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Chichewa Verbs  Part I
Stems
Commands
Personal Pronoun Prefixes
Greetings
Negatives
Personal Object Pronouns
Subjunctive Tense
Infinitives and Continuous Tense
Connectives

Stems
Like most Bantu words, verbs consist of a Stem. To this may be attached various optional affixes:

a Prefix followed by one or more Infixes before the stem
and one ore more Suffixes following the stem.

Verb stems "always" end with -a. Here are a few sample stems:

-dya to eat pronounced as DYAH
-mva to hear MVAH
-peza to find PAY-zah
-bwera to come BWEH-rah
-pita to go PEE-tah
-gona to sleep GOH-nah
-ona to see OH-nah
-funa to want FOO-nah
-patsa to give PAH-tsah
-topa to be tired TOH-pah

Verbs are the most important part of speech in Chichewa. Much can be said by simply using verb forms. They are frequently used as complete one-word sentenses. They can also form other parts of speech such as nouns, adjectives and adverbs. For example, the sound -ona - in many parts of Africa seems to express the idea of seeing. From that sound come a whole host of words:

ona! look!
osa-one! don't look
ta-ona-ni behold
ku-ona to see, seeing
ku-on-etsa to make someone see, to show
ku-on-edwa to be seen by someone
ku-on-etsedwa to have been made to be seen
ku-on-era to see something happening
ku-on-eka to be visible
ku-on-ekera to be visible to someone, reflection
ku-on-eketsa to make visible
ku-on-ana to see each other
po-ona the moment when someone sees
cho-ona-di something that is clearly seen, truth
zo-ona-di truly, indeed

Commands

Verb stems may be used alone without any additional -fixes as a command:

Bwera!
BWEH-rah
Come!
Pita!
PEE-tah
Go!
Ona!
OH-nah
Look!
Patsa!
PAH-tsah
Give!

A more forceful command uses the ta- prefix as in Taona!, Tabwera!, Tapita! Such formas are used in urgency or to children. To show more respect to adults, and when used more as an invitation, a suffice, -ni, is tacked on the end:

Bwerani
bweh-RAH-nee
Please come
Pitani
pee-TAH-nee
Please go
Onani
oh-NAH-nee
Please look
Patsani
pah-TSAH-nee
Please give

Single syllable stems, like -dya, require an extra syllable when used as commands. I- is used in such cases as a prefix to take stress off the stem syllable:

Idya!
EE-dyah
Eat!
Idyani
ee-DYAH-nee
Please eat
Imva!
EE-mvah
Listen!
Imvani
eem-VAH-nee
Please listen

Personal Pronoun Prefixes

Chichewa tends to form single word sentences with the help of personal pronoun subject prefixes:

Ndi-
U-
A-
I
You
He/She
Ti-
Mu-
A-
We
You (Y'all)
They

Once again a distinction, based on respect to adults, is made between the two second person forms. Thou will be used to indicate this honorific plural in the English examples. Now put them together with the verb stems and you can form complete statements:

I We You Thou He/She/They
ndidya tidya udya mudya adya eat
ndimva timva umva mumva amva hear
ndibwera tibwera ubwera mubwera abwera come
ndipeza tipeza upeza mupeza apeza find
ndiona tiona uona muona aona see
ndigona tigona ugona mugona agona sleep
ndifuna tifuna ufuna mufuna afuna want
ndipita tipita upita mupita apita go
ndipatsa tipatsa upatsa mupatsa apatsa give

Verbs used in this way (with just a pronoun and no tense infix) are usually referred to as being in the present tense. More accurately, they express the "Immediate future" tense. The impression is given that the action will take place very soon; often just as one is speaking, and certainly before tomorrow.

Personal Pronouns
(Not exactly verbs, but this is the place to deal with them)

Notice that there's no way to tell if you're talking about a him, a she, or a them. This is why a Chichewa speaking person often confuses he and she when using English--they just don't bother with gender. However, they can use an extra explicit pronoun to distinguish beteen he-she and them:

  Iye adya. He eats. Iwo adjya. They eat.

