User:Janadume/sandbox/Swahili Verbs

Verbs Like nouns, verbs are formed by adding prefixes to a basic stem. However, unlike the prefixes of nouns, verbal prefixes are not a fixed part of the verb, but indicate subject, object, tense, aspect, mood and other inflectional categories. Normally, verbs are cited in dictionaries in the stem form, often with a hyphen to indicate that prefixes are added, such as -sema "say", -andika "to write", -la "to eat". It is also possible to use the infinitive/gerund form which begins with ku- or, for a couple of verbs only, kw-, such as kusema "to say", kuandika "to write", kula "to eat".

=Overview of verb structure=

Prefixes are always attached in a fixed order; the object prefix always comes last, immediately before the verb stem, while the subject prefix comes before the object prefix. Most of the time, a tense, aspect, mood or polarity prefix may intervene between the subject and object prefix, or be placed before the subject prefix. A common mnemonic used by learners of Swahili for the order of parts of a verb is STROVE.


 * Subject prefix
 * TAM prefix (or usually Tense prefix)
 * Relative prefix
 * Object prefix
 * Verb stem
 * Extension(s) (meaning "derivative suffix(es)"), or, more broadly Ending (including also the inflectional suffixes -i and -e).

In learner materials, all types of prefixes other than the subject prefixes are frequently, erroneously referred to as infixes. It should, however, be noted that the term infix, as used by linguists, refers only to a morpheme (≈ part of a word) that is inserted within another morpheme, not simply in between other morphemes within a word. Under the strict definition of the word, Swahili does not make use of infixes.

Here is an example of a verb with all slots filled: * This "(a)" appears when this is the final element of the word and is otherwise dropped.

Most of the time, verbs will not have all slots filled. Here are some other examples.

There are a number of derivational suffixes (frequently termed 'extensions') which can be added to the end of verbs to derive new meanings, some of which have been shown above.

=Inflection groups= There are three basic inflection groups which differ only very slightly from one another: Common verbs are the largest group of verbs in Swahili. In their infinitive form, they consist of three or more syllables and end with -a. All verbs of native Bantu origin end with -a, including the short verbs mentioned below. Some examples of common verbs are kuanguka "to fall", kufanya "to do, to make", kuona "to see", kuwaza "to think", kusaidia "to help". The final -a is replaced with another vowel in certain grammatical contexts, becoming -i in the present negative, and -e in the subjunctive and imperative forms involving an object prefix. The plural address marker -ni also triggers this final -a to become -e.
 * 1) common verbs
 * 2) short verbs
 * 3) Loan verbs

Short verbs are those which, in their infinitive form, consist of only two syllables, such as kula "to eat", kunywa "to drink", kuja "to come", kupa "to give". The verbs kwenda "to go" and kwisha "to finish" may belong to this group, although it is also common for these verbs to be conjugated as common verbs (as kuenda and kuisha). Because the stems of most of these verbs, once the infinitive prefix ku- is removed, are monosyllabic, these are frequently termed monosyllabic verbs, however this is problematic as the final -a of Bantu verbs is often not considered to be part of the root (meaning that roots of many of these verbs consists of only a single consonant or consonant cluster, such as -p- "give"). Furthermore, when the final -a is considered part of the stem, this excludes -enda and -isha, which generally conjugate in a similar way to the other short verbs. The short verbs are all native Bantu verbs ending in -a and undergo the same -i and -e alterations as the common verbs. Additionally, they are characterised by the insertion (or retention) of the syllable -ku- in certain verb forms. This intrusive -ku- (which may be glossed as EXT for "extension") prevents the penultimate stress from falling on certain TAM prefixes (-na-, -me-, -li-, -ta-, -sha-, -nge-, -ngeli-) and relative prefixes, which are inherently unable be stressed. This -ku- disappears in verb forms where the stress is allowed to fall on a subject or object prefix, or on certain other TAM prefixes (-a-, hu-, -ki-, -ka-, -ku-, -si-). (The TAM prefix -ja- can be regarded as belonging to either group, depending on the speaker.) Because the initial stem vowel of -enda and -isha takes the stress, this explanation does not sufficiently fit, however it should suffice to say that the distribution of their -kw- extension, among speakers who use it, is identical to that of the -ku- extension in other short verbs.

The Loan verbs, also frequently called "Arabic" verbs, are those which do not end in -a in the infinitive. Not all verbs, from Arabic are in this group, however, such as kusaidia, which is an Arabic loan which happens to end in -a and is thus declined as a common verb. Likewise, not all Loan verbs come from Arabic, such as kukisi "to kiss" and kuripoti "to report", which are from English. What these verbs share in common is that they are all loan-words and none of them end in -a. The consequence of this is that they do not take the suffixes -e and -i that the verbs ending in -a do, which occasionally results in ambiguity, such as in si-ku-sahau- Ø  which could either mean "I did not forget" (NEG.1S-NEG.PST-forget- Ø ) or "I do not forget you" (NEG.1s-2s-forget- PRES.NEG ).

