Learn Hardcore Hausa: Kar ka bar yara a waje da dare. - Don’t leave the children outside at night.

Speaking to one man:
Kar ka bar yara a waje da dare.
Speaking to one woman:
Kar ki bar yara a waje da dare.
(ki is the feminine singular you in this context.)
Speaking to more than one person (mixed or all male/female):
Kar ku bar yara a waje da dare.
(ku is the plural you.)

Meaning in all cases: Don’t leave children outside at night.
Only the person being addressed changes.

Is bar here past tense, like left, or present, like leave?

In Hausa imperatives (commands), the verb appears in a base form that does not itself mark tense. In Kar ka bar yara a waje da dare:

bar is the bare verb form used in commands
The Kar ka construction marks it specifically as a negative command (don’t do this)

So you should understand bar here as to leave, in an instruction: don’t leave. It is not past tense; it is an imperative form.

What is the difference between bar and bari?

You will see both bar and bari connected to the idea to leave / to let.

bar – is the verb root as it appears in many constructions, especially in commands:
- Kar ka bar shi. – Don’t leave him.
bari – often appears as an infinitive‑like form or in some analytic constructions, e.g.:
- Ina son bari. – I want to leave / I like leaving.

In everyday speech, learners mostly need to recognize:

Imperatives/commands: bar
Some dictionary entries or other forms: bari

In your sentence, because it is a command, you use bar, not bari.

What does yara mean exactly? Is it singular or plural?

Yara is plural and means children.

The related singular forms are:

yaro – boy / child (male)
yarinya – girl / young girl / young woman

So:

yaro → boy / male child
yara → children (can be mixed boys and girls, or unspecified children)

In Kar ka bar yara a waje da dare, the instruction is about children (plural), not just one child.

If I want to say Don’t leave a child outside at night, how would I change the sentence?

You only need to change yara (children) to a singular noun:

For a child in a general sense, without stressing gender, many people will use yaro:
Kar ka bar yaro a waje da dare.
– Don’t leave a child outside at night. (literally: Don’t leave a boy/child…)

If you specifically mean a girl:

Kar ka bar yarinya a waje da dare.
– Don’t leave a (young) girl outside at night.

Everything else in the sentence stays the same.

What does a waje mean, and could I just say waje without a?

a waje literally means at/outside (location):

a – a general preposition often used for in / at / on
waje – outside / outside place / outdoors

Together, a waje = outside, with a marking it clearly as a location.

In casual speech, you may sometimes hear waje alone if the context is very clear, but the natural, complete form in a sentence like this is:

a waje – outside / outdoors

So Kar ka bar yara a waje da dare is the standard phrasing.

What does da dare mean, and how is it different from just dare?

dare by itself means night.
da dare is a common expression meaning at night / in the night.

Here, da functions like in/at when used with time expressions. A very common pattern in Hausa is:

da safe – in the morning
da rana – in the afternoon / during the day
da yamma – in the evening
da dare – at night

So in your sentence:

a waje – outside (place)
da dare – at night (time)

Together: outside at night.

Using just dare without da would sound incomplete in this position. The natural form is da dare.

Why is there no word for the in yara? How do I know if it means the children or children in general?

Hausa generally does not use a direct equivalent of the English articles the or a/an. Whether yara means:

children (in general) or
the children (specific ones)

depends on the context, not on a separate word.

In Kar ka bar yara a waje da dare, it can be understood either as:

a general rule: Don’t leave children outside at night, or
about known children in the situation: Don’t leave the children outside at night.

Both readings are natural; the context in conversation will make it clear which one is intended.

Is the word order in Kar ka bar yara a waje da dare the same as in English?

The word order is mostly similar to English, with some typical Hausa patterns:

Kar ka – Don’t you
bar – leave
yara – children
a waje – outside
da dare – at night

So you can line it up approximately as:

[Don’t you] [leave] [children] [outside] [at night].

The overall structure is quite close to English, especially compared to many other Hausa sentences that may differ more in word order.

Is this sentence very strong or rude, or is it neutral?

Kar ka bar yara a waje da dare is a direct negative command. Its politeness depends on:

Tone of voice
Relationship between speakers
Context (e.g. giving instructions vs scolding)

On its own, it’s a firm but not automatically rude instruction, similar to English Don’t leave children outside at night.

If you want to soften it, you can add polite expressions, for example:

Don Allah, kar ka bar yara a waje da dare.
– Please, don’t leave children outside at night.
(Don Allah = please / for God’s sake)

How do I pronounce Kar ka bar yara a waje da dare?

A rough pronunciation guide, using English‑based hints:

Kar – like car, but with a tapped or slightly trilled r
ka – like ka in karate (short a as in father)
bar – like bar in English (again with the Hausa r tap)
yara – YA-ra; y as in yes, both a as in father
a – short a as in father
waje – WA-jeh;
- w as in water
- j as in judge
- e like e in get
da – da, short a as in father
dare – DA-reh; both vowels like a in father and e in get

So, very roughly: kar ka bar YA-ra a WA-je da DA-reh.

I have seen Kada ka bar yara… instead of Kar ka bar yara…. Are they the same?

Yes. Kar is a shortened, very common spoken form of kada in negative commands.

So you can say:

Kada ka bar yara a waje da dare.
Kar ka bar yara a waje da dare.

In everyday conversation, Kar ka… (or Karka… written together) is extremely common and sounds natural. Kada ka… is a bit more formal or careful, but both are correct and understood the same way.