Relatives in Proverbs

The Tenseless Relative (or General Relative, also known as the Habitual Relative) is an advanced, highly elegant structure in Swahili. Because it inherently lacks a Tense-Aspect-Mood (TAM) specification, it does not anchor an event in time. Instead, it describes what kind of person or thing the subject is, often translating to what someone 'usually does' or 'always does'.

1. Affirmative Structure
The formula is: Subject Prefix + (Object Prefix) + Verb Stem + Relative Suffix.
The relative suffix is based on the '-o of reference' and must agree with the noun class of the head noun. Note that Class 1 (human singular) is the only class that uses -ye instead of an -o ending.

• a-pend-a-ye (he/she who loves)
• ki-faa-cho (that which is useful)
• a-ki-pend-a-cho (that which he/she loves)

When relativizing an object (as in a-ki-pend-a-cho), the relative suffix agrees with the object, while the subject prefix agrees with the subject.

2. Monosyllabic Verbs and Stress
Because the suffix adds a syllable to the end of the word, the penultimate stress shifts. Consequently, monosyllabic verbs drop their infinitive ku- prefix, which is no longer needed to bear the stress. For example, kuja (to come) becomes ajaye (he who comes), not *akujaye.

3. The Negative Asymmetry
The negative equivalent does not use a suffix. Instead, it uses the negative infix -si- followed immediately by the relative infix. For example, asiyesoma (he who does not read). When relativizing an object in the negative, the relative infix agrees with the object and is placed right before the object prefix. The structure is: Subject Prefix + si + Relative Infix + Object Prefix + Verb Stem (e.g., a-si-cho-ki-penda, 'that which he/she does not love'). Crucially, the final vowel of Bantu verbs remains -a; it does not change to -i as it does in the standard present negative (so it is asiyesoma, never *asiyesomi). Arabic loanwords (which end in -e, -i, or -u) simply keep their normal final vowels in both the affirmative and negative (e.g., kujibu -> ajibuye / asiyejibu). Because the negative uses an infix and no suffix, the stress falls on the penultimate syllable of the word. In Swahili, relative infixes (like -ye-) cannot bear stress, which is why the ku- prefix MUST be retained for monosyllabic verbs to provide a valid penultimate syllable to take the stress (e.g., asiyekuja, not *asiyeja), unless an object prefix is present to bear the stress (e.g., asiyekila, 'he who does not eat it'). This negative form is entirely tenseless and serves as the bound negative relative for ALL tenses. If a specific time is needed in the negative, the amba- relative must be used.

4. Usage and Register
While lower-level textbooks often restrict this to proverbs (methali) and poetry, it is a fully productive strategy in modern Swahili. It is heavily used in formal writing, journalism, job descriptions, and survives universally in everyday lexicalized time expressions like wiki ijayo (next week) and siku zijazo (the coming days). It is also extremely common in everyday conversation for adverbial clauses of manner and time using Class 16 (-po) and Class 8 (-vyo), such as upendavyo (as you like) or niwapo (when I am).