Short Verbs That Keep ku-

01

The Verbs

These five are the ones you will meet most often, shown in their dictionary form:

• kula - to eat
• kunywa - to drink
• kuja - to come
• kuwa - to be
• kupa - to give

02

The Rule in One Line

The ku- stays when a tense marker stands directly in front of the stem. It goes when something else takes that place, or when there is no tense marker at all.

03

Tense Marker Before the Stem: ku- Stays

After -na-, -li-, -ta- and -me-, the ku- sits between the tense marker and the stem.

• ninakula - I am eating
• nilikula - I ate
• nitakula - I will eat
• nimekula - I have eaten

• Ninakunywa maji. Yanaburudisha.

  I am drinking water. It is refreshing.

• ni- I
• -na- now
• -ku- the support
• -nywa drink

Compare ninasoma I am reading: -soma has two syllables of its own and needs no support.

04

An Object Marker Takes the Place: ku- Goes

An object marker in front of the stem makes the word long enough, so the support drops out.

• nitakupa - I will give you
• alimpa - he gave him

• Nitakupa aspirini.

  I will give you aspirin.

Look closely at nitakupa: its -ku- is not the support but the object you.

05

No Tense Marker: ku- Goes

The subjunctive and the negative present have no tense marker, so there is nothing for the ku- to follow.

• subjunctive: tule - let us eat, niwe - that I be, uje - that you come
• negative present: sili - I do not eat, sinywi - I do not drink

• Kwa kawaida sinywi bia nyingi.

  I do not usually drink much beer.

• Ndiyo. Tule chakula cha Kichina.

  Yes. Let us eat Chinese food.

06

Commands

A command to one person is simply the infinitive, ku- and all.

• Kula matunda. Kuna tofaa, ndizi, na chungwa.

  Eat fruit. There are apples, bananas and an orange.

kuja is the exception: come! is njoo, and to several people njooni.

07

Negative Past and Future

Both still have a ku- in them, for two different reasons. In sikula I did not eat the -ku- is the negative past marker itself. In sitakula I will not eat it is the support, standing after the tense marker -ta- as usual.

• Haitakuwa ghali sana.

  It will not be very expensive.

08

kuwa, the Verb 'to Be'

kuwa follows every one of these rules, and it is how be is said in all tenses but the present.

• Umeona kile? Kilikuwa kinavutia.

  Did you see that? It was interesting.

• Muwe na siku njema.

  Have a good day.

The first keeps its ku- after the past marker -li-. The second is a subjunctive, so it has none.

09

kwenda Behaves the Same Way

The stem -enda go starts with a vowel, and it often keeps a kw- just as the short verbs keep ku-. Speakers also drop it, so ninakwenda and ninaenda both mean I am going.

• Nataka kwenda nyumbani sasa.

  I want to go home now.