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LESSON 14. KUWA, KUWA NA, KUWAKO
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PART ONE 39 LESSON 14 KUWA, KUWA NA, KUWAKO THE VERB “TO BE”: KUWA This verb is irregular in the present tense. It has only one form, ni, for “am, is, and are”. Nouns and independent personal pronouns are used with ni and its negative si, “am not, is not, and are not.” These are: Mimi13 I sisi, we wewe, you (singular) ninyi, you* sisi, we nyinyi, you yeye, he, she wao, they e.g. mimi ni mwalimu, I am a teacher. wewe ni mtoto, you are a child. yeye si mwizi, he is not a thief. sisi ni wageni Tanzania, we are strangers in Tanzania. ninyi ni watu wema, you are kind people. wao si walevi, they are not drunkards. 13 Mimi, wewe, etc... are independent personal pronouns. They are not written together with the verbs as are ni, u, a, etc... They may be used together with ni, u, a, etc... without changing the meaning of the sentence. They add emphasis: e.g. Mimi nimeona, wewe umeona, yeye ameona, etc... “ I have seen, you has seen, she/he have seen, etc...” Mimi is similar to the “ego”, or the italian “io”. 40 SWAHILI MADE EASY Kuwa is regular in the perfect, past and future tenses: e.g. Perfect Tense nimekuwa, I have been tumekuwa, we have been utakuwa, you have been mmekuwa na, you have had amekuwa , he/she has been wamekuwa na, they have had Past Tense nilikuwa na, I had tulikuwa na, we had ulikuwa na, you had mlikuwa na, you had, etc. Future Tense nitakuwa, I shall be tutakuwa, we shall be, etc... utakuwa mtakuwa, you will be atakuwa watakuwa THE VERB “TO HAVE”: KUWA NA The verb kuwa na, like kuwa, is also irregular in the present tense. It is regular in all other tenses. The Present Tense nina, I have tuna, we have una, you have mna, you have ana, he, she has wana, they have e.g. mtoto ana kitabu kizuri, the child has a nice book wana visu vikali, they have sharp knives wagonjwa wana mganga mzuri, patients have a good doctor. The Perfect Tense nimekuwa na, I have had tumekuwa na, we have had umekuwa na, you have had mmekuwa na, you have had amekuwa na he/she has had wamekuwa na, they have had [44.220.245.254] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 07:49 GMT) PART ONE 41 The Past Tense nilikuwa, na, I had tulikuwa na, we had ulikuwa na, you had mlikuwa na, you had, etc... The Future Tense nitakuwa na, I shall have tutakuwa na, we shall have utakuwa na, you will have etc. TO BE IN A PLACE: KUWAKO14 This verb is also irregular in the present tense. In other tenses it is regular and identical with the verb kuwa treated above. Kuwako means “to be in a place”. It is used to indicate that a thing or person is in a certain place, as contrasted to being in a certain state. e.g. “ I am a teacher” and “I am at school “ are not the same in Swahili: to be a teacher is a quality status, while to be at school is not inherent in me as a quality; I am still a teacher even when I sleep at night in my bed. This distinction of being as a status and being in a place is necessary in the present tense.In all other tenses the same form of the verb to be is used to mean to be as a status and to be in a place.The following examples will illustrate this: Compare: Tatu ni mwalimu, Tatu is a teacher. And Tatu yuko shuleni,15 Tatu is at school. Again Tatu alikuwa mtoto, Tatu was a child. and Tatu alikuwa shuleni15 , Tatu was at school. 14 This verb is used with yangu, yako, yake, yetu, yenu, yao, to mean alone, e.g. pekee yangu, I alone, peke yake he/she alone, etc. 15 shule, “school”, is derived from German “schule” , meaning “school”. To express the idea of “at, in. from” school, add the suffix ni thus: ‘shuleni’. Ni is added at the end of most common nouns to express the idea of place e.g. nyumbani, “at home. From nyumba, “house.” 42 SWAHILI MADE EASY So, too Tatu atakuwa mama,Tatu will be a mother. and Tatu atakuwa nyumbani, Tatu will be at home. Present Tense niko, I am (in a place) e.g. niko hapa, I am here. uko...