Borrowed Verb Endings

In Swahili, native Bantu verbs end in -a. This vowel mutates to indicate tense, mood, or plural commands. For example, it changes to -i in the present negative (kusoma → sisomi) and to -e in the subjunctive (nisome) and plural imperative (someni!).

However, Swahili has many borrowed verbs, primarily of Arabic origin. Some of these borrowed verbs end in -a (such as kusaidia to help, or kutawala to rule) and behave exactly like native Bantu verbs, mutating their final vowel according to standard rules. But many borrowed verbs end in -e, -i, -u, or -au. These verbs function as 'invariant' regarding these specific inflections. Their grammatical function is to retain their final vowel in the present negative, subjunctive, and plural imperative moods (e.g., jibuni!), bypassing the standard Bantu vowel mutation rules.

Common examples include:

• -i: kufikiri (to think), kusafiri (to travel)
• -e: kusamehe (to forgive)
• -u: kujibu (to answer), kujaribu (to try)
• -au: kusahau (to forget)

Verb Extensions: When adding verb extensions (like the passive, applicative, stative, causative, or reciprocal), borrowed verbs adapt in specific ways. Unlike native Bantu verbs, which drop or replace their final -a before adding an extension (e.g., kupenda → kupendwa), borrowed verbs generally keep their final vowel. For verbs ending in -e and -i, most extensions are simply appended (e.g., -wa for passive, -ka for stative, -sha for causative, and -ana for reciprocal, as in kusamehewa, kusamehesha, or kusameheana). For the applicative extension, they simply append -a to their existing vowel (e.g., kufikiri → kufikiria). However, verbs ending in -u mutate the final vowel to -i- before adding the extension (e.g., kujibu → kujibiwa for passive, kujibia for applicative, kujibika for stative, kujibisha for causative, and kujibiana for reciprocal). For verbs ending in -au, the -au is retained and -li- is inserted before the extension (e.g., kusahau becomes kusahauliwa for passive, kusahaulia for applicative, kusahaulika for stative, kusahaulisha for causative, and kusahauliana for reciprocal).