Swahili Made Easy: A Beginner's Complete Course

LESSON 22. THE PASSIVE VOICE

72 SWAHILI MADE EASY LESSON 22 THE PASSIVE VOICE Consider the following sentences: a. Tatu loves her children. b. Tatu is loved by her children. In both sentences Tatu is the subject but she is not the doer in the second sentence. She is said to be passive.This is the passive voice. The first sentence is in the active voice. Tatu is the doer, i.e. she loves...In Swahili,the passive voice is rendered by wa added at the end of the verb following the rules given below: 1. Verbs ending in -a, -ea and -ia, insert w before the final vowel a. e.g. kupenda “to love”; kupendwa “to be loved”. Now you know how to translate sentence (b) above.Remember the English verb is is not translated in the Swahili verb. Thus Tatu anapendwa na watoto wake is the rendering of (b). If you analyse the Swahili rendering you will see that the conjunction na stands for the English “by” although it also means “and”. 2. Verbs ending in -aa, ua, insert liw before the final a. e.g. kukataa, “to refuse”;-amekataa, “he has refused”, kukataliwa, “to be refused”; amekataliwa, “ he has been refused”. 3. Verbs ending in -au add liwa at the end: e.g.kusahau,to forget; kusahauliwa, “to be forgotten”. 4. Verbs ending in e and i add wa at the end: e. g. kusamehe, “to forgive” ; kusamehewa, “to be forgiven”. PART ONE 73 5. Verbs ending in oainsert kw before the last a. e.g. kuoa, to marry (man) ; kuolewa, to be married (woman). 6. Verbs ending in u drop the u and add wa: e.g. kujibu, “to answer”; kujibiwa, “to be answered.” The doer in the passive voice is called the agent. In the sentence Tatu anapendwa na watoto wake, Tatu’s children are the agents, they do the act of loving while their mother receives the act of loving. Consider this sentence also: Dada anapendwa na kila mtu “(My) sister is loved by every one”. To express the agent Swahili uses the word na as already pointed out. If however the action is accomplished by means of an instrument, Swahili uses the word kwa to express the idea of instrumentality. e.g. Aliandika barua kwa wino, He wrote a letter with (in) ink. Alipigwa kwa fimbo, He was hit with a stick. Walipigwa mawe, They were stoned. In the last example the word kwa has been omitted, but it is understood. The sentence should more correcdy read: walipigwa kwa mawe. 74 SWAHILI MADE EASY EXERCISE 28 Change the following sentences into the passive voice: Active Passive Mtoto amejibu swali. Swali limejibiwa na mtoto. The child has answered The question has been the question. answered by the child. 1. Tuliwapokea wageni wengi jana. 2. Watoto wanampenda sana mwalimu wao. 3. Bahati ameandika barua nzuri kwa wino. 4. Watu wengi wamesahau jambo hili sasa. 5. Waziri amewafikiria wafanyakazi wote. 6. Nani amefungua mlango wa chumba changu? 7. Baba alikata mti ule mrefu kwa shoka. 8. Wezi walivunja nyumba ile nzuri ya mwalimu wetu usiku. (Wezi walivunja usiku nyumba ila nzuri ya mwalimu wetu). 9. Mbwa alipasua nguo ya Bahati kwa makucha yake makali. 10. Mama alikataza watoto wasicheze chumbani. The passive voice in the negative offers no special difficulty. It follows the same rules as in the affirmative.Thus: Bahati anapendwa, Bahati is loved Bahati hapendwi (passive), Bahati is not loved Bahati alipendwa, Bahati was loved Bahati hakupendwa, Bahati was not loved Bahati atapendwa, Bahati will be loved Bahati hatapendwa, Bahati will not be loved PART ONE 75 Useful Phrases Mtoto alizaliwa The child was born in 1970. mwaka 1970. Tatu aliolewa na….. Tatu was married to... Tatu alisifiwa kwa Tatu was praised for her kazi yake nzuri, good work. Sitaki nguo hizo, I do not like those clothes, zimevaliwa na they have been worn by a mtu fulani, certain person. Mwizi amekamatwa The thief has been arrested by na polisi, the police. Gari limeharibika, The car is out of order Wezi walipigwa mawe na…The thieves were stoned by…. Jambo hili haliwezekani, This matter is impossible. Sukari haipatikani hapa, The sugar is not available here. ...