The Perfect with -me-

01

The Pattern

• Duka limefungwa. Huwezi kuingia.

  The shop is closed. You cannot go in.

• li- it, the class 5 subject
• -me- done, and still so
• fungwa be closed

The English is a present because the shop is shut now. The Swahili is a perfect because the shutting is what made it so.

• nimefika - I have arrived, and I am here
• amelala - he has gone to sleep, and is asleep

• Nimefurahi kukutana nawe.

  I am pleased to meet you.

• Basi limechelewa. Haiya!

  The bus is late. Oh no!

02

Where English Uses a Present

With verbs of posture, dress and feeling, the Swahili perfect describes the state somebody is in now, and translating it as a past tense gives quite the wrong sense.

• Umelala?

  Are you asleep?

• Nina njaa, nina kiu na nimechoka.

  I am hungry, thirsty and tired.

Literally these are have you fallen asleep and I have become tired. In each, what matters is the state that resulted.

03

Set Against the Plain Past

• Wiki iliyopita, nilifika New York.

  Last week I arrived in New York.

• Mgeni wetu amefika.

  Our guest has arrived.

The first fixes an event at a point in the past. The second reports where somebody is now.

04

The Negative Is -ja-, Meaning Not Yet

The negative perfect does not merely deny the event. It says it has not happened so far.

• amelala he has slept becomes hajalala he has not slept yet
• nimekuona I have seen you becomes sijakuona I have not seen you

• Sijakuona kwa miaka tisa!

  I have not seen you for nine years!

05

With Things as Subjects

• Kiti changu cha zamani cha ofisi kimevunjika.

  My old office chair has broken.

• Picha nzuri imetundikwa ukutani.

  A lovely picture has been hung on the wall.

The chair is still broken and the picture still hanging, which is exactly why the perfect is the right choice for both.

06

Already, and Ever

-mesha- adds already, tightening the sense that a thing is done and finished with.

• Kumeshapita wakati. Lazima niende.

  Time has already passed. I must go.

• Tunatazama filamu. Nimeshaiona hapo awali.

  We are watching a film. I have already seen it before.

In speech the -me- is often left out, so -sha- comes straight after the subject: ashajua for ameshajua.

• Kelly. Ashajua kuwa mimi ni mgonjwa.

  Kelly. She already knows that I am sick.

The same shape with -wahi asks instead whether something has ever happened.

• Umeshawahi kuisikia bendi hii?

  Have you ever heard this band?

07

Recent Events

For something that has just happened, the perfect is the natural choice where English might reach for a plain past.

• Hii imetokeaje?

  How did this happen?

• Nimeioka mwenyewe.

  I baked it myself.