Present Tense with -na-

01

The Pattern

• Tunakula chakula cha mchana.

  We are eating lunch.

• tu- we
• -na- happening now
• kula eat

Change only the front and you change only the person.

• ninasoma - I read, I am reading
• unasoma - you read
• anasoma - he reads, she reads
• tunasoma - we read
• wanasoma - they read

• Mwanamume anakula.

  The man is eating.

• Mnafanya nini sasa hivi?

  What are you all doing right now?

The stem never alters. Everything that moves happens at the front of the word.

02

Now and Usually at Once

English keeps I am eating apart from I eat. Swahili does not: -na- covers both, and only a time word or the situation says which is meant.

• Watoto wanapanda basi.

  The children are getting on the bus.

• Ninaishi kijijini chenye ng'ombe wengi.

  I live in a village with many cattle.

The first is happening as it is spoken; the second is true every day of the year. The verb is built the same way in both.

03

The Spoken Short Form

In speech the first-person nina- is regularly clipped to na-. It is not careless. It is what people say, and you will hear it constantly.

• Napenda chakula.

  I like food.

• Nataka kwenda nyumbani sasa.

  I want to go home now.

• Nahitaji kwenda sokoni.

  I need to go to the market.

04

Short Verbs Keep Their ku-

A handful of one-syllable stems hold on to the ku- of the infinitive, because without it the word would be too short to carry its stress.

• Ninakunywa maji. Yanaburudisha.

  I am drinking water. It is refreshing.

The stem is -nywa drink, and ku- stays in front of it: ni-na-ku-nywa.

05

What the Class Prefix Does Here

When the subject is a thing rather than a person, the prefix is that noun's class agreement, and English is forced to supply a word Swahili does not need.

• Teksi inasubiri.

  The taxi is waiting.

• Haiya, mvua inanyesha!

  Oh no, it is raining!

• Tunasoma kitabu. Kinavutia.

  We are reading a book. It is interesting.

English says it three times there. Swahili says it inside the verb, as i-, i- and ki-.