Stative-Passive Borderline

The stative extension is a highly productive feature of Swahili, governed by strict morphological rules and distinct syntactic boundaries.

1. Morphological Rules (Vowel Harmony)
The extension primarily attaches to transitive roots, replacing the final -a based on the penultimate vowel, though it can also attach to nouns and adjectives to form denominal and deadjectival stative verbs (e.g., shughuli → shughulika; tajiri → tajirika):

• -ika: Used if the root's penultimate vowel is a, i, or u (e.g., vunja → vunjika).
• -eka: Used if the root's penultimate vowel is e or o (e.g., soma → someka).
• -lika / -leka: Used for Bantu verbs ending in a vowel + -a to prevent a vowel clash (e.g., nunua → nunulika). Note that verbs with the reversive extension (like fungua, ondoa) form their stative by replacing -ua/-oa with -uka/-oka (e.g., funguka, ondoka).
• Monosyllabic verbs: These take specific forms, often dropping the infinitive ku- and adding the extension directly to the root, sometimes with vowel changes (e.g., kula → lika, kunywa → nyweka).
• -ikana / -ekana: A combination of the stative and reciprocal extensions used for some common verbs, strictly following vowel harmony (e.g., ona → onekana, pata → patikana).
• Arabic loanwords: Final -i/-u change to -ika (jibu → jibika); final -e simply adds -ka (samehe → sameheka); final -au adds -lika (sahau → sahaulika).

2. Syntactic Promotion and Primary Functions
In stative constructions, the object of the active verb is promoted to become the subject of the stative verb (e.g., Kuvunja kikombe = "To break a cup" → Kikombe kinavunjika = "The cup is breakable"). The extension serves two main functions:

• Resultant State / Spontaneous Event: Indicates an action occurred resulting in a state, without reference to an agent. The perfect tense -me- is required to express a completed state (e.g., kimevunjika = is broken).
• Potential / Capability: Expresses that the subject has the inherent quality to undergo an action. The present tense -na- most frequently expresses this potentiality (e.g., kinavunjika = "is breakable", -fanyika = "is doable"). This function is also commonly used in the negative to express impossibility, which is a core conversational use (e.g., Mwandiko huu hausomeki = "This handwriting is unreadable"; Mlango haufunguki = "The door won't open").

3. The Stative-Passive Borderline
Advanced learners must distinguish this from the Passive -wa. The true passive (Kauli ya kutendwa) implies an agent performed the action, even if unstated (Kikombe kimevunjwa = "The cup was broken [by someone]"). The stative (Kauli ya kutendeka) completely suppresses the agent, focusing solely on the patient (the subject) and its condition, absolving anyone of responsibility.

No Agentive Passive Construction:
In the stative use, the affected thing is the subject and there is no direct object slot for it. Do not add an agentive na phrase as though -ika were ordinary passive -wa. Compare kikombe kimevunjika (the cup is broken/has broken) with kikombe kimevunjwa na mtoto (the cup has been broken by the child). A na phrase with another lexical meaning must be evaluated separately; the warning concerns passive by-agents.