-aye

While colloquial Swahili heavily favors Relative Clauses with amba-, the tenseless relative remains highly productive in formal writing, literature, journalism, and proverbs.

Key Rules:

• No Tense Markers: You cannot use prefixes like -na-, -li-, or -ta-. If you need to specify time, use the Infixal Relative -o- (e.g., anayesoma).
• Noun Class Agreement: The suffix changes based on the noun class of the relativized noun (the noun being described), not necessarily the subject. These suffixes (except Class 1 -ye, and Classes 2, 3, 11, and 14 which form -o) are formed by combining the subject concord with the 'o of reference' (e.g., ki + o = -cho, vi + o = -vyo).
• First and Second Person Subjects: For first and second person subjects (I, you, we, you all), the subject prefix changes to match the person (ni-, u-, tu-, m-), but the relative suffix must match the human noun classes (Class 1 -ye for singular, Class 2 -o for plural). For example, mimi nisomaye (I who read) and sisi tusomao (we who read).
• Object Relatives: When forming Object Relative Clauses, the suffix agrees with the object being described. An object marker is also often included in the verb (e.g., chakula akilacho or simply chakula alacho - the food which he eats).
• Arabic/Non-Bantu Verbs: The suffix attaches directly to verbs ending in vowels other than -a (e.g., -i, -e, -u), such as ajibuye (one who answers).
• Monosyllabic Verbs: Drop the infinitive ku- in the affirmative (e.g., alaye - one who eats), but keep it in the negative (e.g., asiyekula).
• Negative Shift: You cannot attach the suffix to a standard negative verb. To negate a tenseless relative, the relative marker moves to the middle of the verb, attaching immediately after the negative infix -si-. Thus, affirmative asomaye becomes negative asiyesoma (one who does not read). Crucially, the final -a of Bantu verbs does not change to -i in the negative relative. Note that this negative form (e.g., asiyesoma) serves as the universal negative relative for synthetic verbs across tenses. However, if you must explicitly specify a past or future tense in the negative, you fall back on Negative Relative Clauses (e.g., ambaye hakusoma).
• Manner, Time, and Place: The tenseless relative is highly frequent in everyday speech for manner (Class 8 -vyo) and time/place (Classes 16/17/18 -po, -ko, -mo), such as upendavyo (as you like) or niwapo (when I am).

Though sometimes inaccurately called the "present relative" in older textbooks, it is strictly a general or tenseless form.