Building New Verbs: Causative and Applicative

01

The Causative: Making It Happen

The ending -isha or -esha means to cause the action.

• -enda go, gives -endesha drive, make go
• -ona see, gives -onyesha show, make see
• -rudi return, gives -rudisha give back, make return

• Anaendesha gari dogo sana.

  He drives a very small car.

• Unaweza kunionyesha picha hiyo?

  Can you show me that picture?

kunionyesha is to make me see: the causative ending, with -ni- me tucked inside as the one being made to see.

02

A Shorter Causative in -za

Some verbs take -za or -sha instead. These are older formations and less predictable.

• -potea be lost, gives -poteza lose something
• -penda like, gives -pendeza please, be pleasing

• Mbwa wake mdogo anapendeza sana.

  Her little dog is very sweet.

Literally that is the dog pleases very much, which is how Swahili says something is lovely.

03

The Applicative: Doing It For Someone

The ending -ia or -ea adds the person the action is done for, or the thing it is done with or towards.

• -leta bring, gives -letea bring to someone
• -soma read, gives -somea read to someone
• -pika cook, gives -pikia cook for someone

• Siipendi. Unaweza kuniletea nyingine?

  I do not like it. Can you bring me another?

• Anamsomea mwanawe kitabu.

  She is reading her child a book.

In both, the extended verb has room for an extra person the plain verb had no place for.

04

Choosing i or e

The vowel of the stem decides. Stems containing e or o take -ea; all the others take -ia.

• -soma gives -somea
• -nunua gives -nunulia

05

Meanings That Have Drifted

Some extended verbs have travelled far from their originals and are separate words now, though the shape still shows where they came from.

• -tuma send, gave -tumia use
• -fika arrive, gave -fikia reach
• -fikiri think, gave -fikiria consider

• Mpishi mzuri hutumia kisu chenye ncha kali.

  A good cook uses a knife with a sharp point.

• Nikifikiria tena, hilo ni wazo baya.

  Thinking about it again, that is a bad idea.