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LESSON 17. THE SWAHILI NEGATIVE FORMS
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PART ONE 51 LESSON 17 THE SWAHILI NEGATIVE FORMS Swahili uses a different set of subject prefixes to express negations. The idea of negation is contained in these subject prefixes. They are: a. in the M-W A class: si, I, not hatu, we ….. not hu, you... not ham, you … not ha, he, she... not hawa, they …..not b. in other classes: M/MI, hau/hai, e.g. mti hau... miti hai…anguki KI/VI, haki/havi, kiti haki... viti havi... fai N/N, hai/hazi, nyumba hai... vyumba hazi...toshi O/MA, hali/haya, jina hali… majina haya…maana U, hau/hazi, uso hau … nyuso hazi….. sura PA, hapa, pahali hapa ….fai KU, haku, kusoma haku… The following rules apply to the formation of negatives in Swahili : i. All verbs drop ku of the infinitives in all the tenses, only the monosyllabic verbs retain the ku in the future tense. ii. Verbs ending in a or e change these final vowels into i in the present tense only. iii. na which shows the present tense in the affirmative statements is not replaced at all, but me is replaced by ja, li by ku, and ta remains unchanged. 52 SWAHILI MADE EASY Swahili tenses in the affirmative and in the negative: Affirmative Negative kusoma, to read kutokusoma, not to read (Affirm) (Neg.) The Present Tense sisomi, I do not read ninasoma, I read unasoma, you read husomi, you do noto read anasoma, he/ she reads hasomi, he/she does not read The Perfect Tense nimesoma, I have read sijasoma, I have not read umesoma, you have read hujasoma, you have not read amesoma, he/she has read hajasoma, he/she has not read The Past Tense nilisoma, I read sikusoma, I did not read ulisoma, you read hukusoma, you did not read alisoma, he read hakusoma, he/she did not read tulisoma, we read hatukusoma, we did not read mlisoma, you read hamkusoma, you did not read walisoma, they read hawakusoma, they did not read The Future Tense nitasoma, I shall read sitasoma, I shall not read utasoma, you will read hutasoma, you will not read atasoma, he will read hatasoma, she/he will not read tutasoma, we shall read hatutasoma, we will not read mtasoma, you will read hamtasoma, you will not read watasoma. they will read hawatasoma,they will not read [54.166.234.171] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 11:21 GMT) PART ONE 53 A few examples from the monosyllabic verbs: The Present Tense ninakula, I eat sili, I do not eat unakula, you eat huli, you do not eat The Perfect Tense nimekula, I have eaten sijala. I have not eaten umekula, you have eaten hujala, you have not eaten, etc... The Past Tense nilikula, I ate sikula, I did not eat ulikula, you ate hukula, you did not eat The Future Tense nitakula, I shall eat Sitakula, I did not eat utakula, you will eat hutakula, you will not eat Similarly kuja, “to come” has: ninakuja, I am coming siji, I am not coming unakuja, you are coming huji, you are not coming The Perfect Tense nimekuja, I have come sijaja, I have not come The Past Tense nilikuja, I came sikuja, I did not come The Future Tense Nitakuja, I shall come sitakuja,I shall not come etc. 54 SWAHILI MADE EASY EXERCISE 21 Change the following affirmative sentences/clauses into the negative and the negative into the affirmative, after this model: Je, mwalimu amekuja? (affirmative) Je, mwalimu hajaja? (negative) 1. Nani anakula ndizi za mtoto? 2. Wageni wanapenda samaki, lakini hawataki ndizi. 3. Baba amekuja na amelala. 4. Mwalimu alisema wewe ni mtoto mjanja, 5. Mgonjwa hali samaki, anakula viazi na mkate. 6. Nani alikuja hapa jana? 7. Je, umeona simba? Nani hajaona simba? 8. Mganga atakuja kesho. The negative forms of “ kuwa...” “kuwa na..” and “kuwako” The negative forms of the verbs kuwa, “to be”, kuwa na, “to have”, and kuwako, “to be in a place”, differ only in the present tense. Thus: Affirmative Negative Kuwa ni, am, is, are si, am not, is not, are not Kuwa na nina, I have sina, I have not una, you have huna, you have not ana, he/she has hana, she has not wana, they have hawana, they have not [54.166.234.171] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 11:21 GMT) PART ONE 55 Kuwako niko, I am (in a place) siko...