Swahili/Verbs/General

Verbs edit

General Structure edit

Verbs in general consist of a stem which is flexed mostly by adding affixes. Different types of affixes serve different functions. The following shows the most basic and important categories of affixes. Regular/native verbs end in "-a". Those that do not usually have their origin in another language.

Subject Prefixes (personal) edit

Subject prefixes are (when used) in the first position. They indicate the acting subject (in this case the person) of the sentence.

Person Singular Plural
First Ni- I do Tu- we do
Second U- you do M- You do
Third A- he/she does Wa- they do

For subjects other than persons the respective prefix of the corresponding Noun Class is used, which will be introduced in Nouns.

Negating Prefixes (personal) edit

For each subject prefix there exists another corresponding prefix which use negates the whole sentence. The regular negated form adds "H(a)-" in front of the respective positive subject prefix. (Note that if the prefix begins with a vowel, only an "H-" is added, omitting the "-a-".)

Person Singular Plural
First Si- I do not Hatu- we do not
Second Hu- you do not Ham- You do not
Third Ha- he/she does not Hawa- they do not

Personal Pronouns edit

These prefixes render personal pronouns obsolete except for cases in which one wants to emphasize on the subject.

Example: Mimi sipendi (I do not like)

Tense/TENS edit

After a subject prefix follows a infix, called the TENS-marker, that marks the tense or other mode (for example the conditional) of the verb.

Infinitive edit

The infinitive is built by simply adding the prefix "ku-" to the stem of the verb.

Example: Ku-fanya (To do)

(Technically this is its own Noun Class.)

Present edit

Example: Ni-na-fanya (I do/I am doing)

Other Tenses edit

Others edit

Other infixes and modifier contain