The other full-fledged, explicit, independent pronouns are:

Ine
Iwe
I
You
Ife
Inu
We
You (Thou, Y'all)

You will often hear children shouting at each other: Iwe! "Hey, you!"

Practice saying the explicit pronouns together with the subject prefixes:

Ine ndi pita
Iye apita
Iwe u funa
Ife tipita
Iwo apita
Inu mu funa
Iwe upita
Ine ndi funa
Iye a funa
Inu mupita
Ife ti funa
Iwo a funa               etc.

GREETINGS:
Moni!
Muli bwanji?
     Literally:
Hello!
How are you?
You be how?
Zikomo
Ndili bwino
     Literally:
Thank you
I'm fine
I be well

This ritual of Muli bwanji? Ndili bwino, is rehersed dozens of times every day. After responding with Ndili bwino or the more polite Tili bwino, it is expected that you should then ask, Kaya inu? which means: "And how about you?" Failure to include this will often be met with an encouraging prompt to do so!

Negatives

Chichewa uses the prefix si- as an equivalent to English not. Put si- in front of the pronoun prefix and you can create the negative form of the verb. If the pronoun begins with a vowel, just use S-:

Ndibwera.
Mugona.
Apita.
I come.
You sleep.
He goes.
Sindibwera.
Simugona.
Sapita.
I will not come.
You will not sleep.
He will not go.

Negative commands can be formed by putting Osa- in front of the verb stem. This is best used in urgen situations or where a parent instructs a child:

Osagona!
Osapita!
Osaona!
Don't sleep!
Don't go!
Don't look!

Personal Object Pronouns

In English, most of the personal pronouns have two forms. One for the person as the subject who is doing the action, and another for the person or object that is the receiver of the action. For example:

I saw him and he saw me when we saw you and you saw us.

 The bold I, he, we and you are subject pronouns doing the seeing. The italicized him, me, you and us are object pronouns of people being seen. In Chichewa the main difference between subject and object pronouns is position. The object pronouns are infixes which are always inserted directly in front of the verb stem:

Mundiona.
Ationa.
You me see.  (You see me.)
They us see. (They see us.)

Using the -ndi- (me) and -ti- (us) object infixes are easy. They are exactly the same as the Ndi- (I) and Ti- (We) subject prefixes. The object form -wa- (them) of the A- (They) subject prefix is close. But there the similarity ends:

Subjects:

Ndi-
Ti-
U-
Mu-
A-
A-


I
We
You
Y'all
He,She
They
Objects:

-ndi-
-ti-
-ku-
-ku- ... -ni
-m(u)-
-wa-


me
us
you
y'all
him,her
them

The big surprise here is that although there is a -mu- form in the object group it is not matched with the Mu- form in the object list. Rather, it is now used for him/her. As a result, you can expect to see:

Mumuona. You'll him see.  (You see him.)

Furthermore, it may be shortened to -m- when it appears before stems that begin with a consonant:

Timpatsa ntchito. We'll him give work.

One way to learn these two "mu" forms is to associate the u in the subject Mu- prefix with the u sound in You, and the m in the object -mu- infeix with the m sound in Him.

Finally, both "you" forms in the object list use -ku-. As usual, the plural is distinguished by receiving a -ni ending to show respect.

Indikuonani.

I'll you see.  (later today)

The stand-alone pronouns may be added for emphasis or clarification:

Ine ndikuonani inu
I see you
Ife tikuonani iwe
We see you
Iye awaona iwo
He sees them

However, you will never see such combinations as:

Ndi-ndi-ona        or         Mu-ku-ona

You might think that these would express the idea of "I see myself" or "We see ourselves" or "You see yourself."  Instead, Chichewa uses the reflexive infix -zi- in concert with either an -ekha or -okha suffix:

Ndi-zi-ona ndekha
Ti-zi-one tokha
Mu-zi-ona nokha

I see myself
We see ourselves
You see yourself

Subjunctive Tense

The subjunctive tense is used to indicate that an activity is desireable, that it ought to be or should be done. It is formed by changing the usual verb stem ending vowel from -a to -e . This causes a change in sound from "ah" to "ay".

