Negative Subject Concord: Complete Table | Swahili Grammar

Standard Swahili does not negate an ordinary finite verb by adding a separate word equivalent to English “not.” Instead, the left edge of the verb uses a negative subject concord that identifies the subject while also marking polarity. Personal si-, hu-, ha-, hatu-, ham-, hawa- and noun-class forms such as haki- or hazi- replace the affirmative subject series.

The present negative also changes the inside of many verbs: affirmative -na- disappears and a Bantu verb ending in -a normally ends in -i. Thus anasoma “she is reading” becomes hasomi “she is not reading,” not haanasoma. All unlabelled forms here are neutral in both (informal) speech and (formal) standard writing. Compare this series with the affirmative subject concord table.

Personal negative concord

Subject	Negative marker	Present negative	Meaning
1st singular	si-	sisomi	I am not reading
2nd singular	hu-	husomi	you are not reading
3rd singular	ha-	hasomi	he/she is not reading
1st plural	hatu-	hatusomi	we are not reading
2nd plural	ham-	hamsomi	you all are not reading
3rd plural	hawa-	hawasomi	they are not reading

These are whole negative-concord forms, not a freely detachable ha plus an affirmative marker in every case. In particular, “I do not” is si-, not hani-, and “you do not” is hu-, not hau-.

Sisomi ujumbe kazini ninapoendesha gari.

I do not read messages while I am driving to work.

Kwa nini hamsubiri hapa hadi mvua iishe?

Why aren't you all waiting here until the rain stops?

Second-person negative hu- can resemble affirmative habitual hu- at the beginning of a verb. In husomi “you do not read,” the negative present ending -i and the addressee identify the negative construction. Affirmative habitual husoma “one/people usually read” retains -a and does not itself encode second-person singular.

Negative concord by noun class

For nonhuman classes, the negative form is visibly related to ha- plus class concord, with the established surface results shown below. Human classes 1/2 pattern with third-person ha-/hawa-.

Class	Typical controller	Negative marker	Present-negative example
1	mtoto “child”	ha-	hasomi
2	watoto “children”	hawa-	hawasomi
3	mti “tree”	hau-	hauanguki
4	miti “trees”	hai-	haianguki
5	gari “car”	hali-	haliwaki
6	magari “cars”	haya-	hayawaki
7	kitabu “book”	haki-	hakifai
8	vitabu “books”	havi-	havifai
9	barua “letter”	hai-	haifiki
10	barua “letters”	hazi-	hazifiki
11	uzi “thread”	hau-	haukatiki
14	uzuri “beauty”	hau-	hauvutii
15	kusoma “reading”	haku-	hakusaidii
16	mahali hapa “this place”	hapa-	hapatoshi
17	mahali huku “around here”	haku-	hakufai
18	mahali humu “in here”	ham(u)-	hamtoshi

Class 4 and class 9 share hai-; class 3, class 11 and class 14 share hau-; class 15 and class 17 share haku-. Personal second-person plural and locative class 18 share the surface form ham- before most consonants. Class 18 is conventionally cited as ham(u)-: its fuller hamu-/hamw- shapes appear where the following sound requires them. The subject controller, not the marker alone, supplies the class analysis. Locative classes 16–18 additionally encode different spatial construals, whose choice belongs on the locative concord page.

💡

Do not form a noun-class negative by taking English “not” plus the affirmative verb. Replace the affirmative subject marker with the matching negative concord, then build the appropriate tense or aspect pattern.

The special present-negative build

For a regular Bantu verb whose citation form ends in -a, the productive present-negative pattern is:

negative subject concord + optional object marker + root/extensions + -i

There is no present -na- in this pattern. Compare the affirmative and negative forms:

Affirmative	Negative analysis	Finished negative
anasoma	ha-som-i	hasomi
tunapika	hatu-pik-i	hatupiki
kitabu kinafaa	haki-fa-i	kitabu hakifai
magari yanawaka	haya-wak-i	magari hayawaki

The analytic hyphens expose morphemes only. Standard spelling has hasomi, hatupiki, hakifai, and hayawaki as single words.

Simu hii haifanyi kazi, kwa hiyo nitaitengeneza kesho.