=Subject and object concords=

Both the subject and, when applicable, the object of the verb are indicated by prefixes or concords attached to the verb stem. Swahili is a pro-drop language: explicit personal pronouns are only used for emphasis, or with verb forms that do not indicate subject or object. When a noun is used as the subject or object, then the concord must match its class. Animate nouns (referring to a person or animal) are an exception and these occur with concords of the noun classes 1 (singular) or 2 (plural). The subject concord must always be present, except in the infinitive, habitual and imperative forms. The object concord is generally optional; although some sources maintain that it must always be used with animate objects, this appears not to be the case as counter-examples are commonplace. Whether it is used or not appears to have to do with animacy, specificity and definiteness as well as pragmatic considerations of emphasis.

Six different forms of verbal concord exist.

For the subject, there are both negative and positive forms, while there are only positive forms for objects. The negative subject concords are formed by prefixing the syllable ha- to the beginning, except for the irregular forms si- (instead of *hani-), hu- (instead of *hau-) and ha- (instead of *haa-) which are used, respectively, for first, second and third person singular animate subjects.

Additionally, in (the third person singular of) noun class 1, the prefix yu- is used instead of a- as the subject of a locative copula. (This yu- can also be seen in the demonstratives.) The negative form of yu- is formed regularly, by appending the prefix ha-.

Before the present 'indefinite' marker -a-, subject concords are shortened to just a consonant or consonant cluster in a similar manner to the prefix which occur on the genitive preposition -a.

Object concords are generally the same as the positive subject concord, although there are a few exceptions for instances involving animate referents; 2nd person singular and plural, as well as 3rd person singular (class 1) all have different forms for subject and object concord.

Examples:

Because the 2nd person plural object prefix -wa- is the same as the object prefix for class 2 (3rd person plural object), a word such as ninawaona may ambiguously mean "I see you all" or "I see them." These two possibilities may be disambiguated by placing the pronoun after the verb: ninawaona ninyi / wao. Very frequently, however, the suffix -eni is appended to the verb to indicate that the second person plural is meant: ninawaoneni "I see you all." This suffix causes the final a of Bantu verbs to shift to e. On loan verbs, this suffix is simply -ni. Some speakers use the prefix -ku- (otherwise indicating 2nd person singular) with the suffix -(e)ni, as in ninakuoneni "I see you all."
 * Tunakwenda sasa. "We are going now."
 * Sisi tunakwenda sasa. "We are going now." (with emphasis)
 * Ninamwona. "I see him/her."
 * Ninamwona yeye. "I see him/her." (with emphasis)
 * Ninampa zawadi. "I give him/her a gift."

The reflexive prefix only occurs as an object, and refers back to the subject of the sentence. It is equivalent to English forms like myself, yourself, himself and so on.
 * ninajitetea "I defend myself"
 * anajiona "he sees himself" (idiomatically, may mean: "he is conceited")

=Infinitive=

The infinitive is a verbal noun, and belongs to class 15, which is reserved specifically for infinitives. It is marked by the prefix ku-. It may occur in the same contexts as other nouns and may, occasionally, even be derived into the locative classes by means of attaching the suffix -ni, as in kuangukani "in falling" (i.e. "while falling"). It corresponds to the English infinitive or gerund. Infinitives cannot take subject, relative or TAM prefixes, but they may take object prefixes.

The negative infinitive is derived from the verb kutoa "to subtract", "to not do", although it is rarely encountered in its full form for this use. The additional -ku- in brackets is the infinitive marker of the original verb, although it may be omitted as long as stress rules allow.

=Tenses, aspects and moods= For the sake of simplicity, the following verb forms may be referred to as "tenses" as they often are in learner materials, but it should be remembered that many of these are not grammatical tenses in the technical sense but may instead be aspects or moods. All together, Tense, Aspect and Mood may be abbreviated as TAM.

The following table shows a summary of TAM forms which will be discussed in further depth below. Brackets indicate optional elements and slashes indicate alternative elements of which either (but not both) may fill the same slot in the verb. The column labelled 'final vowel' is only relevant for "short" and "common verbs", with "loan verbs" remaining invariable here with the exception of the -ni suffix added to indicate 2nd person plural address. In any TAM form, when the object is 2nd person plural, this -(e)ni prefix may also occur, but this is not shown in this table.

* Note that the 'indefinite' present -a- causes the form of the subject marker to change as outlined above.

Imperative
The imperative mood is used to issue direct commands. It can occur either alone or with an object prefix. The presence of an object prefix (including the reflexive ji-) causes the final -a of Bantu verbs to become -e. Note that the ji- prefix of reflexive verbs is an object prefix, meaning, for example, that the imperative of -jifunza "to learn" is jifunz e  "learn!" and not *jifunza.

The plural form, with the suffix -ni, is used when addressing multiple people.

