Learn Hardcore Hausa: Ke kan sha ruwa kaɗan, shi ya sa kike jin ƙishirwa da rana. - You feminine usually drink little water; that is why you feel thirsty in the daytime.

Kai kan sha ruwa kaɗan, shi ya sa kake jin ƙishirwa da rana.
→ You (male) usually drink little water, that’s why you feel thirsty in the daytime.

What is this kan in kan sha? Is it the same as the preposition kan “on, on top of”?

This kan is not the preposition “on (top of)”.
Here, kan is a habitual aspect marker meaning “usually / tend to / generally”.

Ke kan sha ruwa kaɗan
= You usually drink little water.

So:

sha ruwa = to drink water
kan sha ruwa = to usually drink water / to tend to drink water

English often leaves “usually” implied from context, but Hausa makes this nuance explicit with kan.

Could I say Ke sha ruwa kaɗan without kan? What is the difference?

You can say Ke sha ruwa kaɗan, but it changes the nuance.

Ke kan sha ruwa kaɗan
→ You usually drink little water (habit, regular behavior)
Ke sha ruwa kaɗan
→ can mean something like you drink little water (a more neutral or general statement, without clearly marking it as a habitual pattern)

In everyday speech, Hausa speakers often use kan to make it clear they’re talking about a usual habit rather than a single event.

What does shi ya sa mean, and how is it built?

shi ya sa is a very common idiomatic expression meaning:

“that’s why” / “that is what causes…” / “that’s the reason (for)…”

Breakdown:

shi – 3rd person singular pronoun “he/it/that”
ya – 3rd person singular masculine perfective marker
sa – verb “to cause / to make”

Literally, it’s something like:

shi ya sa → “it is what caused (it)” / “that is what made (it happen)”

In your sentence:

Ke kan sha ruwa kaɗan, shi ya sa kike jin ƙishirwa da rana.
→ You usually drink little water; *that’s why you feel thirsty in the daytime.*

What does kike mean, and how is it different from kina?

Both kike and kina relate to “you (f.) are [doing]”, but they’re used in different syntactic environments.

kina is the normal progressive/imperfective form in a main clause:
- Kina jin ƙishirwa. → You (f.) are feeling thirsty.
kike is the relative/subordinate form (pronoun + -ke) used inside clauses introduced or controlled by something like shi ya sa, saboda, wanda, etc.:
- Shi ya sa kike jin ƙishirwa.
  That’s why you are feeling thirsty.

Formally, kike = ki + ke

ki – 2nd person singular feminine subject
ke – incomplete/progressive marker

A quick mini‑table (subordinate forms):

nake – I am (doing)
kake – you (m.) are (doing)
kike – you (f.) are (doing)
yake – he is (doing)
take – she is (doing)
muke – we are (doing)
kuke – you (pl.) are (doing)
suke – they are (doing)

So kike is used here because “you are feeling thirsty” is in a clause that depends on shi ya sa (“that’s why…”).

What does jin ƙishirwa literally mean?

jin ƙishirwa literally means “feeling thirst”.

ji – verb “to feel; to hear; to experience”
jin – verbal noun form, “feeling” or “the feeling of”
ƙishirwa – noun “thirst”

So:

kike jin ƙishirwa
= you (f.) are feeling thirst
= you feel thirsty / you are thirsty

Other common patterns with ji:

jin zafi – feeling pain/heat → to feel pain / feel hot
jin daɗi – feeling pleasure → to feel good / enjoy

What does ƙishirwa mean, and how is ƙ pronounced?

ƙishirwa means “thirst”.

The consonant ƙ is an implosive “k” sound, different from the plain k in Hausa. Rough guide to pronunciation:

k – a normal voiceless [k], like in English “cat”
ƙ – produced with a slight inward movement of air and often with voicing; it’s a distinct sound in Hausa and can change meaning.

So ƙishirwa is not the same word as what you would get if you spelled it with plain k.

What does da rana mean here, and why is da used?

da rana here means “in the daytime / during the day”.

rana – “sun” or “day”
da – a versatile preposition, here with a time expression → often means “in/at/during” in such contexts.

So:

da safe – in the morning
da yamma – in the evening
da dare – at night
da rana – in the daytime

In the sentence:

…kike jin ƙishirwa da rana.
→ …you feel thirsty in the daytime.

Why does the sentence use kan in the first clause but kike in the second? Are they different tenses?

They mark two different aspectual ideas:

kan sha → habitual aspect (“usually / generally”)
- Ke kan sha ruwa kaɗan
  → You usually drink little water (a regular habit).
kike jin → imperfective / ongoing or general state within a subordinate clause:
- …shi ya sa kike jin ƙishirwa da rana.
  → …that’s why you feel / are feeling thirsty in the daytime.

Together, the idea is:

Your habit of drinking little water
→ leads to your (ongoing / repeated) state of feeling thirsty in the daytime.

How would this sentence look if I were speaking to a man instead of a woman?

You change the feminine forms ke, kike to the masculine kai, kake:

Kai kan sha ruwa kaɗan, shi ya sa kake jin ƙishirwa da rana.
→ You (male) usually drink little water; that’s why you feel thirsty in the daytime.

Changes:

Ke → Kai (independent 2sg pronoun, fem → masc)
kike → kake (you‑fem → you‑masc in subordinate imperfective)

Where does kaɗan go in the noun phrase, and what exactly does it mean?

kaɗan means “a little / a bit / not much” (for uncountable things like water, time, etc.).

In Hausa, kaɗan typically comes after the noun it modifies:

ruwa kaɗan – a little water
kudi kaɗan – a little money
lokaci kaɗan – a little time

So:

sha ruwa kaɗan
= to drink a little water
(literally “drink water little”)

Putting kaɗan before ruwa (kaɗan ruwa) is not the normal pattern.

Can I drop ke and just say Kan sha ruwa kaɗan?

In practice, Hausa speakers usually keep some subject marking with kan. The most natural patterns for 2nd person singular are:

with independent pronoun:
- Ni kan sha… – I usually drink…
- Kai kan sha… – You (m.) usually drink…
- Ke kan sha… – You (f.) usually drink…

You’ll also see kan fused to the subject marker in other persons, e.g.:

Yakan zo nan. – He usually comes here.
Sukan tafi kasuwa. – They usually go to the market.

So while Kan sha ruwa kaɗan might be understood from context, it sounds incomplete and is not the standard way to say “you usually drink little water.”
Use Ke kan sha ruwa kaɗan (for a female) or Kai kan sha ruwa kaɗan (for a male).

Are there alternative natural ways in Hausa to express the same idea?

Yes. Hausa has several ways to express “you don’t drink enough water; that’s why you feel thirsty during the day.” For example:

Ba ki cika shan ruwa ba, shi ya sa kike jin ƙishirwa da rana.
– You (f.) don’t usually drink much water, that’s why you feel thirsty in the daytime.
Ba ki sha ruwa sosai ba, shi ya sa kike jin ƙishirwa da rana.
– You (f.) don’t drink water very much, that’s why you feel thirsty in the daytime.
Less explicit about “not enough”, closer to the original:
Ke kan sha ruwa kaɗan sosai, shi ya sa kike jin ƙishirwa da rana.
– You really drink only a little water, that’s why you feel thirsty in the daytime.

All of these keep the same basic cause‑and‑effect structure, often still using shi ya sa.