This phone is not working, so I will repair it tomorrow.

If an object marker occurs, it stays immediately before the root: hawa-vi-som-i → hawavisomi “they are not reading them.” The negative subject prefix and object prefix cannot trade places.

Hawavisomi vitabu hivi kwa sababu maandishi ni madogo sana.

They are not reading these books because the print is too small.

Verbs whose lexical ending is not -a

Many borrowed verbs end in -e, -i, or -u. In the present negative they normally retain that lexical ending instead of receiving the regular -a → -i alternation. Compare anajibu/hajibu “he answers/does not answer” and anasamehe/hasamehe “she forgives/does not forgive.”

Meneja hajibu simu kwa sababu yuko kwenye mkutano.

The manager is not answering the phone because she is in a meeting.

Baba hasamehe udanganyifu, lakini husikiliza maelezo.

Dad does not forgive dishonesty, but he listens to explanations.

There is no useful shortcut that turns every final letter into -i. First know the verb's lexical ending. The special change applies to the productive -a class; other established endings remain.

Present negative versus other negative tenses

The final -i pattern is specifically present negative. Past negative uses -ku-, future negative uses -ta-, and the “not yet” perfect uses -ja-; a regular verb then retains its ordinary final -a.

Meaning	Analysis	Finished form
she does not read	ha-som-i	hasomi
she did not read	ha-ku-som-a	hakusoma
she will not read	ha-ta-som-a	hatasoma
she has not read yet	ha-ja-som-a	hajasoma

Asha hasomi ripoti sasa, lakini aliisoma jana.

Asha is not reading the report now, but she read it yesterday.

Kitabu hakijafika bado, lakini kitafika kesho.

The book has not arrived yet, but it will arrive tomorrow.

The second example contains haki-ja-fik-a, not present-negative haki-fik-i. Time and aspect determine what follows the negative concord.

Three complete negative chains

The controller still governs the entire agreement network under negation. Compare three parallel noun phrases and their negative verbs:

Mtoto huyu mdogo wangu hasubiri nje leo.

This young child of mine is not waiting outside today.

Gari hili jipya langu halitumii mafuta mengi.

This new car of mine does not use much fuel.

Vitabu hivi vipya vyangu havihitaji marekebisho mengine.

These new books of mine do not need any further corrections.

The negative markers are class 1 ha-, class 5 hali- and class 8 havi-. Negation changes the verb series, but it does not free the adjective, demonstrative or possessive from the same controller.

💡

When a negative sentence has mixed concord, identify the controller before looking at the verb. Repair its demonstrative, adjective and possessive too; the negative prefix is only one target in the chain.

Common Mistakes

Keeping affirmative -na- in the present negative

❌ Asha hanasoma sasa.

Incorrect for the ordinary present negative — -na- is absent.

✅ Asha hasomi sasa.

Asha is not reading now.

Changing a borrowed verb's established final vowel

❌ Meneja hajibi simu.

Incorrect here — kujibu retains final -u in the present negative.

✅ Meneja hajibu simu.

The manager is not answering the phone.

Using ha- without noun-class concord

❌ Vitabu hivi hafai kwa darasa hili.

Incorrect — class 8 vitabu requires negative havi-.

✅ Vitabu hivi havifai kwa darasa hili.

These books are not suitable for this class.

Correcting only the negative verb in a mixed chain

❌ Kitabu hii nzuri yangu haisaidii.

Incorrect — the whole phrase uses class 9 forms although kitabu controls class 7.

✅ Kitabu hiki kizuri changu hakisaidii.

This good book of mine is not helpful.

The last repair changes hii → hiki, nzuri → kizuri, yangu → changu, and hai- → haki-. Matching the negative marker by the nearest sound would miss the structural cause; controller-outward debugging repairs the complete chain.

Key Takeaways

Negative subject concord replaces affirmative concord: personal si-, hu-, ha-, hatu-, ham-, hawa- and the noun-class series in the table. In the regular present negative, -na- disappears and Bantu final -a becomes -i; borrowed endings generally remain, and other negative tenses follow their own TAM patterns. Choose the controlling subject first, then build and spell the entire finite verb as one word.

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