Grammar

Nouns Questions Verbs

Possessives Demonstratives Objects

Adjectives Negative Verbs To Be

Independant
Pronouns Prepositions &
Conjunctions

Verbs

Verb tenses are totally regular, and there are no endings to memorize for each tense. Information about the subject and tense are tagged on to the verb:

subject marker		tense marker		verb stem
English	I		past	eat - I ate
Swahili	ni		li	kulu - nilikulu

To change the meaning the same order is used with a different subject marker, tense marker, or verb stem.

The subject markers include:

I		ni
you		u
he/she		a
we		tu
you plural		m
they		wa

The tense markers are:

past		li
present		na or a
future		ta
perfect		me

subject marker		tense marker
Enlish	you		past	speak - you spoke
Swahili	u		li	sema - ulisema

English	I		future	eat - I will eat
Swahili	ni		ta	kula - nitakula

Return to top.

Negative Verbs

The negative verb is used similar to the postive verb. The verb stems are the same with different subject markers and tense markers.

Negative subject markers

English		Swahili
negative I		si
negative you		hu
negative he/she		ha
negative we		hatu
negative you (pl)		ham
negative they		hawa

Negative tenses

past		ku
present		-i (no tense, final vowel changes from a to i)
future		ta
perfect		ja

	subject marker	tense marker	verb stem
English	negative I	negative past	eat - I didn't eat
Swahili	si	ku	kula - sikukula

English	negative I	negative present	eat - I don't eat
Swahili	si		kula - sikuli

Return to top.

Objects

Objects follow the verb.

I eat fish.

ninakula samaki

Independant Pronouns

Independant pronouns are not attached to a verb in the manner of a subject marker. An independant pronoun cannot replace a subject marker, however it can help to clarify meaning.

The independant pronouns are:

I, me		mimi
you		wewe
he, him/she, her		yeye
we, us		sisi
you (plural)		nyinyi
they, them		wao

Return to top.

Demonstratives

People

this person		huyu
that person		yule
these persons		hawa
those persons		wale

Objects

this (thing)		hii
that (thing)		ile
these (things)		hizi
those (things)		zile

Return to top.

To Be

The English verb "to be" has special constructions depending on the meaning. "To be something" is ni. The negative, "not to be something" is si. The ni can be dropped without changing the meaning, The si cannot be omitted.

He is rich		yeye ni tajiri
He is not rich		yeye si tajiri

"To be in or at a place" is denoted with the subject marker plus ko. "Not to be in or at a place" is the negative subject marker plus ko. The subject marker for he/she becomes yu, with the negative hayu.

	subject marker	ko
I am not in Kenya	si	ko kenya	siko kenya
He is in Kenya	yu	ko kenya	yuko kenya
He is not in Kenya	hayu	ko kenya	hayuko kenya

"To be with" is the same as "to have" in Swahili. This is formed by the subject marker plus na, the Swahili word for "and" or "with". "Not to have" is the negative subject marker plus na.

		subject marker	na
I have a coat		ni	na koti	nina koti
She has a coat		a	na koti	ana koti
John has a coat	John	a	na koti	John ana koti
I don't have a coat		si	na koti	sina koti

Return to top.

Nouns

Nouns are divided into several classes distinguished by various prefixes. The two most important classes are the m-wa prefixes for people and the n-n prefixes for things. These prefixes used in place of the other prefixes will generally be understood.

noun & adjective
prefixes

examples

subject prefixes

singular

plural

singular

plural

mtoto

watoto

ni, u, a

tu, m, wa

child

children

nyumba

house

houses

Other noun classes include:

noun & adjective prefixes		examples		subject prefixes
singular	plural			singular	plural
m	mi	mti	miti	u	i
		tree	trees
ki	vi	kitu	vitu	ki	vi
		thing	things
ji	ma	jicho	macho	li	ya
		eye	eyes

There are four other classes which don't distinguish between singular and plural.

noun & adjective prefixes	examples	subject prefixes
singular & plural		singular & plural
u	uzuri	m
	goodness
ku	kule	ku
pa	pale	pa
mu	mle	mu
	there (different kinds of space)

Return to top.

Possessives

Possessives follow the item possessed. The prefix for the singular of the n-n class:

my, mine		yangu
your, yours		yako
his, her, hers		yake
our, ours		yetu
your, yours (pl)		yenu
their, theirs		yao

my clothes		nguo yangu

Return to top.

Adjectives

Adjectives follow the noun.

a big house

nyumba kubwa

Some adjectives take prefixes and others do not.

good, nice		mzuri
bad		mbaya
big		mkubwa
small		mdogo
tall, long		mrefu
short		mfupi
many		nyingi
few		chache
cheap		rahisi
expensive		ghali

Return to top.

Prepositions & Conjunctions

and, with		na
to, by		kwa
of (m-wa)		wa (pl: wa)
of (n-n)		ya (pl: za)
but		lakini
or		au
that		kwamba
although		ingawa
except		ila
therefore		kwa hivyo
because		kwa sababu
because, that is		manake
like, if		kama

Return to top.

Questions

Questions do not have a special form in Swahili. A statement is made into a question by raising the pitch of your voice at the end of the sentence.

Interrogative words

who		nani
what		nini
which, what, what kind		gani
why		kwa nini
when (what time)		saa ngapi
when (what day)		siku gani
how		vipi or namna gani
where		wapi
how many		ngapi
What is this?		hii ni nini?

Return to top.