Using the second person pronouns in the subjunctive tense creates a softer, more polite, invitational form of command:

Mupita tsopano.
Mupite tsopano.

Tiona.
Tione.

Ndibwera.
Ndibwere?

Mundipatsa.
Mundipatse madzi.

Ndipatseni madzi.
You go now.
You should go now.

We see.
We should see.

I come.
I should come?

You give me.
You me should give water.

You should give me water.

In this last example the -ni ending may take the place of the implied mu- subject prefix. It is essentially a subjunctive form of the polite imperative command using an indirect object.

Negative subjunctives are formed by using the -sa- infix. It, too, makes a much more inviting command:

Musabwere lero.
musagone tsopano.
Asadye.
You shouldn't come today.
You shouldn't sleep now.
He shouldn't eat.

More Expressions & Interjections:
Chabwino!
Pepani!
Inde!  Ee!
Iyai!   Ai!
Kaya!
Basi!
Ndithu!
OK, That's good.
Sorry!
Yes!
No!
Who knows!
That's all, enough.
Indeed! Really!
Tiyeni!
Moni!
Zoona!
Bodza!
Eti!
Mwamva?
Ujeni

Come on!
Hello!
It's true!
Lie!
Isn't it!
Understand?
Watchamacallit,
Thingamajig

Infinitives and the Continuous Tense

Now let's look at the other verb tenses. If you put the prefix ku- on a verb stem, the infinitive form of the verb or verbal noun is formed. Here are a few examples:


Kudya
Kumva
Kugona
Kuona
Kupita
Kubwera
Kupeza
Kupatsa
Kufuna
Kutopa

Infinitive:
To Eat
To Hear
To Sleep
To See
To Go
To Come
To Find
To Give
To Want
To be tired

Noun:
Eating
Hearing
Sleeping
Seeing
Going
Coming
Finding
Giving
Wanting
Tiredness

Nouns formed in this way belong to a special "class" of nouns called the KU- infinitive class. They may also be thought of as process nouns, where, for example, Kudya is "the process of eating" and so on.

The infinitives may be used with the verb -funa to form more complex sentences than we've used so far. For example:

Ndifuna kudya.
I want to eat.
Afuna kugona.
He wants to sleep.
Mufuna kuona?
You want to see?

When used with a subject prefix, the -ku- becomes a tense infix. The idea of continuous action is created and is equivalent to the English -ing suffix:

Ndikudya.
Ndikumva.
Ndikugona.
Ndikuona.
Ndikupita.
Ndikubwera.
Ndikupeza.
Ndikupatsa.
Ndikutopa.
I'm eating.
I'm hearing.
I'm sleeping.
I'm seeing.
I'm going.
I'm coming.
I'm finding.
I'm giving.
I'm tiring,
or I'm tired.
Sindikudya.
Sindikumva.
Sindikugona.
Sindikuona.
Sindikupita.
Sindikubwera.
Sindikupeza.
Sindikupatsa.
Sindikutopa.
I'm not eating.
I'm not hearing.
I'm not sleeping.
I'm not seeing.
I'm not going.
I'm not coming.
I'm not finding.
I'm not giving.
I'm not tiring,
or I'm not tired.

Be careful not to confuse the -ku- tense infix with the -ku- pronoun infix:

Ndi-ku-ku-patsani madzi.
I'm -ing you  give  water.

It is also possible to put -sa- in front of a stem to form a negative infinitive:

Kusadya is good sometimes.     To-not-eat (fasting) is good sometimes.

Connectives
Ndi
Ndipo
Koma
Kapena
Chifukwa
and, with, by (also used for: I, is)
and (between statements)
but
perhaps, or
because