one is in cold a lot outside” – more like an ongoing condition)
All of these can be used in similar situations; the version with sanyi ya yi sosai a waje is very idiomatic for talking about weather that has become cold.