Kijue Kiswahili

In Swahili orders are given by using the verb stem or in the case of monosyllabic verbs, the whole verb, examples;

Soma,read

andika, write

lala, sleep,lie down

kula,eat.                         (monosyllabic)

kunywa,drink                (monosyllabic)

Kula is irregular, its imperative is njoo “come”.

Commands in the plural are given by suffixing in to the singular form and changing the final a into e as follows;

Singular.                                          Plural

soma,read.                                      someni,read(you)

andika, write.                                   andikeni, write (you)

kula,eat.                                           kuleni,eat(you)

njoo, come.                                     njooni,come (you)

Wishes similar to the English,”let me”,”let us”, are expressed by using the verb stem, changing the final a into e, and adding the personal pronominal prefixies;ni,u,a tu,m-,wa

Thus, taking the verb kuenda,”to go “,we have:

niende,I may go,let me go.(je,niende?may I go?)

uende, you may go,

aende,let him/her go

twende,let us go,we may go

mwende, you may go,

Waende,let them go,they may go