Kada ka karya alƙawari da ka yi wa abokinka.

the friend

Breakdown of Kada ka karya alƙawari da ka yi wa abokinka.

• ka: you (masculine)
• yi: to do
• wa: to
• da: that
• alƙawari: the promise
• kada: don't
• karya: to break

Questions & Answers about Kada ka karya alƙawari da ka yi wa abokinka.

What does kada mean, and what kind of structure is it?

Kada is a negative imperative particle; it means “don’t”.

In Hausa, negative commands are usually formed with:

• kada
  • subject pronoun
    • verb

Examples:

• Kada ka tafi. – Don’t go. (to a man)
• Kada ki tafi. – Don’t go. (to a woman)
• Kada ku tafi. – Don’t go. (to several people)

So in the sentence:

• Kada ka karya alƙawari…
  kada = don’t (negative command)

Why do we need both kada and ka? Could I just say Kada karya alƙawari?

You cannot drop ka here; you need both.

• kada gives the negative imperative (“don’t”)
• ka is the subject pronoun “you (male, singular)” in this construction

The pattern is:

• kada + ka/ki/ku + verb

So:

• Kada ka karya… – Don’t (you, masc. sg.) break…
• Kada ki karya… – Don’t (you, fem. sg.) break…
• Kada ku karya… – Don’t (you, plural) break…

❌ Kada karya alƙawari… – ungrammatical (missing the pronoun).

What exactly is ka here? Is it the same as kai or kana?

Ka here is a subject pronoun used in certain tenses/moods and after kada:

• ka – “you (masculine singular)” as a bound subject pronoun
• kai – independent/stressed pronoun “you” (used for emphasis, after prepositions, etc.)
• kana – “you are (doing something)” (progressive/continuous form, masc. sg.)

Compare:

• Kai ka yi haka. – You did that. (kai for emphasis, ka as subject pronoun)
• Kana tafiya. – You are going / you are on the way.
• Kada ka tafi. – Don’t go.

In Kada ka karya alƙawari…, ka is required as the subject with kada; you cannot replace it with kai or kana.

What is the difference between karya and ƙarya? They look very similar.

They are different words:

• karya (with k) – to break (e.g. to break a promise, law, bone).
• ƙarya (with ƙ) – a lie, or lying.

So:

• karya alƙawari – to break a promise.
• yi ƙarya – to tell a lie.

In the sentence Kada ka karya alƙawari…, the word is karya “break”, not ƙarya “lie”.

Why do we say karya alƙawari to mean “break a promise”? Is there a special verb for “keep a promise”?

Yes, karya alƙawari is the normal way to say “break a promise”:

• karya alƙawari – to break a promise.
• cika alƙawari – to keep/fulfil a promise.

So:

• Kada ka karya alƙawari… – Don’t break the promise…
• Ka cika alƙawarin da ka yi. – Fulfil/keep the promise that you made.

What is da doing in alƙawari da ka yi wa abokinka? I thought da just meant “and/with”.

Da has several functions in Hausa. Two common ones:

1. “and / with” – connective or comitative:

   • Ali da Musa – Ali and Musa
   • Na tafi da shi. – I went with him.

2. Relative marker “that / which / who” – introduces a relative clause:

   • mutumin da ya zo – the man who came
   • abin da ka saya – the thing that you bought

In alƙawari da ka yi wa abokinka, da is the relative marker:

• alƙawari da ka yi wa abokinka
  = “the promise that you made to your friend”

So here da does not mean “and/with”; it means “that/which”.

Where is the word for “the” in this sentence? How do you say “the promise”?

Hausa often doesn’t use a separate word for “the”. Definiteness is shown by:

• context
• possession (e.g. abokinka = your friend)
• relative clauses (e.g. da ka yi wa abokinka = that you made to your friend)
• or a linking -n/-r on the noun

You will commonly see:

• alƙawarin da ka yi wa abokinka – the promise that you made to your friend

Here:

• alƙawari = promise
• alƙawarin = “the promise (which…)” – the -n marks it as specific and linked to the clause da ka yi wa abokinka.

In everyday speech, people may say either:

• karya alƙawari da ka yi wa abokinka, or
• karya alƙawarin da ka yi wa abokinka,

but with -n it more clearly means “the specific promise that you made”.

What does yi wa mean here? Why not just yi abokinka?

Yi is a very general verb meaning “do / make”.

To say you do something to/for someone, Hausa usually uses yi wa (or yi ma) plus the person:

• Na yi wa abokina alƙawari. – I made a promise to my friend.
• Sun yi wa yara kyauta. – They gave a present to the children.

So in the relative clause:

• …alƙawari da ka yi wa abokinka
  = “…the promise that you made to your friend”

If you say just yi abokinka, it sounds like “do your friend”, which is incomplete/odd. You need wa to mark the friend as the indirect object (the recipient).

Note: wa and ma are very close in meaning here:

• yi wa abokinka alƙawari ≈ yi ma abokinka alƙawari
  Both basically mean “make your friend a promise”.

How is abokinka formed, and is it different from abokin ka?

Abokinka means “your (male addressee’s) friend”.

It is made from:

• aboki – friend
• -n – linking/genitive marker (often merges in speech)
• ka – “your” (masculine singular possessor)

Underlying form: abokin ka
Spoken/written as one word: abokinka

So:

• abokina – my friend (aboki + na)
• abokinka – your (m. sg.) friend
• abokinki – your (f. sg.) friend
• abokinku – your (pl.) friend
• abokinsa – his friend
• abokinta – her friend

You can also write it as two words:

• abokin ka = abokinka
  They are equivalent; the one-word form is very common in writing.

How would the sentence change if I were speaking to a woman, or to several people?

You mainly change the subject pronouns and the possessive pronouns.

1. To one man (original sentence):

   • Kada ka karya alƙawari da ka yi wa abokinka.

2. To one woman:

   • Kada ki karya alƙawari da ki yi wa abokinki.
     
     • ki instead of ka for “you (fem. sg.)”
     • abokinki – “your (fem. sg.) friend”

3. To several people:

   • Kada ku karya alƙawari da kuka yi wa abokinku.
     
     • ku (in kada ku) for “you (plural)”
     • kuka yi as the plural past/relative “you (pl.) made”
     • abokinku – “your (pl.) friend”

So the pattern is consistent: change the pronouns to match the person, gender, and number you’re addressing.

Can you break down the whole sentence word by word?

Yes:

• Kada – don’t (negative imperative marker)
• ka – you (masc. singular subject pronoun after kada)
• karya – break
• alƙawari – promise
• da – that / which (relative marker introducing the clause)
• ka – you (masc. singular subject pronoun inside the relative clause)
• yi – do / make
• wa – to / for (marks the indirect object)
• abokinka – your (m. sg.) friend (aboki + -n + ka)

So the structure is literally:

• Don’t you break promise that you made to your friend.