The following verbs have irregular imperatives, regular forms may be heard, particularly by non-native speakers and particularly in Kenya, and regular forms may be interpreted as less polite: The verb -acha may informally be given the imperative form wacha (pl. wacheni).
 * kuja "to come": njoo (pl. njooni)
 * kwenda "to go" : nenda (pl. nendeni)
 * kuleta "to bring": lete (pl. leteni)

Additionally, the verb kuwa "to be" has an irregular imperative form: iwe (pl. iweni), although this is rarely used and more frequently replaced by a regular imperative form kuwa (pl. kuweni) or used in the subjunctive ("polite imperative") form: uwe (pl. mwe). There is no actual negative imperative form. The equivalent is achieved with the negative subjunctive. The formation of this is outlined below, but for the sake of completeness the negative equivalents of the above examples are given here.

Present tenses
There are two present tenses in Swahili. These are sometimes termed the "definite present" (with -na-) and the "indefinite present" (with -a-). In modern, standard Swahili, however, there is no great difference in meaning between these two forms as the "indefinite present" is more or less obsolete and rarely used other than its frequent appearance in media headlines. A distinction between these two forms is not made in the negative, with both forms being negated the same way.

* Although rarely used, the "indefinite present" adds a small complication to the presentation of Swahili grammar as the -a- marking the tense causes the subject concords to undergo reduction in the same manner as the prefixes of the genitive preposition -a. This is outlined above.

In informal Swahili, it is very common for the first person singular concord ni- to collapse into the -na- of the definite present tense marker and become inaudible (and unwritten). The distinction between the "definite" and "indefinite" present tense forms appears to vanish in the first person as both begin with a na-, however short verbs retain their -ku- extension in the -na- tense and lose it in the -a- tense, allowing this distinction to still be felt, such as in (ni)nakula "I eat", in the -na- present tense, versus nala "I eat", in the -a- present tense.

Habitual
The habitual verb form is unusual in that it does not allow subject prefixes to appear on it. The prefix hu- is added to the beginning of the verb and short verbs do not need their -ku- extension.

The habitual indicates repeated, habitual occurrence of an action (habitual aspect) or something occurring as a timeless general rule (gnomic aspect). Because subject prefixes are absent, personal pronouns are very frequently used to indicate the subject.

The habitual aspect with hu- is often replaced by the present with -na- in everyday use, the sisi hunywa of the above example then being replaced with tunakunywa. Some speakers instead use the non-standard habitual suffix -ga or -nga which has entered Swahili from other Bantu languages spoken in East Africa, giving tunakunywaga or tunakunywanga. The habitual aspect with hu- is, however, very commonly used in proverbs dealing with eternal truisms.

Past
The past tense is used in Swahili to talk about actions or states in the past, whether in the near or the distant past. It is formed with the prefix -li-. Its negative equivalent is formed with the negative subject prefix plus -ku-. The positive tense marker -li- cannot take stress and triggers the use of the extension -ku- (or -kw-) where necessary. The negative tense marker -ku- can take stress, meaning that an additional -ku- extension is not needed.

Perfect
The perfect indicates an action or situation which occurred in the past, similarly to the past tense, however the focus of the utterance is on the relevance of this past action to the present moment. For example, the word nimepika "I have cooked" describes a past action with present relevance (i.e. the food is ready now) whereas nilipika "I cooked" describes a past action with no implication of any relevance to the present (the food may have been eaten long ago, or not).

The perfect is formed in the positive with the prefix -me-. The negative is formed with the negative subject prefix plus -ja-. As with the present and past tenses, the positive present marker -me- cannot take the word stress and triggers the appearance of the -ku- extension in short verbs, but the negative marker -ja- is able to be stressed. Some speakers may use the extension -ku- with -ja-.

Some sources describe the -ja- form as containing more of an implication of "not yet" than a simple negation of the -me- form, however the word bado "still", "not yet" may be used to indicate this explicitly where necessary.

Inchoative verbs, such as kuchoka "to get tired", which describe the entering of a state, are used in the perfect to indicate being in the state in question. Compare for example: ninachoka "I am becoming tired"; nimechoka "I have become tired", i.e. "I am tired." For more information and examples, see the section on inchoative verbs below.

Some speakers may replace the sequence of prefixes a-me- with ka- with more or less the same meaning. This may derive from the consecutive tense marker.



Anterior -sha-
The anterior marker -sha- (or sometimes -kwisha-) is a relatively new TAM marker that derives diachronically from the verb kwisha "to finish, to run out". It is most commonly (and perhaps least controversially) used directly after the perfect marker -me-. It often imparts the meaning of "already", emphasising the completeness of the action.

The anterior marker -sha- is also used with other TAM markers, simply sitting after them within the TAM slot. It may also on occasion be used on its own, with a function more or less equivalent to the perfect -me-. These uses may not be regarded as standard Swahili. It is frequently used with the situational marker -ki- where it indicates a situation in which the action has been completed.

