Shawn
Community Tutor
Swahili: To See Are these correct? 1. Ninamwona mtoto. =I see the child. 2. Unamwona mtoto. =You see the child. 3. Anamwona mtoto. =He/she sees the child. 4.Tunamwona mtoto. =We see the child. 5. Mnamwona mtoto. =You (folks) see the child. 6. Wanamwona mtoto. =They see the child.
Nov 25, 2015 4:23 AM
Answers · 5
Ok. Thanks. :)
January 2, 2016
Shawn, hope you are well. I re-read your last post and it makes more sense. I guess I had to let it sink in a bit. I am having a friend of mine read the post and will get back to you if he has any insight.
December 30, 2015
Hmmm. According to this grammar book (Complete Swahili), 1. Ninakisoma. = I read it. (ki being the pronoun "it" for a noun like kitabu), 2. Ninasoma kitabu. = I read A book., and 3. Ninakisoma kitabu. = I read THE book. So the book says if you use "ki" along with a noun, then the sentence means "the + noun" (the book), instead of "a + noun" (a book). I agree that it looks redundant but that's what the claims the nuance is. Anyhow, that's why I included it. :) Let me know what your friends think though, please. I will repeat this in email in case it doesn't show in your notifications. :)
December 23, 2015
Thanks. I appreciate that.
December 23, 2015
I am studying Swahili, sorry I am not a native. I will see if I can ask my native friends for you. Did you put the (mw) as a direct object pronoun on purpose? If you say ninamwona, I think that would mean I see him/her.. mw=him/her when placed as you put it. So I think it may be redundant to put ninamwona mtoto. Like saying "I see him/her the child." For "I see the child, I would put only "ninaona mtoto". but again, I am only a Swahili student. Let me see if I can get one of my native friends to clarify.
December 13, 2015
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