Learn Hardcore Hausa: Kar ka tsaya a titi lokacin da mota ke zuwa. - Don't stop in the street when a car is coming.

kar = the negative imperative (prohibitive) marker: it tells you it’s a “don’t do X” command.
ka = the subject pronoun “you (singular masculine)”.

Hausa negative commands with kar / kada usually have this structure:

Kar / Kada + subject pronoun + verb

Examples:

Kar ka tafi. – Don’t (you, male) go.
Kar ki tafi. – Don’t (you, female) go.
Kar ku tafi. – Don’t (you, plural) go.

So kar and ka are both necessary: one makes it negative; the other says who must not do it.

Is there a difference between kar and kada in this kind of sentence?

Functionally, here they mean the same:

Kar ka tsaya a titi…
Kada ka tsaya a titi…

Both mean: “Don’t stand in the road…”

Differences:

kada is more “full” and slightly more formal or bookish.
kar is a shorter, very common spoken form.

You will hear and see both. In everyday speech, kar is very frequent. In writing, especially formal or religious texts, kada appears a lot.

What exactly does tsaya mean here: “stand” or “stop” or “stay”?

Tsaya can cover all of these ideas depending on context:

“stand (on your feet)” – Ka tsaya a nan. – Stand here.
“stop moving / halt” – Ka tsaya! – Stop!
“stay / remain (without moving on)” – Ka tsaya a gida. – Stay at home.

In Kar ka tsaya a titi…, the idea is:

“Don’t stand / don’t stay / don’t remain in the road (i.e. don’t be in the road).”

So both “don’t stand in the road” and “don’t stay in the road” are acceptable ways to feel the meaning in English.

Why is it a titi and not something like cikin titi or kan titi?

These prepositions have slightly different nuances:

a titi – literally “in/at the road”, very general: being in the area of the road.
cikin titi – literally “inside the road”, sounds more like “in the middle of the road / within the roadway”.
kan titi – literally “on the road (surface)”, focusing on being on top of the roadway.

In ordinary speech, a titi is a natural, broad way to say “in the street / on the road” without over‑specifying. You could say:

Kar ka tsaya a cikin titi lokacin da mota ke zuwa. – Don’t stand in the middle of the road when a car is coming.

That sounds a bit more explicit about being right in traffic.

What does lokacin da do here, and how is it different from just lokaci?

lokaci by itself means “time” (as a noun).
lokacin da literally means “the time that / at the time that”, and functions like the English conjunction “when” introducing a clause.

So:

lokacin da mota ke zuwa – “when a car is coming”.

Compare:

A lokacin da na isa, ya riga ya tafi. – When I arrived, he had already left.

You could often use idan (“if / when”) instead, especially in spoken language:

Kar ka tsaya a titi idan mota na zuwa. – Don’t stand in the road when a car is coming.

lokacin da sounds a bit more “at the time when…”, slightly more explicit than idan.

Why is it mota ke zuwa and not mota na zuwa or mota tana zuwa?

All of these are possible in Hausa, but they’re used in slightly different patterns.

In mota ke zuwa:

mota – subject: “car”
ke – aspect/focus marker used in this relative clause after lokacin da
zuwa – “coming”

After lokacin da, it is very common to use ke + verb in this kind of “when X is doing Y” clause:

lokacin da ruwan sama ke sauka – when the rain is falling
lokacin da rana ke fita – when the sun comes out

You can hear mota na zuwa or mota tana zuwa in other contexts, especially in main clauses:

Mota na zuwa. – A car is coming.
Mota tana zuwa. – The car is coming.

But in this fixed pattern lokacin da + subject + ke + verb, ke is very natural. Think of ke here as the usual marker for ongoing action inside a “when…” clause.

What tense or aspect is expressed by ke zuwa?

ke + verb here expresses an ongoing / progressive action:

mota ke zuwa – “a car is coming / is on its way (right then)”.

So the full clause lokacin da mota ke zuwa is:

“when a car is in the process of coming”
“when a car is coming (approaching)”

It matches English present progressive, but Hausa uses aspect markers (like ke, na, take, suke, etc.) rather than auxiliary verbs like “is / are” to show this.

Why is mota singular, even though in English we usually say “when cars are coming”?

Hausa often uses a singular, indefinite noun to mean “any X in general”:

mota – “a car / any car”
gida – “a house / any house”
mutum – “a person / people in general”

So:

Kar ka tsaya a titi lokacin da mota ke zuwa.

has a general meaning:

“Don’t stand in the road when a car is coming (i.e. whenever a car is coming).”

English happens to prefer plural here: “when cars are coming”, but Hausa does not need to switch to plural to give a general warning. Singular mota already covers the idea of “any car(s)”.

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

You only need to change the subject pronoun:

Kar ka tsaya a titi lokacin da mota ke zuwa. – to a man.
Kar ki tsaya a titi lokacin da mota ke zuwa. – to a woman.

Compare:

ka – “you (singular masculine)”
ki – “you (singular feminine)”

Everything else stays the same.

How would I say it to a group of people (plural “you”)?

Use the plural pronoun ku:

Kar ku tsaya a titi lokacin da mota ke zuwa. – Don’t stand in the road when a car is coming. (to several people)

So the pattern is:

Kar ka… – (you, male)
Kar ki… – (you, female)
Kar ku… – (you, plural)

Is this sentence rude or impolite, or is it a normal way to warn someone?

A bare Kar ka tsaya a titi… is a direct warning. It’s not rude in a safety context (e.g. shouting to a child), but it is quite direct, like “Don’t stand in the road!” in English.

To sound a bit softer or more polite, you could:

add don Allah – “please / for God’s sake”:
- Don Allah, kar ka tsaya a titi lokacin da mota ke zuwa.
or use kada instead of kar (slightly more formal):
- Kada ka tsaya a titi lokacin da mota ke zuwa.

Context and tone of voice matter a lot, just like in English.

Could I shorten it and just say Kar ka tsaya a titi? Would it still sound natural?

Yes, you can:

Kar ka tsaya a titi. – Don’t stand in the road.

That is perfectly natural, especially if the situation makes it obvious why (e.g. you can see traffic).

Adding lokacin da mota ke zuwa just makes the condition explicit:

“Don’t stand in the road when a car is coming.”

So the longer version sounds like a general rule; the shorter version is a direct prohibition without explicitly stating the condition.