Future
The future tense is formed in Swahili with the prefix -ta-. The negative form is indicated simply by using the negative subject prefix, with -ta- being used here as well. A number of speakers, however, use -to- in the negative future. This may be derived by analogy from the -to- of the negative infinitive, and may also disambiguate between positive and negative where the only difference otherwise would be an h- at the beginning of the negative word. For example atakuja "s/he will come" vs.  h atakuja "s/he will not come" (or  h at o kuja). Because second language speakers in many areas have trouble with pronouncing and distinguishing /h/, the optional change from -ta- to -to- in the negative can provide a failsafe indication when a negative meaning is intended.

-Ta- (and likewise -to-) cannot take the word stress whether in positive or negative and thus causes the appearance of the -ku- extension in short verbs.

Subjunctive
The subjunctive (sometimes referred to as an optative) expresses hypothetical situations, wishes and requests. It is also used as a complement to certain auxiliary verbs and conjunctions. The subjunctive is indicated by the lack of any Tense-Aspect-Mood prefix and the change of the final -a, where present, to -e-. The so-called "Arabic verbs" do not undergo this change and the subjunctive form is made simply by omitting any tense marker. The negative subjunctive is indicated by adding the syllable -si- into the tense slot, with the positive subject prefix being used rather than the negative.

The subjunctive is frequently used following the equivalents of modal verbs, verbs indicating wishes, suggestions, recommendations and other constructions.

An equivalent of "must" or "have to" is formed with ni lazima "it is necessary", or simply lazima "necessarily" followed by the subjunctive.

The subjunctive may be used on its own with a second person subject as a more polite alternative to an imperative. As there is no negative imperative, forms beginning with usi- and msi- may also be interpreted as such.

Situational
The situational, simultaneous or conditional tense is formed with the TAM prefix -ki-. This prefix may take stress and thus the extension -ku- does not appear with short verbs in the situational verb form.

There is, strictly speaking, no negative form of the situational, however, in conditional sentences, the relative verb form using -sipo- is quite close in meaning to a negative equivalent of -ki- and it will be given here as it may prove helpful. Note that the -ku- extension does appear with -sipo- as the -po-, like all relative syllables, is unable to be stressed.

The situational verb form is used to indicate a simultaneous action or situation of subordinate importance that provides the temporal or contextual background for the main verb in the sentence. It is somewhat equivalent to the English conjunctions "if" and "when", but it also forms the equivalent of adverbial participle clauses. If needed for clarity or emphasis, a word meaning if, such as kama, ikiwa or endapo may be added to the beginning of the clause (which allows the speaker to choose a different TAM marker). The word ikiwa is itself the situational form of the verb -wa "to be", with the class 9 subject prefix i-, literally meaning on its own essentially "if it is".

The situational may appear in compound progressive tenses.

Consecutive
The consecutive or narrative tense is formed with the TAM prefix -ka-. This prefix may take stress and thus the extension -ku- does not appear with short verbs in this form.

The consecutive tense is mainly used with the past tense -li- in narrating a sequence of events whereby -li- is used for the first verb and -ka- for subsequent verbs. It roughly carries the meaning "and then" and makes the use of na "and" or halafu / kisha "then" essentially redundant. Where context is clearly past, a narrative may also be begun with -ka-.

There is, strictly speaking, no negative form of the situational, however the negative subjunctive may occasionally be used for this purpose.

Expeditous
The consecutive marker -ka- may combine with the final -e of the subjunctive mood to form the expeditous. The expeditous verb form is essentially the same as the subjunctive in meaning except with the added meaning of "and" or "then" introduced by the consecutive marker -ka-. The word akawe in the above sentence could also be replaced with ili awe "in order that he be" or simply the subjunctive awe "that he be" (or "(for him) to be" in more natural contemporary English), but the -ka- added to this word emphasises his becoming an ambassador immediately following his being dispatched.

The expeditous verb form is frequently used with imperatives (and "polite imperatives" in the subjunctive), again indicating roughly "and then". The subject prefix may be dropped when used with the imperative.

Irrealis
There are two irrealis verb forms, one which may be called "present irrealis" (marked by -nge-) and one which may be called "past irrealis" (marked by -ngali-). The standard means of forming the negative is to use -si- in the TAM slot, forming -singe- and -singali-. Some speakers, however, particularly in speech influenced by southern dialects, negate the irrealis verb forms instead by using the negative subject concords.

Both the irrealis forms are used to discuss hypothetical situations, generally within conditional sentences. Both the protasis (if-clause) and apodosis (then-clause) may have an identical structure with the protasis appearing first. In order to disambiguate or emphasise, such as if the clauses are in the reverse order, a word for "if" (kama, ikiwa, endapo) may precede the protasis.

In the usage of many speakers, the distinction between the present and past irrealis forms is somewhat blurred so that the final example above may commonly be spoken as "(Kama) ningejua hiyo, nisingekuja hapa." which, speaking strictly, could be interpreted as "If I knew that I would not come here."

=Relative verb forms= There are five verb templates which can be used to create relative clauses. The three simple tenses PAST, PRESENT and FUTURE may only be relativised in their positive sense. In addition to these, there is a tenseless positive form and a tenseless negative form. For all other verb forms, relative clauses must be formed by a periphrastic relative using amba-.

