“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. |