Learn Hardcore Hausa: Don Allah ku saurari malami da hankali. - Please listen to the teacher carefully.

In everyday speech, when it’s put at the start of a request, it functions exactly like “please” in English, often with a slightly stronger emotional tone (“please, I beg you”).

So:

Literal sense: for God’s sake
Pragmatic sense in this sentence: please (a polite/earnest request)

You don’t translate it word‑for‑word every time; you treat it as the standard politeness marker “please.”

Why is ku used here, and what does it tell me?

Ku is the 2nd person plural pronoun, “you (all).”

In this sentence, ku marks that the command is addressed to more than one person:

ku saurari… = (you all) listen…

If you were talking to one person, you’d normally say:

to a man: Ka saurari malami da hankali.
to a woman: Ki saurari malami da hankali.

So:

ku → plural “you” (you all)
ka / ki → singular “you” (you, one person; male/female)

Could I leave out ku and just say Don Allah saurari malami da hankali?

Yes, you can.

In Hausa, in direct commands, the subject pronoun is often dropped, especially in casual speech:

Don Allah saurari malami da hankali. – Please listen to the teacher carefully.

When you include the pronoun (ku):

It can sound a bit clearer/emphatic: you all, listen…
It’s also very natural in classroom instructions, announcements, etc.

So both are grammatically correct; the version with ku makes the “you all” more explicit.

What’s the difference between saurari and saurara? I’ve seen both.

They are closely related:

saurara – to listen (often without a direct object, or with wa / min “to/for”)
- e.g. Saurara min. – Listen to me.
saurari – to listen to someone/something as a direct object
- e.g. Saurari malami. – Listen to the teacher.

In your sentence, saurari is used because it’s followed directly by a noun object (malami). Think of it as “listen to (someone/something)” in a more explicitly transitive way.

Why is there no word for “to” before malami? In English we say “listen to the teacher.”

In Hausa, the verb saurari already includes the idea of “listen to”.

So:

saurari malami = listen to the teacher
You don’t say *saurari zuwa malami or similar.

If you use saurara, then you often add an indirect object marker:

Saurara wa malami. – Listen to the teacher.

But with saurari, you simply follow it with the noun you’re listening to, no extra “to” needed.

Why is it malami and not something like “the teacher” with a separate word for “the”?

Hausa doesn’t usually have a separate word like English “the”.

Instead, it uses:

a suffix on the noun (‑n / ‑r / ‑n), or
context

to express definiteness.

malami – “a teacher / (the) teacher” (generic or indefinite)
malamin – “the teacher” (more clearly that specific teacher)

In a classroom command like this, malami naturally means “the teacher” (the one everyone knows about), even though it doesn’t show the definite suffix. So we translate it as “the teacher” in English.

What does da hankali literally mean, and how does that become “carefully” or “attentively”?

Literally:

da – with
hankali – mind, sense, awareness

So da hankali literally means “with (your) mind/sense”.

Idiomatic meaning:

carefully, attentively, thoughtfully, sensibly

So ku saurari malami da hankali is “listen to the teacher using your mind/sense”, i.e. “listen attentively / pay attention.”

What’s the difference between da hankali and a hankali?

Both appear in similar contexts but they’re not identical:

da hankali – with sense / with awareness
- Focus: attention, care, good judgment
- e.g. A yi aiki da hankali. – Do the work carefully.
a hankali – slowly, gently, carefully
- Focus: slowness, gentleness, not rushing
- e.g. Yi tafiya a hankali. – Walk slowly / carefully.

In your sentence, da hankali is better because the idea is “pay close attention”, not “listen slowly.”

How would I say this to only one student instead of a whole class?

You change ku (plural “you”) to the appropriate singular form:

To a boy/man:
- Don Allah ka saurari malami da hankali.
To a girl/woman:
- Don Allah ki saurari malami da hankali.

In very direct commands you may still drop ka/ki:

Don Allah saurari malami da hankali.

Context then tells you it’s singular.

How could I say “Please listen to your teacher carefully” in Hausa?

You can add a possessive ending to malami:

Don Allah ku saurari malaminku da hankali.

Breakdown:

malami – teacher
‑nku – your (plural “your”)
malaminku – your teacher (speaking to more than one student)

For one student (male or mixed group treated as singular):

Don Allah ka saurari malaminka da hankali. – (male singular “your”)
Don Allah ki saurari malaminki da hankali. – (female singular “your”)

Is this sentence formal, informal, or neutral in tone?

It’s polite and neutral, and fits very well in:

a classroom (teacher addressing students),
any setting where you politely ask a group to pay attention.

Don Allah makes it clearly polite.
Using ku shows you’re talking to more than one person; it does not sound rude. It’s perfectly appropriate in normal speech, school, or even semi‑formal situations.

How would I make a negative command, like “Please don’t listen to the teacher”?

The negative imperative in Hausa usually uses kada (or kar in some dialects):

For a group:

Don Allah kada ku saurari malami. – Please don’t listen to the teacher.

For one person (male):

Don Allah kada ka saurari malami.

For one person (female):

Don Allah kada ki saurari malami.

You normally don’t add da hankali in the negative version, because “don’t listen carefully” is odd in most real contexts. You’d just say don’t listen.