The following table shows the structure of the verb templates, notably the positioning of the relative morpheme, here labelled "REL". Note in the following table that the marker for the future tense is -taka- with a following relative morpheme, rather than the simple -ta- which occurs otherwise.

The relative morpheme takes one of many forms to indicate the class of its referent. The relative morpheme for each class is identical to its combining pronominal form which appears with na- and ndi-. Aside from class 1, the form of each can be achieved by placing o (the so-called "o of reference")

='To be'= In most languages with a verbal copula, the equivalent of the verb 'to be', it is this verb that exhibits the most irregularity and the most diversity of form. Swahili is no exception. Outside of the present tense, the Swahili verb -wa (infinitive kuwa) is almost entirely regular, inflecting as other short verbs do. In the present tense, however, there is a distinction made between a copular of essence versus a copula of state or location. This is similar to the distinction between ser and estar in Spanish and Portuguese, however, in Swahili, this distinction largely vanishes outside of the present tense. There are also irregular relativised forms for the present tense as well as an irregular unique continuative form.

Invariable copula
The invariable copula ni is used, in the present tense, to express that two noun phrases (the subject and complement) refer to one and the same referent: It is also used to express membership of a class (a subset relationship): It may also introduce an adjective or equivalent phrase describing a relatively permanent characteristic. The negative form si can be used in all the same situations with a negative meaning: Because ni and si do not provide any information about the subject, personal pronouns, usually only necessary for emphasis, frequently appear. Compare the typical use of irregular present tense with that of the entirely regular past tense where the subject prefixes make personal pronouns redundant and used only for emphasis.
 * Mimi ni Bahati. "I am Bahati."
 * Dunia ni sayari tunapoishi. "Earth is the planet we live on."
 * Wao ni wanasayansi. "They are scientists."
 * Jua ni nyota. "The sun is a star."
 * Miti ni mimea mikubwa. "Trees are large plants."
 * Babake ni mrefu sana. "Her father is very tall."
 * Mji huyu ni mdogo. "This town is small."
 * Misuli yako ni kama chuma. Your muscles are like steel.
 * Wewe si Bahati. "You are not Bahati."
 * Jua si sayari. "The sun is not a planet."
 * Pomboo si wadogo. "Dolphins are not small."

A sentence begun with ni or si without an overtly marked pronoun is typically translated with the subject "it" in English. With plural context, "they" may be meant. On occasion, the invariable copula may follow regular forms of kuwa in other tenses. In the following example, the ni could also be left out.
 * Ni asubuhi sasa. "It's morning now."
 * Ni vigumu kulala. "It's difficult to fall asleep."
 * Ni wanene sana. "They're very fat."

Emphatic copula
The emphatic or focusing copula ndi- places its subject in focus, emphasising that it is that particular referent and not another. The emphatic copula takes suffixes matching the person and noun class of the referent. These suffixes are the same as those which combine with na. In the first and second persons, the third person suffixes are frequently used.

* The form sisi "it is not us" is not frequently used as it is identical to the pronoun sisi "we", "us". Instead it is virtually always replaced with sio.

Forms of the emphatic copula are frequently equivalent to a definite phrase in translation and are followed by relative verb forms as in the following example:

Compare the above with the non-emphatic version of the same sentence:

Location
Location is indicated in the present tense by prefixing the subject concord to one of the locative clitics -po, -ko and -mo. The class 1 subject concord a- (negative: ha-) is however replaced with yu- (negative: hayu-).

The three clitics, -po, -ko and -mo correspond to the locative classes 16, 17 and 18 respectively and indicate "definite", "indefinite" and "internal" location respectively. For example, wapo means essentially "they are here/there", wako means "they are around here/there" and wamo means "they are in here/there".

Under a very strict prescriptive viewpoint, the classes should not be mixed, for instance nipo hapa "I am here" is regarded as correct but niko hapa "I am here" is regarded as incorrect. There is, however, a broad tendency for many speakers to prefer forms with -ko over the other forms, such that niko hapa is very common.

Continuative
='To have'=

=Compound tenses=

=Inchoative verbs=

A large number of Swahili verbs indicate the process of entering a state. For example, the verbs kulewa ("to get drunk"), kuchoka ("to become tired") and kuchelewa ("to become late") describe the respective changes to state from "not drunk" to "drunk", from "not tired" to "tired" and from "not late" to "late". These may be regarded as inherently inchoative verbs. There is, however, no equivalent stative verb for each one that would describe being in the state of having completed that process, i.e. "to be [state]". Stative meanings such as "be drunk", "be tired" and "be late" are formed by using these inchoative verbs with the perfect marker -me- (or, in the negative, -ja-). Many words which are present in English as adjectives have no corresponding adjective in Swahili and are expressed by means of inchoative verbs.

When using inchoative verbs, compound tenses must be used to talk about states occurring at times other than the present.

=Derived verbs=

New verbs are readily created from simple verbs by attaching various suffixes (often called extensions) to the stem to get different shades of meaning by altering grammatical voice. Note that the final -a of common and short verbs only appears at the very end of the verb and is dropped before any suffixes.

