Learn Hardcore Hausa: Dalibi ya ji kashedi daga malami kada ya wuce titi ba tare da kallo ba. - A student heard a warning from the teacher not to cross the street without looking.

In context, ya ji kashedi really means “he received a warning / he got scolded.” Hausa often uses ji this way to mean “experience something that is communicated,” so:

ya ji zafi = he felt pain
ta ji daɗi = she felt pleasure / she was happy
sun ji magana = they heard/received the message

So ya ji kashedi is the natural idiomatic way to say someone was warned or reprimanded.

What exactly does kashedi mean here? Is it the same as gargaɗi, and is it countable?

In this sentence, kashedi is a warning or scolding, often with a slightly strong or serious tone.

kashedi: a serious warning, reprimand, telling-off.
gargaɗi: warning, caution, often a bit more neutral or gentle-sounding.

They overlap, and in many contexts they can be swapped, but kashedi often feels a bit harsher, like “a telling-off.”

Countability:

Often used like an uncountable noun:
- ya ji kashedi = he got (some) warning / a warning
To make it clearly plural or “many warnings,” you can say:
- ya sha kashedi = he has received many warnings (literally “drunk/absorbed warnings”)
- ya ji kashedi da dama = he got many warnings

So you can think of kashedi as “(a) warning / scolding,” with number inferred from context or made explicit with extra words.

Does ya in Dalibi ya ji kashedi mean the student is male? What if it is a female student?

Ya is the 3rd person singular masculine perfective marker, so literally it is “he.”

Dalibi ya ji kashedi = a (male) student got a warning.
For a specifically female student, Hausa would usually use daliba (female student) and ta:
- Daliba ta ji kashedi daga malami… = The (female) student got a warning from the teacher…

However, in some contexts, dalibi plus ya is used generically (like “a student … he/she”), especially if gender is not important. If you want to be clearly female, use daliba ta ….

Why is ya used again in kada ya wuce titi? Does that second ya still refer to the same student?

Yes, the second ya still refers to the same dalibi (student).

The structure is:

Dalibi ya ji kashedi daga malami
→ The student got a warning from the teacher
kada ya wuce titi…
→ that he should not cross the road…

Hausa normally repeats the subject with a pronoun in a subordinate clause like this. It is similar to English:

“The student got a warning from the teacher that he should not cross the road…”

The noun dalibi is the logical subject of ya wuce, but ya must still appear grammatically; you cannot drop it.

In kada ya wuce titi, what does kada mean? Is it like “don’t” or “so that he won’t”?

kada introduces a negative subjunctive / prohibition. After kada, the verb expresses something that should not happen.

With 3rd person: kada ya wuce titi
- “that he should not cross the road”
- “lest he cross the road”
With 2nd person command: kada ka wuce titi!
- “don’t cross the road!”

In your sentence, kada ya wuce titi… is best understood as:

“(a warning) that he should not cross the road …”
or “not to cross the road …”

So kada is doing the job of “that he should not / not to / lest.”

What is the difference between kada and kar? Could I say kar ya wuce titi here?

Both kada and kar are used for negative commands / prohibitions:

kada ka je / kar ka je = don’t go.

Differences:

kada
- More standard/formal.
- Common in writing, formal speech, and in many dialects.
kar
- Shorter and more colloquial.
- Very common in speech, especially in the north and west.

So Dalibi ya ji kashedi daga malami kar ya wuce titi… would be understandable in many spoken varieties, but in careful, standard Hausa, kada is preferred here:
Dalibi ya ji kashedi daga malami kada ya wuce titi…

Why is there no word for “the” before titi? How do you say “a road” vs “the road” in Hausa?

Hausa does not have separate words like English “a” or “the.” The noun titi by itself can mean “a road” or “the road,” depending on context.

You express definiteness in other ways:

By context:
- ya wuce titi = he crossed the road (the road you both know about)
By demonstratives:
- titin nan = this road
- titin can = that road (over there)
By possession:
- titinsu = their road, their street

So titi here is translated as “the road” in English, but there is no explicit word for “the.”

How should I understand the structure ba tare da kallo ba? Why are there two ba’s?

ba tare da kallo ba is a fixed negative construction meaning “without looking.”

tare da = together with, along with, with
kallo = looking / watching
ba … ba = a negative circumfix that wraps around the phrase.

So:

tare da kallo = with looking
ba tare da kallo ba = not with looking → without looking

The two ba’s work like brackets:

First ba opens the negation.
Second ba closes it.

You see the same pattern in many expressions:

ya tafi ba tare da sallama ba = he left without saying goodbye
sun yi aiki ba tare da hutu ba = they worked without a break

Can I leave off one of the ba’s and just say ba tare da kallo?

In careful, standard Hausa, the full form ba tare da kallo ba is preferred.

In everyday speech:

Some speakers drop the final ba in fast or casual speaking:
- ya wuce titi ba tare da kallo (still understood)
Completely dropping the first ba is not correct for this structure; the first ba is the main negative marker.

So:

Best/standard: ba tare da kallo ba
Casual spoken variant (heard sometimes): ba tare da kallo
Avoid: tare da kallo ba (unnatural as the only negative marker).

Why do we use tare da here? Could we just say ba da kallo ba or babu kallo for “without looking”?

tare da is the normal preposition used in this pattern:

tare da X = together with X / with X
ba tare da X ba = without X

So:

ba tare da kallo ba = without looking
ba tare da ruwa ba = without water
ba tare da taimako ba = without help

Alternatives:

ba da kallo ba – This is not idiomatic here; native speakers would not normally say this.
babu kallo – Means “there is no looking,” not “without looking (while doing something).” It doesn’t fit as nicely with motion verbs like wuce (“cross / pass”).

For “without doing X” in clauses like yours, ba tare da X ba is the most natural and common pattern.

What tense/aspect are ya ji and ya wuce? Are they both past tense?

Formally, both ya ji and ya wuce use the same 3rd person singular perfective marker ya, but their interpretation changes with context.

ya ji kashedi (by itself)
- Perfective aspect: a completed event.
- Here it is past: “(he) got a warning / (he) heard a warning.”
kada ya wuce
- After kada, the same ya marks a subjunctive / jussive form, not past tense.
- It means “that he should not cross / so that he will not cross,” referring to a future or unreal event.

So:

ya ji = genuinely past/completed.
ya wuce (after kada) = not past, but something that is being forbidden or prevented from happening.

In daga malami, what is the role of daga, and could we say daga malaminsa to mean “from his teacher”?

daga is a preposition meaning “from, out of, since (from)”. It marks the source or origin of something.

daga malami = from a/the teacher
daga gida = from home
daga ƙasa = from the ground / from a country

In your sentence:

ya ji kashedi daga malami
→ he got a warning from the teacher (or “from a teacher,” depending on context).

To say “from his teacher”, you can indeed say:

daga malaminsa = from his teacher

This breaks down as:

malami = teacher
-n- = linker
sa = his
→ malaminsa = his teacher

So both are correct, but they differ slightly:

daga malami: from (a/the) teacher (identity may or may not be specific).
daga malaminsa: clearly “from his teacher.”