- -da-(commonly used alternative)
Compare withTumbuka-ka-.
-ná-
- Forms the past tense in verbs.
- To indicate the recent past, the high tone is shifted off the tense marker to the next syllable. Prescriptive grammars state that only the form-na- can be used this way, not-da-.
- Among most speakers,-na- and-da- are in free variation. The form-da- is most common in Malawi's Central Region, and was formerly designated as the standard.
From-na, a stem of-wa na(“to have”).[1]
-na-
- positive present tense marker
- wanakula ―theyare eating
- (in stative verbs)inceptive aspect marker
- wanalala ―theyare falling asleep
- Inakuwa baridi. ―It isgetting cold.
- (in second verb in a series)marker of simultaneity
- Near-synonym:-ki-
- (after-wa)continuous aspect marker
- nilikuwa ninaandika ―I was writing
This marker can be used in both nonrelative and relative verbs.
Swahili TAM markers
- Initial
- Final
- General (positive indicative):-a
- Positive subjunctive:-e
- Negative present:-i
- Second person plural:-ni
- Infix position positive subject concord
- Infix position negative subject concord
- Negative past:-ku-1
- Negative future:-ta-
- "Not yet":-ja-1
- Negative present conditional:-nge-
- Negative past conditional:-ngali-
- Relative
1 Can take stress and therefore does not require-ku-/-kw- in monosyllabic verbs.
- ^Carl Meinhof (1906),Grundzüge einer vergleichenden Grammatik der Bantusprachen, Dietrich Reimer, page71