Reciprocal
The reciprocal suffix -ana adds the meaning "each other" to the verb. The subject of a reciprocal verb is generally plural, however a singular subject may be used, often followed by na and an additional referent.
 * -penda "to love" → -pendana "to love each other"
 * -andikia "to write to" → -andikiana "to write to each other"
 * -pata "to get, receive" → -patana "to reconcile"
 * -piga "to hit" → -pigana "to fight", "to hit each other"

Applicative
The applicative suffix, frequently called the 'prepositional extension' in learning resources, adds one of various meanings to a verb usually represented by a preposition in English such as "to", "for", "in", "with" or even "from". The form of the applicative suffix varies, depending on vowel harmony and the reappearance of the /l/ which disappeared from an older stage of Swahili between the final two vowels. Loan verbs usually form their applicative forms by removing their final vowel and replacing it with either -ia or -ea according to the same rules.
 * -andika "to write" → -andikia "to write to"
 * -zungumza "to converse" → -zungumzia "to converse about", "to discuss"
 * -nunua "to buy" → -nunulia "to buy for"
 * -soma "to read" → -somea "to read to/for"
 * -kojoa "to urinate" → -kojolea "to urinate on/in/against"
 * -rudi "to return" → -rudia "to return to"
 * -samehe "to forgive" → -samehea "to forgive (sb.) for (sb.)"
 * -hesabu "to count", "to consider" → -hesabia "to count for", "to ascribe"

Causative
The causative suffix is added to verbs to indicate a person or thing causing another person or thing to perform the action of the original verb. There are a few ways in which causatives are formed. The most common and productive causative suffix is -isha, which follows the same rules of vowel harmony as the applicative suffix.


 * -hama "to move (away)" → -hamisha "to banish; transfer; displace"
 * -chelewa "to be late" → -chelewesha "to delay; make late"
 * -soma "to read; study" → -somesha "to teach"
 * -kopa "to borrow" → -kopesha "to lend"
 * -weza "to be able" → -wezesha "to enable"
 * -enda "to go" → -endesha "to make go; drive (a vehicle)"
 * -vaa "to put on (clothes); dress (oneself)" → -valisha "to dress (somebody else)"
 * -ongea "to speak" → -ongelesha "to make speak"

Short verbs have no preceding vowel so have to be learnt individually.


 * -fa "to die" → -fisha "to put to death; kill; destroy"; cf. the underived verb -ua "to kill"
 * -la "to eat" → -lisha "to feed (someone/something)"
 * -nywa "to drink" → -nywesha "to give (someone/something) water to drink"

Loan verbs, except those ending in -au, remove their final vowel before adding these suffixes.


 * -fahamu "to understand" → -fahamisha "to make understand"
 * -rudi "to return; go back; come back" → -rudisha "to return (something); give back; bring back"
 * -tii "to obey" → -tiisha "to make obey; subdue; dominate; subjugate"
 * -furahi "to become happy" → -furahisha "to make happy; gladden"
 * -starehe "to relax" → -starehesha "to entertain; put at ease"
 * -sahau "to forget" → -sahaulisha "to make forget"

These suffixes may also be added to verbs and nouns to create causative verbs from them.


 * imara "strong" (adjective) → -imarisha "to strengthen (something); fortify"
 * -fupi "short" (adjective) → -fupisha "to shorten (something)"
 * tayari "ready" (adjective) → -tayarisha "to prepare (something); to make ready"
 * bora "better" (adjective) → -boresha "to improve (something); to make better"
 * safi "clean" (adjective) → -safisha "to clean (something)"
 * sababu "cause; reason" (noun) → -sababisha "to cause"
 * lazima "obligation" (noun) → -lazimisha "to force; compel"
 * orodha "list" (noun) → -orodhesha "to list; to make a list"
 * huzuni "sadness" (noun) → -huzunisha "to make sad; sadden"
 * hakika "certainty" (noun) → -hakikisha "to make sure; make certain; assure"

There is a less common causative suffix -iza or -eza which appears with some words. Often there is more than derivation from the same word, sometimes with different meanings.

There is another means of deriving causative verbs and which results from an earlier -y- in the language. This -y- suffix combined with consonants and changed their pronunciation, palatalising or "softening" them. The following table outlines the common sound changes.
 * -penda "to like; love" → -pendeza "to please; be nice; be attractive"; cf. -pendesha "to cause to like/love"
 * -lipa "to pay" → -lipiza "to take vengeance/revenge on; to make (somebody) pay (figuratively)"; cf. -lipisha "to charge a fee; to make (somebody) pay (literally)"

In many cases, more than one of these suffixes may be used to derive different verbs from a single verb, formed by various means. In some cases, such as with -onyesha "to show", two causative suffixes may appear together.

