Giving Orders — Swahili Grammar

A command to one person is the barest form a Swahili verb takes: the stem alone, with no prefix of any kind. That makes the imperative the shortest verb form there is, and the easiest to produce.

One Person

Take the infinitive, remove ku-, and stop.

gives - read
gives - buy
gives - write

Funga mlango, tafadhali.
Close the door, please.
Chagua pea ya viatu unayoipenda.
Choose the pair of shoes you like.

More Than One Person

Add -ni to the end. If the stem ends in -a, that vowel becomes -e first.

becomes
becomes

Furahieni chakula chenu.
Enjoy your meal.
Njooni mcheze nasi.
Come and dance with us.

The first is addressed to a table of guests. To one person it would be .

Short Verbs Keep ku-

The one-syllable verbs are too short to stand as a bare stem, so their command holds on to the prefix and comes out looking like the dictionary form.

Kula matunda.
Eat fruit.

With an Object, the Vowel Changes

As soon as an object marker goes in front, the final -a turns into -e and the word stops looking like a bare stem at all.

help, with me, becomes
pa give, with me, becomes

Nisamehe sana kwa usumbufu.
Forgive me for the trouble.
Isahau.
Forget it.
Inakukaa vizuri. Inunue!
It fits you well. Buy it!

and are one word each, and each holds an object: the i- in front is the thing being forgotten or bought.

Telling Someone Not To

There is no negative imperative. A prohibition is built on the subjunctive instead, with -si- inserted, and it therefore carries a subject prefix after all.

Usiwe mvivu.
Do not be lazy.
Tafadhali usivute sigara hapa.
Please do not smoke here.
Msikae tu hapo.
Do not just sit there.

The last is addressed to more than one person, and the plural shows in the m- at the front rather than in an ending.

Softening a Command

please makes any command polite, and the subjunctive is gentler still than the bare stem.

Tafadhali lete chupa nyingine ya divai.
Please bring another bottle of wine.
Kumbuka usiwahi kufunga mlango huu.
Remember never to close this door.

In the course

Sentences from Lingora’s Swahili course

31 of the course's 500 sentences use this, the first in lesson 8. A few of them, with the words “Giving Orders” is about in bold:

Nendeni mkaangalie jikoni. Ni dogo sana.
Go and check out (pl.) the kitchen. It is so small.
Lesson 322

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