Learn Hardcore Hausa: Kar ki manta da tambayoyin da malami ya ba mu. - Don’t forget the questions that the teacher gave us.

kada ki manta… – full, slightly more formal or careful form.
kar ki manta… – shorter, very common in everyday speech; often a contracted or reduced variant used in conversation.

You will see and hear both. In writing (especially careful or formal text), kada is very common; in spoken Hausa, kar is extremely frequent.

Why is ki used here instead of ka or ku?

Because Hausa marks gender and number for you in these verb forms:

ka = you (masculine singular)
ki = you (feminine singular)
ku = you (plural, any mix of genders)

So:

To one man: Kar ka manta da tambayoyin da malami ya ba mu.
To one woman: Kar ki manta da tambayoyin da malami ya ba mu.
To several people: Kar ku manta da tambayoyin da malami ya ba mu.

What does the first da in manta da tambayoyin do? Could we leave it out?

In manta da tambayoyin, the da is a preposition. With the verb manta (to forget), Hausa very often uses the pattern:

manta da X = forget about X / fail to remember X

Examples:

Na manta da sunanki. – I forgot your name.
Kar ku manta da aikin gida. – Don’t forget the homework.

You will hear some speakers sometimes say manta tambaya without da, but manta da X is the normal and safest pattern to learn. In this sentence, you should keep the da.

The sentence has da twice: …manta da tambayoyin da malami ya ba mu. Is it the same word and meaning both times?

No, they are two different functions, even though they look the same:

First da (after manta):
- It is a preposition meaning something like about/with.
- Structure: manta da tambayoyin – forget about the questions.
Second da (before malami):
- It is a relative marker, introducing a relative clause.
- tambayoyin da malami ya ba mu literally: the questions that a/the teacher gave us.

So:

First da = grammatical link after the verb manta.
Second da = “that/which” linking tambayoyin to the clause malami ya ba mu.

What does the ending -n in tambayoyin do? Why not just say tambayoyi?

Tambayoyi is the basic plural “questions”.
Tambayoyin has an extra ending -n, which works as a linker/definite marker.

In Hausa, when a noun is:

definite, and/or
followed by a phrase that specifies it (like a relative clause, a possessor, etc.),

it often takes a linking -n / -r on the end.

Here:

tambayoyi = questions (in general)
tambayoyin da malami ya ba mu = the questions that the teacher gave us (a specific set of questions)

So -n connects tambayoyi to the following relative clause and also tends to make it “the questions” rather than just “questions”.

Can you break down tambayoyin into its parts?

Yes. Morphologically, tambayoyin is:

tambaya – question (singular noun)
-oyi – plural ending → tambayoyi = questions
-n – linker / definite marker → tambayoyin = the questions (that …)

So: tambaya → tambayoyi → tambayoyin (da …)

Why is there no -n on malami in da malami ya ba mu? Should it be malamin?

Here malami is the subject of the relative clause:

da malami ya ba mu = that a/the teacher gave us

Both malami and malamin are possible in Hausa, with a nuance:

malami – often feels more indefinite (a teacher).
malamin – feels more definite/specific, like the (particular) teacher (already known in the context).

So if the context is clearly one specific teacher (for example, our usual teacher), you could say:

Kar ki manta da tambayoyin da malamin ya ba mu.

The original sentence with malami is still natural; Hausa does not always force definiteness marking, and context usually makes it clear.

What is the role of ya in malami ya ba mu? Why do we need it?

Ya is the 3rd person singular masculine subject marker (roughly “he”) and also carries tense/aspect information (here, perfective).

In Hausa, a full noun subject is usually followed by a subject marker before the main verb:

Malami ya ba mu. – The teacher gave us (something).
Yaro ya zo. – The boy came.
Aisha ta zo. – Aisha came. (here ta = 3rd sg feminine)

You cannot normally say *Malami ba mu without ya.
The pattern is:

[Subject noun] + [subject marker like ya/ta/su] + [verb] …

So ya is grammatically required to form the sentence correctly.

What does mu in ba mu mean, and how would it change with other people?

In ba mu, the elements are:

ba – verb “give” (not the negative ba; same spelling, different word)
mu – object pronoun “us” (1st person plural)

So ya ba mu = “he gave us (something)”.

If you change the object pronoun:

ya ba ni – he gave me
ya ba ka – he gave you (masc. sg)
ya ba ki – he gave you (fem. sg)
ya ba shi – he gave him
ya ba ta – he gave her
ya ba su – he gave them

What tense/aspect is ya ba mu, and does it correspond to English “gave us” or “has given us”?

Ya ba mu uses the perfective aspect in Hausa.

Depending on context, it can correspond to either:

“(the teacher) gave us (the questions)” – simple past, or
“(the teacher) has given us (the questions)” – present perfect.

Hausa perfective often covers both English simple past and present perfect, so the exact English translation depends on the broader context, not on a tense change in Hausa.

How would the sentence change if I were speaking to a man or to several students instead of one woman?

Change only the pronoun with kar:

To one woman (original):
Kar ki manta da tambayoyin da malami ya ba mu.
To one man:
Kar ka manta da tambayoyin da malami ya ba mu.
To several people (mixed group or plural):
Kar ku manta da tambayoyin da malami ya ba mu.

In a slightly more formal style, you can use kada instead of kar:

Kada ku manta da tambayoyin da malami ya ba mu. – Don’t (you all) forget the questions that the teacher gave us.