-ana

The reciprocal -ana is one of the most common Verb Extensions in Swahili. It reduces a verb's valency by one. This means a standard transitive verb becomes intransitive because the subjects are doing the action to each other. Because the reciprocal reduces valency, standard transitive verbs made reciprocal cannot take an object prefix (e.g., tunawapendana is incorrect; it must be tunapendana). However, if the base verb is ditransitive (takes two objects, like pa - give), the reciprocal form remains transitive and can still take an object prefix for the remaining object (e.g., tunazipeana - we give them to each other). Furthermore, stacking the applicative and reciprocal extensions (Applicative Reciprocal) is highly productive and translates to doing an action "for" or "on behalf of" each other (e.g., waliijengeana - they built it for each other).

How to form it:

• Native Bantu verbs: Simply replace the final -a with -ana. For example, penda (love) becomes pendana (love each other). Note that adding this extension shifts the stress to the new penultimate (second-to-last) syllable (e.g., PEN-da becomes pen-DA-na).
• Arabic loanwords: Verbs of Arabic origin ending in vowels (-e, -i, -u, or -au) form the reciprocal by attaching -na to their applicative stem. For example, rudi (return) becomes rudia, which then becomes rudiana (return to each other). Samehe (forgive) becomes samehea, then sameheana. For verbs ending in -au, which take a unique -li- in their applicative, sahau (forget) becomes sahaulia, then sahauliana (forget each other).
• Monosyllabic verbs: The few short verbs with a suitable reciprocal meaning may add -na (e.g., la becomes lana). The verb pa (give) uses its applicative stem (pea) and adds -na to become peana (give each other), because pana already means 'there is/are'.

Using Singular Subjects:
Because reciprocity requires at least two actors, you will usually see plural subject prefixes (like tu-, m-, or wa-). If you use a singular subject prefix (like ni-), you must follow the verb with the conjunction na (meaning "with") and the other person. For example, Nitaonana na wewe (I will meet with you). Note that the pronoun following na is very frequently contracted into a single word suffix, so you will constantly encounter forms like nawe (instead of na wewe), nami (for na mimi), and naye (for na yeye).

Sociative and Shifted Meanings:
Sometimes -ana means doing an action together alongside someone rather than strictly "to each other" (e.g., kufuatana - to go together / follow one another). Be aware that -ana can also create a new, lexicalized meaning, especially when stacked with the Stative -ika. For example, kupatikana means "to be available" (not "to get each other"), and kujulikana means "to be well-known."

Learn the Whole Verb Too:
Kutana means “meet,” and fanana means “resemble.” Such established reciprocal or relational meanings are vocabulary items, not instructions to derive a reciprocal from every short verb. Verbs such as die or come need an appropriate shared-event meaning before any proposed extension is useful.