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LESSON 18. ORDERS AND WISHES
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56 SWAHILI MADE EASY LESSON 18 ORDERS AND WISHES In Swahili orders are given by using the verb stem or in the case of monosyllabic verbs, the whole verb, e.g. soma, read andika, write lala, sleep, lie down kula, eat (monosyllabic verb) kunywa, drink (monosyllabic) Kuja is irregular, its imperative is njoo, “come”. Commands in the plural are given by suffixing ni to the singular form and changing the final a into e as follows: Singular Plural soma, read Someni, read (you) andika, write andikeni, write (you) kula, eat kuleni (eat) you njoo, come njooni, come you Wishes similar to the English, “let me,· “let us” , are expressed by using the verb stem, changing the final a into e, and adding the personal pronominal prefixies: ni, u, a tu, m-, wa Thus, taking the verb kuenda, “to go”, we have: niende, I may go, let me go. Je, niende? May I go? uende, you may go, go aende, let him, her go PART ONE 57 twende, let us go, we may go mwende, you may go, go waende, let them go, they may go Monosyllabic verbs form no exception here, so we have: nije, let me come, I may come... uje, you may come aje, he/she may (should) come tuje, we may come, we should come mje, you may come, should come waje, let them come, they may come Likewise, nile, “let me eat”; ule, “you may eat” , etc. This form is called subjunctive. It is used whenever intention is expressed. The first verb is said to be in the indicative and the second in the subjunctive mood. e.g. Alinipa kitabu nisome, he gave me a book to read. Anakula chakula bora apate nguvu, he eats good (excellent) food to get strength. Walituita twende kula, they called us to go and eat The subjunctive is used after certain verbs, like: kuambia, to tell kusema, to say kuita, to call e.g. Nilimwambia aje, I told him to come. Je, alisema twende leo? Did he say we should go today? Ita wageni waje kula, Call the guests to come and eat [107.23.85.179] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 05:47 GMT) 58 SWAHILI MADE EASY With words like, lazima, it is necessary inafaa, it is better, useful haifai, it is not good, useless ni vizuri, it is good si vizuri, it is not good e.g. Lazima uende nyumbani, You must go home. lnafaa uende nyumbani, It is better you go home. Ni vizuri uende, It is good that you go home. With imperatives: e.g. njoo nikuambie, come I will tell you something. ngoja aje, wait (until) he comes. sema nifanye nini? say what I should do. njoo tunywe pombe, come, let us drink beer. karibu tule, welcome, let us eat With verbs implying prohibition or refusal, such as: kukataza, to forbid kukataa, to refuse kuzuia, to prevent These verbs take the negative subjunctive, which is as fol lows: nisiende, that I may not go usiende, that you may not go, don’t go asiende, that he/she may not go tusiende, that we may not go, let us not go msiende, that you may not go, don’t go wasiende, that they may not go, let them not go e.g. Baba alitukataza tusiende shambani, Father forbade us going into the field. PART ONE 59 The negative subjunctive is formed by inserting si between the subject prefix and the verb stem,as shown above.So,the affirmative and negative subjenctives differ because of this si. but the form is the same in both. Compare: niende, I may go, let me go nisiende , let me not go tuende, let us go tusiende, let us not go The negative subjunctive is used to express orders or commands in the second person.Thus: usiende, don’t go msiende, don’t go (pl.) usije kesho, do not come tomorrow msije kesho, do not come tomorrow usile matunda mabichi. don’ t eat unripe fruit msile matunda mabichi, don ‘ t eat unripe fruit usifanye hivi, do not do this msifanye hivi, do not do this usiwe na shaka. do not have doubts msiwe na shaka, do not have doubts usijali, do not mind msijali, do not mind usinisumbue, do not bother me msinisumbue, do not bother me When orders and wishes contain an object prefix the final a of the verbs is changed into e. e.g. niambie, “tell me”; mwambie, “tell him “. [107...