Learn Hardcore Hausa: Kar ka sha shayi mai zafi da sauri.

In Hausa, a negative command normally needs both kar / kada and the appropriate pronoun. You do not usually say just kar sha shayi to mean “don’t drink tea”; standard speech has kar ka sha shayi.

Can I use kada ka instead of kar ka? Do they mean the same thing?

Yes. Kar ka is a shorter, more colloquial form of kada ka, and both mean “don’t (you) …”.

Kada ka sha shayi mai zafi da sauri.
Kar ka sha shayi mai zafi da sauri.

Both are understood as the same: Don’t drink hot tea quickly.

In writing and more formal contexts, kada is slightly more common, but kar is very frequent in everyday speech.

Why do we use ka here? Imperatives in English don’t need “you”, so why does Hausa use a pronoun?

In Hausa, the subject pronoun is part of the structure of a negative command. After kar / kada, you normally must show who you are talking to:

Kar ka sha… = Don’t you (male sg.) drink…
Kar ki sha… = Don’t you (female sg.) drink…
Kar ku sha… = Don’t you (plural) drink…

So the pattern is:
> kar / kada + pronoun + verb

Unlike English, Hausa keeps that pronoun in the negative imperative. Leaving it out can sound incomplete or non‑standard.

How would this sentence change if I were speaking to a woman or to more than one person?

Only the pronoun changes. The rest of the sentence stays the same.

To one man:
- Kar ka sha shayi mai zafi da sauri.
To one woman:
- Kar ki sha shayi mai zafi da sauri.
To several people:
- Kar ku sha shayi mai zafi da sauri.

The pattern again: kar/kada + appropriate “you” pronoun + sha + shayi mai zafi da sauri.

What exactly does sha mean here? Is it only “to drink”?

In this sentence, sha means “to drink”.

The verb sha is commonly used for:

Drinking:
- Ina sha shayi. – I’m drinking tea.
Smoking:
- Yana sha sigari. – He smokes cigarettes.
Experiencing / undergoing something (more figurative):
- Ya sha wahala. – He went through hardship / suffered.

Here, with shayi (tea), the meaning is straightforward: to drink tea.

Why is shayi before mai zafi? In English we say “hot tea”, with “hot” first.

Hausa usually puts the describing part after the noun, not before it.

English: hot tea (adjective + noun)
Hausa: shayi mai zafi (noun + describing phrase)

Structure:

shayi = tea
mai zafi = “(the one) that has heat” → “hot”

So shayi mai zafi literally means “tea that has heat”, which corresponds to “hot tea” in English.

What does mai zafi literally mean, and how does mai work here?

Literally:

mai = “having / possessing / with”
zafi = “heat, heatness, (also) pain”

So mai zafi = “one that has heat”, i.e. “hot (thing)”.

mai + noun is a very common way in Hausa to create describing words:

mai kyau – one with goodness → “good / nice”
mai tsada – one with expense → “expensive”
mai dadi – one with pleasantness → “tasty / pleasant”

In our sentence, shayi mai zafi = hot tea.

Can I put mai zafi before shayi, like mai zafi shayi?

No, that would not be natural Hausa.

The normal order is:

Noun + modifier
shayi mai zafi = hot tea

Saying mai zafi shayi would sound wrong; Hausa descriptive phrases usually follow the noun they describe.

What does da sauri mean exactly? Why do we need da?

sauri = speed, quickness
da = “with”

So da sauri literally means “with speed”, and functions as an adverbial phrase meaning “quickly / fast / in a hurry”.

You can think of:
> sha shayi da sauri = drink tea with speed → drink tea quickly

The da is what turns sauri (speed) into something like “with speed”, functioning as “quickly”.

Could I just say sauri without da, as in Kar ka sha shayi sauri?

No, that would sound wrong in Hausa.

To mean “quickly / fast” as an adverb, Hausa normally says da sauri:

Yi magana da sauri. – Speak quickly.
Tafi da sauri. – Go quickly.

Using sauri alone there would not be idiomatic. So you need da sauri in this sentence.

Where does da sauri usually go in the sentence? Can I move it earlier?

The most natural position is after the object or after the verb phrase, as in the example:

Kar ka sha shayi mai zafi da sauri.

You could technically say:

Kar ka sha shi da sauri. – Don’t drink it quickly.

but putting da sauri right after the verb and object (or at the end of the clause) is standard. Moving it in front (Kar ka da sauri sha shayi…) would sound odd or wrong.

Is this sentence polite, or does it sound too strong/rude? How could I soften it?

Kar ka sha shayi mai zafi da sauri. is a direct warning/command, but in context (e.g. you’re trying to stop someone burning their mouth) it doesn’t usually sound rude, just firm.

To soften it, you can add polite particles or explanations:

Don Allah, kar ka sha shayi mai zafi da sauri.
– Please, don’t drink hot tea quickly.
Kar ka sha shayi mai zafi sosai; zai kona baka.
– Don’t drink very hot tea; it will burn your mouth.

Tone of voice and context also contribute a lot to politeness in real conversation.

How would I say the same thing as a general warning, not aimed at one specific “you”?

You can keep the general structure but either:

Use ku (plural “you”) to sound more general:
- Kar ku sha shayi mai zafi da sauri.
  – Don’t (you people) drink hot tea quickly.
Or phrase it more like advice:
- A guji sha shayin da ya yi zafi da sauri.
  – One should avoid drinking very hot tea quickly.

The original sentence, though, is naturally understood as a practical warning to a specific person.

Is there any difference between “very hot” and just “hot” in Hausa here? How would I say “very hot tea”?

In this sentence, mai zafi suggests “hot”, often already quite hot. To emphasize “very hot”, you can add an intensifier like sosai:

shayi mai zafi sosai – very hot tea

So the full sentence could be:

Kar ka sha shayi mai zafi sosai da sauri.
– Don’t drink very hot tea quickly.

You could also use other structures like zafaffen shayi, but shayi mai zafi sosai is simple and common.