A brief analysis about the morphological structure of verbs in Swahilli language

2. This project is about describing the basic structure of
verbs in Swahili Language.
We are going to explain you about the topics below:
 -Morphological structure of the verbs
 - Verb prefix
 - Tense markers (verb tenses)
 Verb stems
 Infinitive forms
INTRODUCTION

3. Swahili Language
Swahili Language is a Bantu Language and the mother
tongue of the Swahili people. It is also spoken by various
communities in inhabiting the African Great Lakes region,
including: Kenya
Tanzania
Uganda
Rwanda
Burundi
Mozambique
Democratic Republic of Congo

4. Swahili Distribution in
Africa
 Dark green:
native speakers
 Mid green:
official language
 Light green:
common second
language

5. kenya
Uganda
Rwanda
Surundi
Tanzania
Madagascar
Mozambique
Somalia
Malawi
Mozambique
Lake Victoria

6. Native Language
speakers: (6,000,000)
Second Language
speakers: (73,000,000)
• Tanzania: (3,300,000)
• Mozambique: (2,000,000)
• Comoros: (550,000)
• Mayotte: (81,000)
• Kenya: (150,000)
• Tanzania: (29,500,000)
• Kenya: (28,000,000)
• Congo: (10,700,000)
• Uganda: (7,000,000)
• Burundi: (3,500,000)
• Rwanda: (2,000,000)
Approximate total: 6,000,000 for whom it is their mother
tongue and a further 73,000,000 for whom it is their
second language.
Number of Speakers

7. Vowels
Swahili has five vowel phonemes:
/ɑ/, /ɛ/, /i/, /ɔ/, and /u/.
Vowels are never reduced, regardless
of stress
/ɑ/ is pronounced like the "a" in father
/ɛ/ is pronounced like the "e" in bed
/i/ is pronounced like the "i" in ski
/ɔ/ is pronounced like the "o" in "cord"
/u/ is pronounced like the "u" in "rule"
Examples:

8. Labial Dental Alveolar
Postalveolar
/ palatal
Velar Glottal
Nasal m /m/ n /n/ ny /ɲ/ ng’ /ŋ/
Stop
prenasalized mb /mb/ nd /nd/ nj /ɲɟ ~ ndʒ/ ng /ŋɡ/
implosive b /ɓ/ d /ɗ/ j /ʄ ~ ɗʒ/ g /ɠ/
tenuis p /p/ t /t/ ch /tʃ/ k /k/
aspirated (p /pʰ/) (t /tʰ/) (ch /tʃʰ/) (k /kʰ/)
Fricative
prenasalized mv /ɱv/ nz /nz/
voiced v /v/ (dh /ð/) z /z/ (gh /ɣ/)
voiceless f /f/ (th /θ/) s /s/ sh /ʃ/ (kh /x/) h /h/
Trill r /r/
Approximant l /l/ y /j/ w /w/

9. Verbs
Swahili verbs consist of a root and a
number of affixes (mostly prefixes)
which can be attached to express
grammatical persons, tenses.etc.

10. VERB STRUCTURE IN SWAHILI
LANGUAGE
The morphological structure of Basic verbs in Swahili
language consist of three elements linked into a single word.
For example:
ni-ta-pata / I will get
VERB
STEM

11. VERB PREFIX
(-ni-)
It indicates the subject
of the verb action.
It is often referred to
as a subject marker in
this context.
It can be positive
(affirmative) or
negative (to say that
the subject of the verb
is not doing the verb
action.

12. Positive Negative
ni- si-
u- hu-
a- ha-
tu- hatu-
m- ham-
wa- hawa-
The corresponding subject preffixes are:

13. It indicates
when the verb
action took
place.
It actually
indicates the
tense of the
verb (present,
past, future..)
It is an infix,
since it comes
between two
other elements
and cannot be
used without
them.

14. *There are are five major tense markers for
five major tenses in Swahili:
TENSE VERB TENSE MARKER INFIX
Present -NA-
Present Perfect -ME-
Past -LI-
Future -TA-
Habitual -HU-

15. VERB STEM
-pata-
This is the bare form of the verb which
carries its meaning.
To form the infinitive form of a verb in
necesary to add the infinitive prefix –ku-
Example:
VERB STEM INFINITVE FORM
Enda (go) Kuenda (to go)
Pata(get) Kupata(to get)
Taba(want) Kutaba(to want)

16. Some verb stems which have only one
syllable retain the –ku- prefix in many
circunstances, including in verbs using all the
tense markers .
E.G: -la- (eat)
Correct Translation Incorrect
Ninakula ugali I am eating ugali ninala
Nilikula ugali I ate ugalit nilila
Nimekula ugali I have eaten nimela

17. Asante!
Thank you!