Swahili Made Easy: A Beginner's Complete Course

LESSON 21. THE CONDITIONAL TENSES

PART ONE 69 LESSON 21 THE CONDITIONAL TENSES Swahili has four distinct tenses which express condition.They are formed with: a. -ki- “if” to denote a simple condition.The word kama is sometimes used to introduce the conditional tense: it may, however, be omitted, as -ki- by itself also expresses condition. e.g. Kama ukitaka mali fanya kazi, or ukitaka mali “If you want wealth, work.” Note the position of ki it is placed immediately after the subject prefix.This is its permanent position. Note again that all verbs without exception drop the ku. Even the monosyllabic verbs are not exempted,e.g.Ukila chakula bora utakuwa na nguvu,“If you eat good food you will be strong” Ukija kesho utanikuta hapa, “If you come tomorrow you will find me here.” b. ki, is also used to connect two actions, the second verb taking the ki; e.g. Tulimsikia akiimba, We heard her/him singing. Nilimkuta akisoma, I found him reading. c. japo, ijapokuwa,“even if”: Japo mtoto akilia, usimpe maziwa, “Even if the child cries do not give him milk”. d) nge, ngali: These denote a condition not likely to be fulfilled. e.g. Kama ningekuwa na fedha ningenunua gari, 70 SWAHILI MADE EASY “If I had money I would buy a car”. In spoken language nge and ngali are interchangeable. CONDITIONAL NEGATIVES Conditional negative tenses are expressed by -sipo-, “if not” e.g. Usipotaka kujenga ukuta ziba ufa, “If you do not want to build a wall stop up the crack”. Asipokuja, basi nenda nyumbani,“If he does not come then go home”. The -nge- is replaced by -singe- and –ngali by -singali- e.g. Kama wangekuja tusingewaona “Had they not come we would not have seen them.” Swahili has another way of expressing conditional tenses by using the negative subject prefixes followed by nge or ngali. e.g. singesoma (singalisoma), had I not read.... hungesoma (hangalisoma), had he not read.... hangesoma (Hangalisoma), had he not read…. Likewise: Miti isingeanguka, nyunba yetu haingeanguka. Our house would not fall if the trees did not fall. Kisu hakingevunjika, The knife would not break. Visu havingevunjika,The knives would not break. The first form is more frequent and probably simpler than this one. Choose the form you prefer and learn it well. PART ONE 71 EXERCISE 27 Translate into English: 1. Kama ungefika jana ungemkuta mgeni wetu hapa. 2. Kama akitoa fedha mpe kitabu hiki. 3. Kama asipotoa fedha usimpe kitabu hiki. 4. Kama watu wengi wakitaka kitu basi wape. 5. Tulikwenda shuleni, tulimkuta mwalimu akisoma kitabu kile. 6. Kama huli samaki watakupikia ndizi kwa nyama. 7. Ngoja nikupe habari za mlevi yule. 8. Asingeniambia ningoje, nisingengoja (or singengoja). ...