Advanced Tenses: “Just happened”, “Already happened” and “Not Yet”
“When we get to the market…”: The situational ki tense
This is expressed by describing the future, or a situation that hasn’t happened yet. It’s easy to build and use.
Rules for using the ki marker:
- You make this tense by putting a ki into a verb. You put it after the subject predicate, and before the stem.
- Monosyllabic exception verbs: remove the stem marker.
- You can reinforce with a word for “if” or “when”, like ikiwa or kama.
Examples of the situational ki tense:
| English sentence | Verb | Modification | Swahili |
|---|---|---|---|
| When we get to the market, you’ll see... | -fika (to arrive) | kifika | Tukifika sokoni, utaona... |
| If you get in the car you will see your luggage inside. | -ingia (to enter) | kiingia | Ukiingia kwenye gari utaona mizigo yako imo ndani. |
| If we eat now, we can’t eat later. | -kula (to eat) | kila | Ikiwa tukila sasa, hatuwezi kula baadaye. |
| If we hurry, we’ll finish our work. | -fanya haraka (to make haste) | kifanya haraka | Kama tutafanya haraka, tutamaliza kazi yetu. |
“Already happened a while ago” tense: "-mesha"
The -mesha tense is similar to the -me tense, but expresses something that has “already happened”. It is actually a contraction of the -me and kwisha, which is the verb for “to finish”
The -mesha tense is very similar to the -me tense above. Technically, it is an extension of the -me tense. See below the example for a grammatical explanation.
The main difference is, this tense specifies something that "has already" happened. It is easiest explained with an example:
| Tense | Swahili | English |
|---|---|---|
| present | Ninaenda | I am going |
| -me | Nimeenda | I am gone. |
| -mesha | Nimeshaenda | I have already gone. |
“If I were rich…”: nge and ngali Conditionals in hope and regret
Use nge and ngali to describe something that still might happen.
Rule
- Positive expressions: Put a nge as the tense marker. Use this as a future condition and consequence.
- Things that didn’t happen (“regret”): Put a ngali as the tense marker. Use this for a past event/act no longer possible, and a result that can’t come true.
- Negating: Put a si right after the person marker.
Examples of conditionals in hope and regret
| English sentence | Verb(s) | Swahili sentence |
|---|---|---|
| If you saw them, you would like them. | -ona (to see), -penda (to like) | Ungewaona, ungewapenda. |
| If I had exercised, I would have gotten sick. | -fanya mazoezi (to exercise), -kuwa mgonjwa (to be sick) | Ningalifanya mazoezi, ningalikuwa mgonjwa. |
| If I lived there, I wouldn’t be happy. | -ishi (to live) -furahi (to be happy) | Ningaliishi huko, nisingalifurahi. |
| If I didn’t know it was too expensive, I’d have bought it. | -jua (to know), -nunoa (to buy) | Nisingejua hii ni ghali zaidi, ningeliinunua. |
| If you didn’t tell us, we wouldn’t have known. | -ambia (to tell), -jua (to know) | Usingalituambia, tusingalijua. |
| I knew that if I were not to play, I wouldn’t be tired. | -cheza (to play), -choka (to get tired) | Nilijua kwamba nisingalicheza, nisingalichoka. |
“Then this happened”: the ka tense
This tense is used when two things happen after another, like a succession of events.
Construction:
- Put a ka right after the subject pronoun (usually a), usually in the past tense (li)
- For monosyllabic verbs, remove the ku stem.
| English | Verbs | Swahili |
|---|---|---|
| He got up, took a walk, and then ate. | -amka, -tembea, -kula | Yeye aliamka, akatembea, akala. |
| Go and sleep! | -enda, -lala | Nenda kalale!/ukalale |
| Yesterday he went to the market and bought some food. | -kwenda sokoni, kununua chakula | Jana alikwenda sokoni akanunua chakula. |
| This morning I woke up early, drank coffee and went for a run. | -kuamka, kunywa, kwenda kukumbia | Leo asubuhi niliamka mapema, nikanywa kawaha na kwenda kukimbia. |
“Study as hard as you can”: The General Relative
Like an uncle who’s an army field surgeon, the general relative is useful to know.
You form it by
- Omitting a tense marker (like na, li or whatever)
- Put the vyo marker after the verb
- Using a general quantity style word: jinsi (way), kama (as, like), namna (way, type), kadiri (extent, amount).
Examples of the general relative
| English | Swhili |
|---|---|
| Study as hard as you are able. | Soma kadiri uwezavyo. |
| Do as you like. | Fanya kama upendavyo/ fanya upendavyo |
| Eat as much as you want. | Kula kadiri upendavyo./utakavyo |
| I’ll run as far as I can! | Nitakimbia umbali niwezavyo. |