Verbs that end with -ka very frequently exchange this to -sha to form the causative, however this is much less common when the preceding syllable contains e or i.
 * -ona "to see" → -onya "to warn"; cf. -onyesha "to show" (also: -onesha)
 * -ogopa "to fear; be afraid/scared of" → -ogofya "to frighten; to be scary"; cf. -ogopesha "to frighten; to be scary" (no difference in meaning)
 * -pona "to heal; to get better; to recover" (intransitive) → -ponya "to heal (somebody); to make recover"; cf. -ponyesha "to heal (somebody); to make recover" (no difference in meaning)
 * -pita "to pass" → -pisha "to give way; make room for; allow to pass"; cf. -pitisha "to make pass"
 * -lala "to lie down; fall asleep" → -laza "to house; provide with accommodation; lay sb. down; admit (somebody to hospital)"; cf. -lalisha "to put (somebody) to bed"
 * -lewa "to get drunk/inebriated" → -levya "to intoxicate" (of a drug); cf. -lewesha "to get (somebody) drunk"


 * -amka "to wake up" (oneself) → -amsha "to wake (somebody) up"
 * -chemka "to boil" (intransitive) → -chemsha "to boil (something); to make boil" (the m in this word is syllabic, derived from earlier "-mu-", so the e does not belong to the preceding syllable)
 * -waka "to shine, to catch fire" → -washa "to set on fire; light; switch on; start (e.g. a car)"
 * -choka "to become tired" → -chosha "to tire; be tiring; be tiresome; be boring"
 * -kumbuka "to remember" → -kumbusha "to remind"
 * -andika "to write" → -andikisha "to make write"
 * -cheka "to laugh" → -chekesha "to make laugh; amuse; be funny"

Because most of the word-final sequences of more than one vowel come from the deletion of an l that was present in an earlier stage of the language (and often preserved in many dialects and related languages), many verbs which today end in a sequence of two vowels are made by (removing the final -a) and adding -za. This -z- results from the palatalisation ("softening") process outlined above. which was applied to the -l- in these verbs. The -l- was subsequently lost but the -z- was not.


 * -tangaa "to become widely known" → -tangaza "to announce; proclaim; publicise"
 * -kataa "to refuse" → -kataza "to forbid"; cf. -katalisha "to make (somebody) refuse"
 * -tembea "to (go for a) walk" → -tembeza "to take for a walk; to walk (e.g. a dog)"
 * -kimbia "to run (away from)" → -kimbiza "to chase (away); pursue"
 * -jaa "to fill; become full" → -jaza "to fill; make full"

Passive
The passive suffix is generally -wa. Verb stems that end with l or either of the semivowels w or y (but not ny as that is a single consonant written with two letters, as illustrated by -danganywa above) take a suffix -iwa; if the preceding syllable contains e or o, it will be -ewa instead. Verbs whose ending in one of the front vowels plus a, (ie. the sequences -ea and -ia) usually simply add -wa. A few words of this group, however, add -lewa (after an e) or -liwa (after i), resulting from the earlier. As Swahili does not distinguish between the sequences /ua/ and /uwa/ or /oa/ and /owa/, the passive ending -wa would be inaudible on verbs, so the -liwa and -lewa endings are used instead. Note that the verb -ua "to kill" has an irregular passive form: -uawa, although the regular -uliwa is oc casionally used.
 * -jenga "to build" (whence Jenga) → -jengwa "to be built"
 * -sema "to say" → -semwa "to be said"
 * -danganya "to deceive" → -danganywa "to be deceived"
 * -pwaya "to pound" → -pwayiwa "to be pounded"
 * -chovya "to immerse" → -chovyewa "to be immersed"
 * -doya "to investigate" → -doyewa "to be investigated"
 * -gawa "to share; divide" → -gawiwa "to be shared; be divided"
 * -tawala "to govern; rule" → -tawaliwa "to be governed; be ruled"
 * -ambia "to tell (someone)" → -ambiwa "to be told" (of someone)
 * -tegemea "to rely on" → -tegemewa "to be relied on"
 * -zuia "to prevent" → -zuiwa "to be prevented"
 * -tia "to put in" → -tiliwa "to be put in"
 * -lea "to bring up; raise" → -lelewa "to be brought up, raised"
 * -pokea "to receive" → -pokewa / -pokelewa "to be received" (both alternatives possible)
 * -oa "to get married" (of a man) → -olewa "to get married" (of a woman)
 * -toa "to emit; publish; add; subtract; remove" → -tolewa "to be emitted; be published; be added; be subtracted; removed" (These verbs are auto-antonyms!)
 * -nunua "to buy" → -nunuliwa "to be bought"

