Breakdown of Glasi ikivunjika, tumia plastiki ili usijikate.
Questions & Answers about Glasi ikivunjika, tumia plastiki ili usijikate.
Swahili uses the -ki clitic to turn a verb into a dependent clause meaning when or if. You insert -ki between the subject‐concord (SC) and the verb root:
• i- = SC for noun class 5 (glasi)
• -ki- = dependent‐clause marker (when/if)
• vunjika = intransitive verb root meaning to break
Thus ikivunjika = when it breaks (or if it breaks).
• vunja = transitive ‘to break something’
• vunjika = intransitive ‘to break’ (to break by itself or get broken)
Since the glass isn’t an active agent doing the breaking, we use the intransitive vunjika.
• -ki clause (e.g. Glasi ikivunjika) often feels like whenever/if & when—it can imply a general condition.
• kama = if, a straightforward conditional conjunction.
Both are correct:
– Glasi ikivunjika, tumia plastiki… (Whenever/if the glass breaks…)
– Kama glasi itavunjika, tumia plastiki… (If the glass breaks…)
Choice depends on nuance and style.
• tumia is the affirmative singular imperative of the verb tumia (“to use”).
• Swahili imperatives omit an explicit subject; the verb form itself indicates it’s a command addressed to you (singular).
• For addressing multiple people, you’d say tumieni plastiki (use plastic, pl.).
ili is a subordinating conjunction meaning so that or in order that. It introduces a purpose clause explaining why you should use plastic:
Glasi ikivunjika, tumia plastiki ili usijikate – “If the glass breaks, use plastic so that you don’t cut yourself.”
After ili, Swahili uses the jussive/subjunctive mood. The negative 2nd person singular jussive is formed as:
• usi- = negative prefix for “you (sing.)”
• ji- = reflexive pronoun (“yourself”)
• kat = verb stem “cut”
• -e = jussive/subjunctive final vowel
Putting it together: usijikate = (you) should not cut yourself.
• plastiki is a loanword from English plastic.
• Swahili prefers a consonant–vowel pattern and words ending in a vowel, so we insert vowels to fit: pla-sti-ki.
• Stress normally falls on the penultimate syllable: pla-STI-ki.
• Loanwords like glasi usually take noun class 5 (singular) with class 6 plural maglasi.
• Class 5’s subject concord is i-, so when forming the -ki clause you get i-ki-vunjika.
That’s why we see ikivunjika rather than another form like nikivunjika or ukivunjika.