CHAPTER 5
SYNOPSIS OF SWAHILI
CHAPTER 5 SYNOPSIS OF SWAHILI ***** 29. The principal tenses of Swahili are indicated by means of prefixes. Certain of these tenses are 'independent.; This means that if a verb is the only verb in a sentence, it must be in one of these tenses. Five independent tenses have prefixes that begin with a consonant. In these examples, the tense prefixes are underlined.
| Wanakutana. | They are meeting |
| Walikutana. | They met. |
| Watagkutana. | They will meet. |
| Wamekutana. | They (have) met. |
| Wangwkutana. | They would meet (if ...). |
(Ashton 35-8, 187 Polomé 115-7, 120)
***** 53. The most troublesome thing about Swahili verbs is the way they form the negative. There are two different problems connected with negatives. One is that the negative tenses don't correspond exactly to the affirmative tenses. There is only one negative to go with the pa, g, and Q3 tenses (par.39: 30. 31, 56).
| Wanakutana. | They meet/are meeting. (na tense) |
| Wakutana. | They meet. (a tense) |
| Hukutana. | They regularly/characteristically meet. (hu tense) |
| Hawakutani. | They aren't meeting/don't meet. |
(Ashton 70-2 Polomé 1149)
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