Language/Swahili-individual-language/Grammar/Questions
◀️ Negation — Previous Lesson | Next Lesson — Dependent Clauses ▶️ |
Hi Swahili Learners! 😃
➡ In today's lesson we will learn how to ask QUESTIONS in Swahili.
Happy learning!
Take some time to dive into these other pages after completing this lesson: Pronouns, Swahili (individual language) Grammar → Idioms and Proverbs ..., Nouns & How to Use Have.
Listed below are nine commonly used question words:
- Je? – Well, how about?
- Nani? – Who?
- Nini? – What?
- Lini? – When?
- Wapi? – Where?
- Vipi? – How?
- -pi? – What?, Which?, or Where?
- -ngapi? – How many?
- Gani? – What?, What kind (of), How? or Which?
The majority of question words listed above can appear at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of the sentence. The question word Gani? is the only one which appears either in the middle or at the end of the sentence but NEVER at the beginning of the sentence.
Question words in Swahili[edit | edit source]
swahili | English | Examples | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
-je ? | How? | Unlike the other question words, ‘je’ is used as an affix of a verb, for example:
Because the stress is (almost) always on the penultimate syllable of a word, this means that unajua becomes unajuaje, with the stress on the ‘a’ rather than the ‘u’. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Who? |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nini ? | What? |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Lini ? | When? | The word Lini? is used to ask questions about when something was done.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wapi ? | Where? |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Vipi? | How? |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
-pi ? | Which? | The Interrogative Suffix -pi? can be used to ask questions about people and objects by combining the Interrogative Prefixes with the Interrogative Suffix -pi? in both singular and plural forms.
If we want to ask: “Which person?” we combine the Interrogative Prefix yu- with the Interrogative Suffix -pi? to form Yupi? (Which person?) for third person singular. For plural form we combine the Interrogative Prefix we- with the Interrogative Suffix -pi? to form Wepi? (Which people?). Hence we get:
Examples:
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ngapi ?
Kiasi gani ? |
How many?
How much? |
Ngapi is the only question word which changes form to agree with the class of the noun it describes. So you would ask ‘watoto wangapi?’ (how many children) or ‘miaka mingapi?’ (how many years). Don’t worry about this for now, and just use ‘ngapi’ until you learn the correct form with each noun class. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Gani? | What type of? |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ni bei gani ?
Ni bure |
What is the price?
It's free |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Kwa nini ? Mbona ? | Why? |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Kwa sababu... | Because... |
|
More Examples[edit | edit source]
Below is a list of the Questions and interrogative expressions in Swahili:
English Questions | Swahili Questions |
---|---|
where is he? | yuko wapi? |
what is this? | ni kitu gani? |
why are you sad? | mbona una huzuni? |
how do you want to pay? | wataka kulipa vipi? |
can I come? | naweza kuja? |
is he sleeping? | amelala? |
do you know me? | wanijua? |
do you have my book? | je, una kitabu changu? |
how big is it? | waweza kueleza ukubwa wake? |
can I help you? | ninaweza kukusaidia? |
can you help me? | Unaweza kunisaidia? |
do you speak English? | Waongea kiingereza |
how far is this? | waweza kueleza umbali wake? |
what time is it? | ni saa ngapi? |
how much is this? | ni kiasi gani? |
what is your name? | Jina lako? |
where do you live? | Unaishi wapi? |
Videos[edit | edit source]
How to ask questions in swahili?[edit | edit source]
Learn Swahili: nani? & nini? (Question words)[edit | edit source]
Sources[edit | edit source]
- https://hist.hse.ru/data/2019/06/14/1486229732/16.%20Question%20Words,%20Phrases%20and%20Statements.pdf
- http://lang.swahili.free.fr/index_uk.php
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfHHN0s2F9Q
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCT9lPCWueM
- http://mylanguages.org/swahili_questions.php
Other Lessons[edit | edit source]
◀️ Negation — Previous Lesson | Next Lesson — Dependent Clauses ▶️ |