KISWAHILI FOR BEGINNERS: 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

hi, 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 ,haki,.                                  Kusoma hakutoshi

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  in the present tense only.

iii. na which shows the present tense in the affirmative statements is not replaced by ja, li by ku, and ta remains unchanged.

Swahili tenses in the affirmative and in the negative;

Affirmative.                                     Negative

Kusoma, to read.                            Kutokusoma, not to read

We will continue next time