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Chichewa Verbs
Part
I Stems a Prefix followed by one or more
Infixes before the stem Verb stems "always" end with -a. Here are a few sample stems:
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:
Commands Verb stems may be used alone without any additional -fixes as a command:
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:
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:
Personal Pronoun Prefixes Chichewa tends to form single word sentences with the help of personal pronoun subject prefixes:
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:
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 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:
The other full-fledged, explicit, independent pronouns are:
You will often hear children shouting at each other: Iwe! "Hey, you!" Practice saying the explicit pronouns together with the subject prefixes:
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-:
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:
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:
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:
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:
Furthermore, it may be shortened to -m- when it appears before stems that begin with a consonant:
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.
The stand-alone pronouns may be added for emphasis or clarification:
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:
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:
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:
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:
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:
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:
Be careful not to confuse the -ku- tense infix with the -ku- pronoun infix: Ndi-ku-ku-patsani
madzi. 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.
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