The Kiunguja dialect, specifically the variant of it spoken in Zanzibar City, which has been made the standard dialect, goes a step further than many other dialects, requiring also that all verbs ending in -aa be passivised with the suffix -liwa even though the difference between /ɑɑ/ and /ɑwɑ/ is perfectly distinct. The short verbs have passive forms that must be learnt separately. In each case, the passive form is one syllable longer and falls into the category of common verbs and thus does not receive the extention -ku- anywhere in its conjugation. Most loan-verbs simply add -wa. If a loan-verb ends with a consonant followed by -u, this u becomes an i Loan-verbs which end in -au add -liwa Verbs ending in -uu lose one u and replace it with -liwa.
 * -zaa "to give birth to; sire" → -zaliwa "to be born" (dialectically also -zawa)
 * -vaa "to put on (clothing)" → -valiwa "to be put on"
 * -kaa "to sit; stay; reside" → -kaliwa "to be inhabited; be occupied; be settled; be sat upon; be stayed in"
 * -la "to eat" → -liwa "to be eaten"
 * -nywa "to drink" → -nywewa "to be drunk"
 * -pa "to give to" → -pewa "to be given; to receive"
 * -nya "to shit; drop (rain)" → -nyewa "to be shat; be dropped"
 * -cha "to fear; revere" → -chiwa "to be feared; revered"
 * -hitaji "to need" → -hitajiwa "to be needed"
 * -kodi "to rent; hire" → -kodiwa "to be rented; be hired"
 * -samehe "to forgive" → -samehewa "to be forgiven"
 * -dai "to claim" → -daiwa "to be claimed"
 * -laumu "to blame" → -laumiwa "to be blamed"
 * -jaribu "to try" → -jaribiwa "to be tried"
 * -sahau "to forget" → -sahauliwa "to be forgotten"
 * -nukuu "to copy; transcribe; transliterate" → -nuku-liwa "to be copied; be transcribed; be transliterated"

The agent in a sentence with a passive verb does not need to be included in the sentence. The passive verb, however, does explicitly allude to the existence of an agent, in contrast to the mediopassive below. When the agent is included in the sentence, it is introduced by the preposition na, which is here the equivalent of the English "by", although in other contexts it is more usually equivalent to "and" or "with".

Mediopassive
The mediopassive suffix is added to a transitive verb in order to promote its object to the role of subject without the implication of an agent. The form of the suffix involves ends in -ka and generally the harmonic i or e before it, although this may be dropped in verbs with a vowel final root; alternatively, the lost l of final vowel combinations may reappear and act as a buffer for the harmonic i or e.


 * -vunja "to break (something)" → -vunjika "to break" (intransitive)
 * -pika "to cook (something)" → -pikika "to cook" (intransitive)
 * -elewa "to understand (something)" → -eleweka "to be understood"
 * -sikia "to hear" → -sikika "to be heard; be audible"
 * -kaa "to sit; stay; inhabit" → -kalika "to be inhabited; be inhabitable"
 * -zoea "to get used to; grow accustomed to" → -zoelika "to become customary"

As with the other derivational suffixes (or "extensions"), loan verbs generally lose their final vowel before adding -ika or -eka according to vowel harmony rules, The exceptions are those ending in -au which use ''-lika'.


 * -haribu "to spoil (something); ruin; destroy" → -haribika "to spoil; get spoiled; get ruined; get destroyed"
 * -sahau "to forget" → -sahaulika "to cook" (intransitive)
 * -kebehi "to ridicule; make fun of" → -kebehika "to get ridiculed; get made fun of"

In learner materials, the mediopassive suffix generally erroneously described as the "stative extension" despite the fact that the resulting verbs do not generally fulfil the requirements stative: namely that they describe unchanging states. For example, the mediopassive verb -vunjika "to break; go to pieces" contrasts with its source verb -vunja "to break; make go to pieces", not in the quality of being either stative or dynamic — both are dynamic, describing a process that changes over time — but in that the subject of -vunjika is equivalent to the object of -vunja, and the subject of -vunja is completely absent from a clause with -vunjika. In this respect, mediopassive verbs are the same as passive verbs, however they are distinguished by their incompatibility with any mention of an agent. Compare the following examples.

Mediopassive verbs often have the appearance of being stative when used in the perfect. However, this is a function of the perfect, which focuses on the present relevance of a past action, rather than a function of the mediopassive itself. For example, the sentence "Dirisha limevunjika," means either "The window has broken," or "The window is broken." What is being said is that the window broke in the past, but that the effects of this action are still relevant in the present. The verb itself, -vunjika, does not describe the state of being broken, but rather the dynamic process of changing from "whole; in tact" to "broken; in pieces". The perfect -me- here indicates that we are concerned with the state after the dynamic process.

Suffix stacking
Suffixes can be stacked upon each other to make quite long verb stems with specific meanings. The passive suffix must always be last in Swahili.


 * -andika "to write" → -andikwa "to be written"
 * -andika "to write" → -andikisha "to cause to write" → -andikishwa "to be caused to write"
 * -andika "to write" → -andikia "to write to" → -andikiwa "to be written to"
 * -andika "to write" → -andikia "to write to" → -andikiana "to write to each other" → -andikianisha "to cause to write to each other" → -andikianishwa "to be caused to write to each other"

Here is another rather more implausible example:
 * -la "to eat"
 * → -lika "to be edible"
 * → -likia "to be edible to"
 * → -likiana "to be edible to each other"
 * → -likianisha "to cause to be edible to each other"
 * → -likianishwa "to be caused to be edible to each other"