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Perfective aspect esp. Swahili | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| Sprachprofi Nonaglot Senior Member Germany learnlangs.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6291 days ago 2608 posts - 4866 votes  Speaks: German*, English, French, Esperanto, Greek, Mandarin, Latin, Dutch, Italian Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Swahili, Indonesian, Japanese, Modern Hebrew, Portuguese | Message 1 of 5 23 February 2010 at 10:42am | IP Logged |
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So I read that the Swahili -me- is not a tense marker but rather an indication that
something has an effect that can be felt now, no matter if the action was in the past, present or future. There are similar concepts in other languages I believe, and I have a problem with that explanation: If it has an effect now, doesn't that necessarily mean that the action must have happened (in the past) already? No effect without a cause... Can somebody suggest counter- examples? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Splog Diglot Senior Member Czech Republic anthonylauder.c Joined 5490 days ago 1062 posts - 3263 votes Speaks: English*, Czech Studies: Mandarin | Message 2 of 5 23 February 2010 at 11:54am | IP Logged |
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Not sure about an example in Swahili, but if I knew I was going to be sent to war tomorrow, or that Pamela Anderson were coming to visit next week, I would certainly be feeling effects right now.
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| Woodpecker Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5632 days ago 351 posts - 590 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Written), Arabic (Egyptian) Studies: Arabic (classical) | Message 3 of 5 23 February 2010 at 12:29pm | IP Logged |
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Progressive means the action is incomplete. In many cases, it may have started in the past; the point is that it's not completed yet.
For example: I am going to school. -Implies that I started going to school in the past, and I am somewhere in transit right now. The action isn't really just past, it's past, present, and will continue into the future. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Splog Diglot Senior Member Czech Republic anthonylauder.c Joined 5490 days ago 1062 posts - 3263 votes Speaks: English*, Czech Studies: Mandarin | Message 4 of 5 23 February 2010 at 1:00pm | IP Logged |
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Your question was quite interesting, so I looked up the grammar.
As far as I can tell, -me- is used as infix for the past perfect (caution: only in the affirmative, -ja- is used in the negative). As I understand it, -me- is placed between the prefix of the subject and the root of the verb. So that: Ni (I) me (past perfective) fanya (to do) = I have done Umefanya = You have done etc You can cast this into the future by adding the future compound tense auxiliary verb: Nitakua (I will) nimefanya = I will have done So, that: Utakua umefanya = You will have done Utakua ujafanya = You will not have done and so on 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| The Blaz Senior Member Canada theblazblog.blogspotRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5421 days ago 120 posts - 176 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Swahili, French, Sign Language, Esperanto | Message 5 of 5 10 March 2010 at 8:30pm | IP Logged |
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I can't say with much certainty, but I think -me- is sometimes to express a state of
being. So for example, I learnt to say 'Nimefurahi' to express pleasure at something. So I could say 'Nimefurahi nitamwona kesho' (I am happy I will see him/her tomorrow) - which I think would match your criteria, kind of. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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