kulipa — to Pay | Swahili Grammar

Kulipa means “pay,” “settle,” or “compensate.” It is a regular verb with base lip-a, but it supports several participant frames: pay a person, pay an amount, settle a bill or debt, or combine a payee with an amount. Nilimlipa fundi shilingi elfu ishirini means “I paid the technician twenty thousand shillings.”

Applicative lipia commonly means pay for something or pay on someone's behalf. Passive lipwa can describe a person receiving payment or a bill being settled. English uses “pay,” “pay for,” and “pay someone for”; Swahili marks these relations through objects, applicative morphology, and context rather than copying each English preposition.

Practical paradigm

Form	I	you (sg.)	he/she	we	you (pl.)	they
present	ninalipa	unalipa	analipa	tunalipa	mnalipa	wanalipa
past	nililipa	ulilipa	alilipa	tulilipa	mlilipa	walilipa
perfect	nimelipa	umelipa	amelipa	tumelipa	mmelipa	wamelipa
future	nitalipa	utalipa	atalipa	tutalipa	mtalipa	watalipa
present negative	silipi	hulipi	halipi	hatulipi	hamlipi	hawalipi
past negative	sikulipa	hukulipa	hakulipa	hatukulipa	hamkulipa	hawakulipa
subjunctive	nilipe	ulipe	alipe	tulipe	mlipe	walipe

The singular imperative is lipa! and the plural is lipeni! Regular forms segment as ni-na-lip-a, si-lip-i, and u-lip-e. Bare commands are ordinary in urgent reminders but can sound forceful; Tafadhali ulipe... is a polite (formal) or courteous service request.

Ninalipa kodi ya nyumba siku ya kwanza ya kila mwezi.

I pay the house rent on the first day of every month.

Halipi bili mpaka awe amekagua kila kipengele.

She does not pay a bill until she has checked every item.

Tafadhali mlipe mhudumu kabla ya kuondoka kwenye mkahawa.

Please pay the attendant before leaving the restaurant.

Unlabelled forms are neutral in (informal) and (formal) Standard Swahili.

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Identify what follows lipa: a person is the payee, an amount is the value transferred, and a bill, fee, debt, or tax is the obligation settled.

Paying an obligation or amount

Bills and financial obligations are direct objects. Frequent collocations include lipa bili “pay a bill,” lipa kodi “pay rent/tax,” lipa ada “pay a fee,” lipa deni “pay a debt,” and lipa faini “pay a fine.”

Tumelipa ada ya shule kwa awamu mbili mwaka huu.

We have paid the school fees in two installments this year.

Kampuni ililipa deni lote kabla ya mwisho wa mwaka wa fedha.

The company paid the entire debt before the end of the financial year.

The second is common (formal) financial language, but the object structure is the same as in everyday lipa bili.

An amount can also follow directly:

Nililipa shilingi elfu thelathini kwa usafirishaji wa meza.

I paid thirty thousand shillings for transporting the table.

Shilingi elfu thelathini is the amount object; kwa usafirishaji names what the payment covered. Do not insert kwa before the amount merely because English says “paid with/in shillings.”

Paying a person

A specific human payee normally receives a human object marker. The overt noun may remain to identify the person.

Nilimlipa fundi baada ya kuhakikisha kwamba bomba halivuji tena.

I paid the technician after making sure that the pipe no longer leaked.

Ni-li-m-lip-a integrates the singular-human payee. The person is a direct object, not a kwa phrase.

Person and amount can occur together in neutral person-before-amount order:

Meneja aliwalipa wafanyakazi shilingi elfu hamsini kila mmoja kwa kazi ya ziada.

The manager paid the workers fifty thousand shillings each for the extra work.

A-li-wa-lip-a marks plural-human payees; the following amount gives what each received. This is a double-object pattern, not two competing direct translations of English “to.”

Umemlipa dereva kiasi gani kwa safari ya kwenda uwanja wa ndege?

How much did you pay the driver for the trip to the airport?

