Verbs Flashcards
“To Have” present tense
Formed from “Kuwa na”, which means literally to be with. In the present tense, -NA is used alone as the verb stem, with just the subject prefix added on.
Mimi nina pesa (I have money)
Mtoto ana kitabu (The child has a book)
Watoto wana vitabu (The children have books)
Chumba kina kabati (The room has a dresser)
Vyumba vina vitanda (The rooms have beds)
Nyumba zina vyumba (The houses have rooms)
Posta ina choo (The post office has a bathroom)
To negate, HA is added in front of the subject prefix, except in first person when NI changes to SI. The “A” in singular third perso is absorbed by HA.
Mimi sina pesa (I don’t have money)
Mtoto hana kitabu (The child does not have a book)
Watoto hawana vitabu (The children do not have books)
Chumba hakina kabati (The room does not have a dresser)
Vyumba havina vitanda (The rooms do not have beds)
Nyumba hazina vyumba (The houses do not have rooms)
Posta haina choo (The post office does not have a bathroom).
“To Have” non-present tense
Uses the same conjugations as kuwa, but with the NA added.
Nilikuwa na pesa (I had money)
Chumba kilikuwa na kitanda kimoja (The room had one bed)
Mji ulikiwa na watu wengi (The city had many people)
Hakuwa na homa (He did not have fever)
Sitakuwa na homa (I will not have fever)
“To Be Located” present tense
Uses the subject prefix + -KO, -PO, or -MO to express being in a location. YU is used for Class 1 and all 3rd person singulars.
- KO expresses a general location and is also used in questions when the specific location is unknown.
- PO expresses a specific location.
- MO expresses a location inside of something.
In addition, the -NI location suffix is added to the noun expressing the location and can mean “in,” “at,” “on,” “inside,” “to,” etc.
Liz yuko wapi? (Where is Liz?)
Kiti kiko wapi? (Where is the chair?i)
Nyumba ziko wapi (Where are the houses?)
Kitabu kimo mfukoni (The book is in the bag.)
Yuko nyumbani (He is at home)
Kitabu kipo mezani (The book is on the table)
To negate, just add HA before the subject prefix.
Mwalimu hayuko nyumbani (The teacher is not at home)
Wanafunzi hawamo darasani (The students are not in the classroom)
