-
Topic 39: Passive Verb Endings
- Kachere Series
- Chapter
- Additional Information
146 A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING CIYAWO TOPIC 39 Passive Verb Endings In Ciyawo the passive ending indicates that someone or something is affected by an action. The subject of the sentence is not doing the action, but the action is being done to them or they are affected by it. In English, an example is, the man is arrested, which implies that he is being arrested, by someone. This passive verb ending often gets confused with the static verb ending as the ideas which they express are similar. The main difference, however, is that with the passive verb ending there is an agent which is doing the action, even though he, she or it might not be explicitly mentioned. The static verb ending, however, expresses the idea of the state or condition of something, without any reference to another party being involved. In Ciyawo the passive voice is achieved by changing the regular verb stem ending to –lwa, –gwa or –kwa. Sometimes you may hear variations of the –gwa ending such as, –dwa. This is apparently an influence from Chichewa. These endings -kwa, -gwa and -lwa are all preceded by one of the vowels. For example -alwa, -ilwa, -elwa, -olwa and -ulwa. Knowing which vowel is appropriate only comes through trial and error. In Ciyawo, we can use as the example, kutaŵa, to tie and make it kutaŵigwa, to be arrested, by adding the suffix, -igwa, in place of the regular verb stem ending. Another example, kutenda, to do, can be made to mean being done, kutendekwa, by adding the suffix –ekwa. In Ciyawo, using the two examples above, we can say, mundu akutaŵigwa ni ŵapolisi, the man is being arrested by the police and masengo gakutendekwa apano, work is being done here. For simplicity, we will use only the -ekwa ending, and conjugate the verb in the infinitive tense in the formula box. Remember, however, that the passive ending can be used in other tenses, as is shown in the examples below. 147 Passive Verb Ending Infinitive Tense + Passive verb ending Kutenda + ekwa = Kutendekwa = Being done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ŋBLBNVDJTJHXFLVMJKJHBOZB$JZBXP 4IFXBTIFMQFEUPMFBSO$JZBXP QBTU .XFNKPKFTZFHXF :PVIBWFCFFOCBUIFE QSFTFOUQFSGFDU "NBEVDBLBNVMJHXFLV.BOHPDIJ "NBEVXJMMCFDBQUVSFEJO.BOHPDIJ OFBSGVUVSF 5VDJKJHBMJHXBLVOZBTB 8FXJMMCFDBSSJFEUPUIFMBLF GBSGVUVSF 6HBMJXVUFMFDFLXF 5IFVHBMJNVTUCFDPPLFE JNQFSBUJWF TOPIC 39: PASSIVE VERB ENDINGS ...