The interrogative amount remains after the payee. Human -m- in umemlipa identifies the driver even though the question asks about money.

Paying for or on behalf of: lipia

Applicative lipia has build lip-i-a. It commonly presents an expense, service, or beneficiary for which payment is made.

Nitalipia chakula cha jioni leo kwa sababu wewe ulilipa jana.

I will pay for dinner today because you paid yesterday.

The theme is the expense covered. Basic lipa can settle a named bill, while lipia makes the “for/cover the cost of” relation especially clear.

Shangazi alimlipia mwanafunzi huyo ada ya muhula mzima.

The aunt paid that student's fees for the whole term.

A-li-m-lip-i-a adds the student as beneficiary; ada names the expense. The beneficiary normally precedes the expense.

Tutawalipia wageni usafiri kutoka hotelini hadi ukumbi wa mkutano.

We will pay for the guests' transport from the hotel to the conference hall.

Plural-human -wa- indexes the beneficiaries. This does not mean the guests receive wages; their transport cost is being covered.

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Contrast mlipe Asha “pay Asha” with mlipie Asha tiketi “pay for Asha's ticket.” Passive Asha amelipwa means she received payment; Asha amelipiwa means an expense was covered for her.

Payment method and timing

Method is normally expressed by kwa: kwa pesa taslimu “in cash,” kwa kadi “by card,” kwa simu “by mobile phone,” and kwa uhamisho wa benki “by bank transfer.” Timing collocations include lipa mapema, lipa kwa wakati, and lipa kila mwezi.

Unaweza kulipa kwa kadi au kwa simu, lakini hatupokei pesa taslimu.

You can pay by card or mobile phone, but we do not accept cash.

Wateja wanaolipa kwa wakati hawatozwi ada ya kuchelewa.

Customers who pay on time are not charged a late fee.

These method and policy expressions are common in (formal) notices and everyday transactions.

Passive lipwa

Passive lipwa is built lip-w-a. Agreement identifies what has become subject: a person receiving money or an obligation being settled.

Wafanyakazi wote wamelipwa mishahara yao kabla ya sikukuu.

All the employees have been paid their salaries before the holiday.

Plural-human wa- controls wa-me-lip-w-a. The salaries remain after the verb.

Bili ya umeme imelipwa, kwa hiyo huduma haitakatwa.

The electricity bill has been paid, so the service will not be disconnected.

Class 9 bili controls i- in i-me-lip-w-a. Agentless passive is natural because the result matters more than who made the payment.

Common Mistakes

Putting the payee in a kwa phrase

❌ Nimelipa kwa fundi aliyerekebisha mlango.

Incorrect for paying the person — mark the human payee as an object.

✅ Nimemlipa fundi aliyerekebisha mlango wa mbele asubuhi.

I have paid the technician who repaired the front door this morning.

Adding kwa before the amount

❌ Tulilipa kwa shilingi elfu kumi kwa tiketi.

Incorrect — the amount follows lipa directly.

✅ Tulilipa shilingi elfu kumi kwa tiketi mbili za tamasha.

We paid ten thousand shillings for two concert tickets.

Confusing lipwa with lipiwa

❌ Wafanyakazi wamelipiwa leo asubuhi.

Wrong for receiving wages — lipiwa means an expense was paid for them.

✅ Wafanyakazi wamelipwa leo asubuhi baada ya fedha kuingia.

The employees were paid this morning after the funds arrived.

Keeping final -a in present negation

❌ Kampuni hailipa bili zake kwa wakati.

Incorrect — present negative ends in -i.

✅ Kampuni hailipi bili zake kwa wakati kwa sababu ya matatizo ya fedha.

The company does not pay its bills on time because of financial problems.

Class 9 kampuni controls hai- in hailipi.

Key Takeaways

Regular lipa takes obligations, amounts, and human payees as objects.
A specific payee is object-marked; person normally precedes amount.
Applicative lipia means pay for an expense or on someone's behalf.
Passive lipwa means receive payment or have an obligation settled.
Payment method uses kwa; amount itself follows lipa directly.

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