kurudi — to Return | Swahili Grammar

Kurudi means “return, go back, come back.” The returning person or thing is its subject; the verb is normally intransitive, so a destination or source is expressed as a locative or prepositional phrase rather than a direct object. Its causative kurudisha means “cause to return, take/give/put back.”

Rudi is an Arabic-derived loan verb ending in lexical -i. That vowel remains unchanged in present negative and subjunctive forms. All unlabelled uses below are neutral current Standard Swahili.

Practical paradigm: final -i remains

Form	I	you (sg.)	he/she	we	you (pl.)	they
present	ninarudi	unarudi	anarudi	tunarudi	mnarudi	wanarudi
past	nilirudi	ulirudi	alirudi	tulirudi	mlirudi	walirudi
perfect	nimerudi	umerudi	amerudi	tumerudi	mmerudi	wamerudi
future	nitarudi	utarudi	atarudi	tutarudi	mtarudi	watarudi
present negative	sirudi	hurudi	harudi	haturudi	hamrudi	hawarudi
past negative	sikurudi	hukurudi	hakurudi	hatukurudi	hamkurudi	hawakurudi
subjunctive	nirudi	urudi	arudi	turudi	mrudi	warudi

The singular imperative is rudi and plural is rudini. Loan-final -i remains before plural-address -ni.

Rudi nyumbani kabla mvua haijaanza.

Return home before the rain starts.

Rudini darasani mara tu kengele itakapolia.

Return to the classroom as soon as the bell rings.

Compare ni-na-rudi, si-rudi, ni-rudi, and rudi-ni. The stem behaves like a Swahili verb in its prefix system, but not like a Bantu -a stem in its final-vowel alternations.

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Do not change loan-final -i: “I do not return” is sirudi, “so that I return” is nirudi, and “return!” to several people is rudini.

Intransitive return and the deictic viewpoint

The returner is subject and no agent causes the motion:

Asha amerudi baada ya kukaa Zanzibar kwa wiki mbili.

Asha has returned after spending two weeks in Zanzibar.

Perfect amerudi presents a current result: Asha is back. Past alirudi simply locates the return in a past narrative. Swahili rudi can translate either English “come back” or “go back”; the conversational viewpoint and destination decide.

Nilirudi ofisini nilipogundua kwamba nimesahau simu yangu.

I went back to the office when I realized that I had forgotten my phone.

The speaker is no longer necessarily at the office while telling the story, so English chooses “went back.” Swahili does not need separate stems for movement toward or away from the speaker in this return relation.

Because rudi is intransitive, it does not take a direct-object marker for the place. The absence of an object marker is structural, not optional carelessness.

Goals: where someone returns to

A locative noun can directly follow the verb:

Tutarejea mjini kesho, lakini watoto watarudi shuleni Jumatatu.

We will return to town tomorrow, but the children will return to school on Monday.

Here shuleni is a goal locative. Place names also occur without an English-style to:

Wamerudi Dodoma kwa ajili ya kikao cha bajeti.

They have returned to Dodoma for the budget meeting.

Use kwenye when conceptualizing a bounded place or event: kurudi kwenye mkutano “return to the meeting.” Use kwa naturally with people, professionals, and certain institutional destinations:

Nitarudi kwa daktari wiki ijayo ili akague kidonda.

I will return to the doctor next week so that she can examine the wound.

English requires to almost everywhere; Swahili chooses among a bare place name, locative -ni, kwenye, and person-oriented kwa.

Sources: where someone returns from

To foreground the journey's origin, use kutoka:

Walirudi kutoka Mombasa usiku wa manane.

They returned from Mombasa at midnight.

Both source and goal can appear when needed:

Baada ya likizo, tulirudi kazini kutoka kijijini Jumapili jioni.

After the holiday, we returned to work from the village on Sunday evening.

The goal kazini is licensed by the motion meaning; kutoka kijijini explicitly marks the source. Avoid treating either as a direct object. More about source marking appears on kutoka.

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With rudi, map the returning mover as subject, then add a goal as a locative and a source with kutoka. There is normally no direct object.

Causative rudisha: return something

Kurudisha adds a causer/agent and makes the returned entity an object:

Mteja alirudi dukani asubuhi.

The customer returned to the shop in the morning.

Mteja alirudisha shati dukani kwa sababu halikumtosha.

The customer returned the shirt to the shop because it did not fit him.

In the first sentence, mteja moves. In the second, mteja causes shati to go back. The build a-li-rud-ish-a takes rudi without its lexical final -i, then adds causative -ish- and final -a. See causative formation.

Object marking identifies a definite returned item:

Nimekisoma kitabu chako; nitakurudishia kesho.

I have read your book; I will return it to you tomorrow.

More explicitly, nitakirudisha means “I will return it,” while applicative nitakurudishia makes “to/for you” central and context supplies the item. Swahili normally permits only one object-marker slot, so choose the participant most discourse-salient.

Common collocations and register

Use kurudi nyumbani/kazini/shuleni; kurudi tena “return again”; kurudi nyuma “go back/retreat”; and kurudi katika hali ya kawaida “return to normal,” common in (formal) reporting. Kurejea is a close synonym particularly frequent in (formal) prose, schedules, and news.

Huduma zimerejea katika hali ya kawaida baada ya hitilafu kurekebishwa.

Services have returned to normal after the fault was repaired.

Common Mistakes

Changing final -i in the negative

❌ Harudiwi nyumbani baada ya kazi.

Incorrect for ‘he does not return’ — rudi keeps final -i; -wi creates a different passive-looking form.

✅ Harudi nyumbani baada ya kazi siku za Ijumaa.

He does not return home after work on Fridays.

Adding English to before a locative goal

❌ Tutarudi kwa shuleni baada ya likizo.

Incorrect goal phrase — shuleni already marks the location.

✅ Tutarudi shuleni baada ya likizo ya mwisho wa mwaka.

We will return to school after the end-of-year holiday.

Using rudi transitively

❌ Nilirudi kitabu kwenye maktaba jana.

Incorrect valency — use causative rudisha for returning an object.

✅ Nilirudisha kitabu kwenye maktaba jana alasiri.

I returned the book to the library yesterday afternoon.

Doubling i in the plural imperative

❌ Rudiini ofisini baada ya chakula.

Incorrect — add -ni to rudi without inserting a second i.

✅ Rudini ofisini baada ya chakula cha mchana.

Return to the office after lunch.

Key Takeaways

Loan rudi keeps final -i: sirudi, nirudi, rudini.
The returning mover is subject; goals are locatives and sources use kutoka.
Rudi covers both “come back” and “go back,” with viewpoint supplied by context.
Causative rudisha adds an agent and a returned object.
Kurejea is especially common as a (formal) synonym.

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