Learn Hardcore Hausa: Likita ya ce kada mu karɓi ƙwaya daga aboki mu sha ba tare da tambayar sa ba. - The doctor said we should not take a tablet from a friend and swallow it without asking him.

You’ll also see kar in a similar meaning (especially in the north), e.g. kar ka je “don’t go”, but kada + pronoun is very common and clear in standard usage.

Why is it mu karɓi and not something like muna karɓa or mu karɓa?

Because after kada you need the subjunctive form of the verb.

muna karɓa = “we are taking / we usually take” (progressive or habitual)
mu karɓi = “(that) we take” in a non‑past / hypothetical / commanded sense

For most verbs, the subjunctive changes the final ‑a of the basic stem to ‑i:

karɓa → karɓi
tura → turi
gama → gami

So kada mu karɓi is the correct negative “let’s/should not take”.
*mu karɓa after kada would be ungrammatical.

Why is mu repeated before sha? Could you say kada mu karɓi ƙwaya daga aboki sha?

In coordinated clauses with the subjunctive, Hausa normally repeats the subject pronoun before each verb:

kada mu karɓi ƙwaya daga aboki mu sha
- “that we should not take a pill from a friend and (then) swallow it”

So you have:

mu karɓi (“we take” – subjunctive)
mu sha (“we drink/take” – subjunctive)

Leaving out the second mu (…ƙwaya daga aboki sha) is not natural; it sounds incomplete or ungrammatical. Each verb in this kind of sequence expects its own subjunctive marker.

What exactly does ƙwaya mean in this context? Is it specifically “pill”?

ƙwaya literally means things like “seed, kernel, grain, piece”, but it is also widely used for “pill / tablet / (dose of) drug”.

In this sentence it clearly means a pill / tablet (of medicine or a drug).

Related uses:

ƙwayar magani – a pill/tablet of medicine
ya sha ƙwaya – he took a pill / he took (a) drug
ƙwayoyi – pills / tablets (plural of ƙwaya)

So here it’s focusing on the solid pill form, not just any medicine in general.

Why is it ƙwaya and not magani for “medicine”?

Because:

magani = medicine / remedy in general (liquid, injection, herbal remedy, etc.)
ƙwaya = a single pill / tablet, and also “drug” in many contexts

The doctor is warning specifically about pills (drugs) from a friend, not just any form of medicine.

You could also say:

ƙwayar magani daga aboki – “a pill of medicine from a friend”

How does sha (“to drink”) mean “to take a pill” here?

In Hausa, sha is much broader than English “drink”. It can mean:

to drink (water, tea, etc.)
to take medicine or drugs
to smoke (e.g. cigarettes, weed)
metaphorically, to undergo / suffer something (e.g. ya sha wahala – “he suffered a lot”)

So ƙwaya mu sha = “(that) we take a pill”, literally “that we drink a pill”, but idiomatically “swallow / take it by mouth”.

Can you explain the structure ba tare da ... ba?

ba tare da … ba is a fixed pattern meaning “without (doing) …”.

Structure:

ba tare da + verbal noun / clause + ba

Breakdown:

tare da = “together with / along with”
Surrounding ba … ba = negative frame
Altogether: “not together with” → “without”

In the sentence:

ba tare da tambayar sa ba
= “without asking him”
literally: “not together with his asking”

Examples:

Ya tafi ba tare da sallama ba.
“He left without (saying) goodbye.”
Sun yi hakan ba tare da izininsa ba.
“They did that without his permission.”

This construction very often takes a verbal noun (like tambayar “asking”) + object pronoun.

What is tambayar sa grammatically? Why not a normal verb like mu tambaye shi?

tambayar sa is:

tambayar – the verbal noun (“asking”) from the verb tambaya
sa – 3rd person singular masculine possessive/object clitic = “his / him”

So tambayar sa literally means “his asking” / “the asking of him”, which we translate naturally as “asking him”.

With expressions like ba tare da … ba, Hausa strongly prefers the verbal noun plus pronoun:

ba tare da tambayar sa ba – “without asking him”

You could say something like ba tare da mu tambaye shi ba, but it’s heavier and less idiomatic. The verbal noun + pronoun structure is the default here.

I sometimes see forms like tambayarsa written as one word. Is tambayar sa here the same thing?

Yes, it’s the same thing grammatically.

Noun (or verbal noun) + possessive clitic can be written:

together: tambayarsa, gidansa, sunanta
or separately: tambayar sa, gidan sa, sunan ta

Modern standard spelling usually prefers the joined form (tambayarsa), but many writers still separate them. In terms of meaning and grammar, tambayar sa = tambayarsa = “asking him / his asking”.

What does sa refer to in tambayar sa? The doctor or the friend?

By default in this sentence, sa most naturally refers to the friend (aboki):

…ƙwaya daga aboki mu sha ba tare da tambayar sa ba.
“…a pill from a friend and swallow it without asking him.”

The closest and most logical antecedent is aboki (“friend”), not likita (“doctor”).

If you wanted to make it clearly refer to the doctor, you would normally say:

…ba tare da tambayar likita ba.
“…without asking the doctor.”

Why is there no cewa after ya ce? I thought cewa meant “that” in reported speech.

cewa does introduce reported statements, but it’s not obligatory after ce (“say”).

With plain statements, you often see it:
- Ya ce cewa zai zo. – “He said that he will come.”

In this sentence we have a reported command / prohibition:

Likita ya ce kada mu karɓi…
“The doctor said (that) we should not take…”

Here, adding cewa would sound heavy or redundant:

*Likita ya ce cewa kada mu karɓi… – technically possible, but not natural.

So for this kind of “said (that) we should not …” with kada, speakers typically omit cewa.

Is the whole Likita ya ce kada mu... closer to “the doctor said that we should not…” or “the doctor told us not to…” in English?

It is closer in meaning to “the doctor told us not to…”.

Hausa ya ce (“he said”) is often used where English would say “told (us)” when giving instructions, advice, or orders.

So a natural translation is:

“The doctor told us not to take a pill from a friend and swallow it without asking him.”

If you wanted a stronger word for “forbid”, you could say:

Likita ya hana mu karɓar ƙwaya daga aboki mu sha…
“The doctor forbade us to take a pill from a friend and swallow it…”

What tense/aspect is ya ce? Could we use a different form to mean “the doctor says (in general)”?

ya ce is perfective: it normally refers to a completed action, so here:

Likita ya ce… – “The doctor said…”

To show a more general or repeated saying (“the doctor says / keeps saying”), you’d use the imperfective/progressive:

Likita yana cewa kada mu karɓi ƙwaya daga aboki mu sha…
“The doctor says / keeps saying we shouldn’t take a pill from a friend and swallow it…”

So:

ya ce = “said” (once / at some defined time)
yana cewa = “says / is saying” (ongoing or habitual)