Swahili Grammar Guide

“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.