The imperative verb is a command or an appeal.
It is always directed to the second person singular, "you", wewe
or plural nyinyi.
Shingazidja has two types of imperative:
v
There is the simple, direct command in which the
verb stem alone is used when addressing one person, or a pluralizing prefix (nam)
is added when addressing more than one.
v
There also a polite form of command which is
also the subjunctive verb form.
When addressed to only on e person, the verb stem alone forms the
imperative. When addressed to more
that one, a pluralizing prefix NAM is
added to the verb stem and the final A
changes to E preceding the suffix.
|
SINGULAR |
PLURAL |
MEANING |
|
SOMA |
NAMSOME |
LEARN
/ READ |
|
LAMHA |
NAMLAMHE |
WAKE
UP |
|
ISHIA |
NAM'ISHIE |
LISTEN |
|
ENDA |
NAMENDE |
GO |
|
YEHA |
NAMYEHE |
HIDE
/ SAVE |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
These
are formed with the infinitive when addressed to one person, and with the chant
of A to E and addition of NAM
when addressed to more than one, in the same way as the above group.
|
SINGULAR |
PLURAL |
MEANING |
|
LA |
NAMLE |
Eat |
|
NWA |
NAMNWE |
Drink |
|
|
|
|
Some verbs may have more transformations than the one shown (in bold) in
the above table. Beside the fact
that the pluralizing prefix is behaving in the way,
the first vowel of the stem verb tends to change in some of the cases and
in all of them (see table bellow), the ending is the same as in the singular
form. If we look at those verbs, we
find that they do not finish at the infinitive form by the A
found in verbs of bantu languages.
|
SINGULAR |
PLURAL |
MEANING |
|
KANTSI |
NAMKENTSI |
Sit
down |
|
HANTSI
|
NAMHENTS |
Lay
down |
|
FASIRI |
NAMFASIRI |
Translate |
|
SWALI |
NAMSWALI |
Pray |
|
FURAHI |
NAMFURAHI |
Rejoice |
|
HASIBU |
NAMHASIBU |
COUNT/CALCULATE |
|
FIKIRI |
NAMFIKIRI |
THINK
/ PONDER |
|
|
|
|
These verbs have irregular forms in the simple imperative.
The infinitive are given in left in the below table:
|
INFINITIVE |
SINGULAR |
PLURAL |
MEANING |
|
HUDJA |
NTSO |
NAMDJE |
Come |
|
|
|
|
|
These verbs will have the final A
of the Shingazidja verb stem changed into E
as we have seen earlier. However,
verbs of nonBantu origin do not change.
The starred forms below must always have an object:
|
INFINITIVE |
SINGULAR |
PLURAL |
MEANING |
|
HUPVA |
NIPVE |
NAMNIPVE |
Give
me |
|
HUAMBA |
MWAMBIE |
NAMWAMBIE |
Tell
him / her |
|
HUONESA |
RIONESE |
NAMRIONESE |
Show
us |
|
HUFUNDISA |
DJIFUNDISE |
NAMDJIFUNDISE |
TEACH
YOURSELF |
|
HUHISABU |
ZIHISABU |
NAMZIHISABU |
Count
them (the pens) |
This form is similar to the subjunctive verb form which will be examined
in detail in that particular paragraph. This
polite form is used with an arabic loanword
"tafadhali" in the
singular or "namtafadhali" in
the plural. The meaning of this
word is "please". In
the case of Bantu verb stems, the final A
changes to E. In nonBantu origin, there is no change in the stem.
Since this is an imperative, only two subject prefixes can possibly be
used, either: 2nd person singular u
( for wewe = you ) or 2nd person plural m (for nyinyi = you).
|
INFINITIVE |
SINGULAR |
PLURAL |
MEANING |
|
HUSOMA |
TAFADHALI USOME |
NAMTAFADHALI MSOME |
Please,
read Please,
learn |
|
HULAMHA |
TAFADHALI ULAMHE |
NAMTAFADHALI MLAMHE |
Please,
wake up |
|
HULA
|
TAFADHALI ULE |
NAMTAFADHALI MLE |
Please,
eat |
|
HUFURAHI |
TAFADHALI UFURAHI |
NAMTAFADHALI MFURAHI |
Please,
rejoice |
|
HUFIKIRI |
TAFADHALI UFIKIRI |
NAMTAFADHALI MFIKIRI |
Please,
think |
|
HUHISABU |
TAFADHALI UZIHISABU |
NAMTAFADHALI MZIHISABU |
Please,
count them (the houses) |
|
HUJA |
TAFADHALI UDJE |
NAMTAFADHALI MDJE |
Please,
come |
The negative subjunctive form is used for both simple and polite
imperative. Its construction is
like the positive subjunctive with the addition of a negative particle TSI
immediately following the subject prefix.
|
INFINITIVE |
SINGULAR |
PLURAL |
MEANING |
|
HUSOMA |
UTSISOME |
MTSISOME |
Do
not read Do
not learn |
|
HULAMHA |
UTSILAMHE |
MTSILAMHE |
Do
not wake up |
|
HULA
|
UTSILE |
MTSILE |
Do
not eat |
|
HUENDA |
UTSENDE |
MTSENDE |
Do
not go |
|
HUFIKIRI |
UTSIFIKIRI |
MTSIFIKIRI |
Do
not think |
|
HUHISABU |
UTSIHISABU |
MTSIHISABU |
Do
not count |
|
HUJA |
UTSIDJE |
MTSIDJE |
Do
not come |
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