Kar ka yi magana da haushi da yara.

with

Breakdown of Kar ka yi magana da haushi da yara.

• yaro: the child
• ka: you (masculine)
• yi: to do

Questions & Answers about Kar ka yi magana da haushi da yara.

What does each word in Kar ka yi magana da haushi da yara literally mean?

Broken down word by word:

• Kar – negative imperative marker: don’t (short form of kada)
• ka – you (2nd person singular masculine subject pronoun)
• yi – do / make
• magana – speech / talk / speaking / words
• da – with, here showing manner or accompaniment
• haushi – anger / annoyance / resentment
• da – with (again)
• yara – children

A very literal gloss would be:

Kar ka yi magana da haushi da yara.
“Don’t you do speech with anger with children.”

Natural English: Don’t speak angrily to the children.

Why is kar used here? Is it the same as kada?

Yes, kar is essentially a shortened / more colloquial form of kada, and both are used to form negative commands (prohibitives):

• Kada ka yi magana da haushi da yara.
• Kar ka yi magana da haushi da yara.

Both mean: Don’t speak angrily to the children.

You’ll see kada more often in writing and in more formal speech. Kar is very common in everyday spoken Hausa. Grammatically, they work the same way in this sentence.

Why do we need ka after kar? Why not just Kar yi magana da haushi da yara?