Kwenda means “go,” with the finite root -end-. Its citation form begins kw-, many present-day finite forms use -enda directly, and its imperative is irregular nenda rather than enda. This small family of shapes must be learned together.
The verb is intransitive: the traveler is the subject, while a destination appears as a locative expression. A following infinitive usually expresses purpose—kwenda kununua dawa “go to buy medicine”—without any equivalent of English “and” or “in order to.”
Core forms and accepted variants
Current Standard Swahili widely uses ninaenda, nilienda, nimeenda, and nitaenda, transparently built on -end-. Forms retaining the infinitive glide—ninakwenda, nilikwenda, nimekwenda, and nitakwenda—are also standard and frequent, especially in careful (formal) usage. Choose one series consistently within a passage; the shorter series is used below.
| Form | I | you (sg.) | he/she | we | you (pl.) | they |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| present | ninaenda | unaenda | anaenda | tunaenda | mnaenda | wanaenda |
| past | nilienda | ulienda | alienda | tulienda | mlienda | walienda |
| perfect | nimeenda | umeenda | ameenda | tumeenda | mmeenda | wameenda |
| future | nitaenda | utaenda | ataenda | tutaenda | mtaenda | wataenda |
| present negative | siendi | huendi | haendi | hatuendi | hamwendi | hawaendi |
| past negative | sikuenda | hukuenda | hakuenda | hatukuenda | hamkuenda | hawakuenda |
| subjunctive | niende | uende | aende | twende | mwende | waende |
The present build ni-na-end-a gives ninaenda. In hamw-end-i, the plural negative prefix ham- meets vowel-initial -end- and a glide appears: hamwendi.
Ninaenda kazini mapema leo kwa sababu kuna mkutano.
I am going to work early today because there is a meeting.
Hawakuenda ufukweni jana kwa sababu bahari ilikuwa imechafuka.
They did not go to the beach yesterday because the sea was rough.
Nataka twende kabla barabara haijajaa magari.
I want us to go before the road fills with cars.
Imperative nenda
The positive singular imperative is nenda, and the plural is nendeni. The initial n- is part of this established imperative; it is not a subject or object marker.
Nenda moja kwa moja hadi uone jengo la posta.
Go straight ahead until you see the post-office building.
Nendeni mkachukue mizigo kabla ofisi haijafungwa.
Go and collect the luggage before the office closes.
Negative commands use the subjunctive stem: usiende for one person and msiende for several.
Usiende peke yako usiku; eneo hilo halina taa.
Do not go alone at night; that area has no lights.
Do not form enda! by simply removing infinitive kw-. There is no productive rule that predicts nenda from spelling alone; it must be memorized.
Destinations and routes
Common destinations use locative nouns or phrases:
| Pattern | Example meaning |
|---|---|
| kwenda nyumbani | go home |
| kwenda kazini/shuleni/sokoni | go to work/school/the market |
| kwenda kwa daktari | go to the doctor |
| kwenda kwenye ofisi | go to/into the office |
| kwenda hadi mjini | go as far as town |
| kwenda kwa miguu | go on foot |
Tulienda kwa daktari, halafu tukapitia dukani kununua dawa.
We went to the doctor, then stopped at the shop to buy medicine.
Watoto huenda shuleni kwa miguu wanapokosa nauli.
The children usually go to school on foot when they do not have bus fare.
Kwa is natural with a person or manner, while nouns already carrying locative -ni do not need an English-like word “to.”
Motion plus infinitive
A bare infinitive after kwenda normally states the purpose of the trip.
Asha ameenda kumwona shangazi yake hospitalini.
Asha has gone to see her aunt in the hospital.
A-me-end-a ku-mw-on-a contains two separate verbs: finite motion ameenda and infinitive kumwona. The object marker -mw- belongs to kuona, not to kwenda.
Kesho tutaenda kuchukua vyeti vyetu chuoni.
Tomorrow we will go to collect our certificates at the college.
Walikwenda kuomba msamaha ana kwa ana.
They went to apologize face to face.
The retained form walikwenda illustrates the accepted longer variant. With different subjects or an explicitly framed purpose, ili + subjunctive may be clearer; see purpose with ili.
Direction and viewpoint
Kwenda describes motion away from the speaker’s or chosen reference point. Kuja describes motion toward it. A phone caller at the destination therefore asks Unakuja? “Are you coming?”, while the traveler may tell someone elsewhere Ninaenda huko “I’m going there.” See kuja — to come.
Basi linaenda vizuri sasa baada ya kufanyiwa ukarabati.
The bus is running well now after being repaired.
This common extension of meaning describes how a vehicle, plan, or process proceeds. It is neutral in (informal) and (formal) usage. The causative kuendesha conventionally means “drive/operate,” but it has its own lexical behavior rather than being an ordinary form of the kwenda paradigm.
In travel questions, Unaenda wapi? asks for a destination, Unaenda na nani? asks for a companion, and Unaenda kwa njia gani? asks for the route or means. These complements remain outside the intransitive verb; none is a direct object. This is why destination nouns do not trigger object markers inside kwenda.
Common Mistakes
Using the infinitive spelling kuenda
❌ Nataka kuenda nyumbani sasa.
Nonstandard citation spelling in this guide — Standard Swahili uses kwenda.
✅ Nataka kwenda nyumbani sasa.
I want to go home now.
Using enda as the imperative
❌ Enda dukani ukanunue mkate.
Incorrect Standard imperative of kwenda.
✅ Nenda dukani ukanunue mkate.
Go to the shop and buy bread.
Adding kwa before every destination
❌ Tunaenda kwa nyumbani baada ya kazi.
Incorrect — nyumbani is already locative.
✅ Tunaenda nyumbani baada ya kazi.
We are going home after work.
Replacing the purpose infinitive with English word order
❌ Alienda kwa kununua tiketi.
Unnatural for ordinary purpose after motion.
✅ Alienda kununua tiketi.
She went to buy a ticket.
Key Takeaways
- The citation form is kwenda, the finite root is -end-, and the imperative is nenda/nendeni.
- Both shorter ninaenda and retained-kw ninakwenda series are standard.
- Destinations commonly use locative -ni, kwa with people, or kwenye with a place phrase.
- A following infinitive normally expresses the purpose of going.
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Start learning Swahili →Related Topics
- kufanya — to Do, MakeA1 — Conjugate kufanya and use its core light-verb collocations, object marking, causative fanyisha, and passive fanywa naturally.
- kuja — to ComeA1 — Conjugate monosyllabic kuja, use irregular imperative njoo, and choose it for motion toward a conversational reference point.
- Chains of InfinitivesB1 — Build clear chains in which one finite verb controls successive aspectual, modal, and lexical ku- infinitives.
- Purpose Clauses with ili and the SubjunctiveB1 — Express an intended result with ili plus a subject-marked subjunctive, and distinguish purpose from means expressed by kwa plus an infinitive.
- Motion plus Infinitive for Planned ActionB1 — Use kwenda or another motion verb followed by a ku-infinitive for movement toward a planned action without copying English going to mechanically.