Ka taɓa kwana a otel kusa da teku?

Have you ever spent the night in a hotel near the sea?

Breakdown of Ka taɓa kwana a otel kusa da teku?

• kusa: near
• da: with
• ka: you (masculine)
• a: in

Questions & Answers about Ka taɓa kwana a otel kusa da teku?

What does Ka mean here, and would it change if I’m talking to a woman or to several people?

Ka is the 2nd person singular masculine subject pronoun in the perfective aspect. Roughly, it’s like saying “you (male) have …”.

In this sentence:

• Ka = you (male, singular)
• taɓa = have ever
• So Ka taɓa …? ≈ “Have you ever …?”

If you change who you are talking to, you change this verb form:

• To a woman (singular): Kin taɓa kwana a otel kusa da teku?
• To a group / plural “you”: Kun taɓa kwana a otel kusa da teku?

So:

• Ka = you (1 man)
• Kin = you (1 woman)
• Kun = you (2+ people, any gender)

I thought taɓa means “to touch”. Why is it used here to mean “ever (done something)”?

You’re right: the basic meaning of taɓa is “to touch”.

But in Hausa, taɓa is also used in a special grammatical way with a perfective subject like Ka / Kin / Kun / Na to express “ever done something (in your life / before)”.

Pattern:

• Ka taɓa + verb …? = Have you ever + past participle …?
• Ban taɓa + verb ba. = I have never + past participle.

So:

• Ka taɓa kwana a otel…?
  = Have you ever stayed overnight in a hotel…?
• Ban taɓa kwana a otel kusa da teku ba.
  = I have never stayed overnight in a hotel near the sea.

Here taɓa has bleached its literal meaning and functions more like an “ever” / “never” marker.