Kama handaki lingekamilika, magari yangepita bila foleni ndefu.

If the tunnel were completed, cars would pass without a long queue.

Breakdown of Kama handaki lingekamilika, magari yangepita bila foleni ndefu.

• gari: the car
• kama: if
• bila: without
• ndefu: long
• kupita: to pass
• kukamilika: to be completed
• handaki: the tunnel
• foleni: the queue

Questions & Answers about Kama handaki lingekamilika, magari yangepita bila foleni ndefu.

What are the morphological elements in lingekamilika, and what does each part indicate?

Breakdown of lingekamilika:
• li- = class 9 subject + past tense marker
• -nge- = conditional/irrealis marker (would have)
• kamil- = verb root “complete”
• -ika = stative/intransitive extension + final vowel

Together they form “it would have been completed.”

Why is kamilika (with -ika) used here instead of the causative kamilisha?

Suffix -ika makes the verb intransitive or stative (“to become complete”).
Suffix -isha makes the verb causative (“to make something complete”).
Since the ditch itself would become complete (not someone completing it), kamilika is correct.

Why does handaki use the subject/past marker li- in lingekamilika, whereas magari uses ya- in yangepita?

Subject markers depend on noun class:
• handaki is class 9 → past/conditional marker li-
• magari is class 6 → past/conditional marker ya-

Hence li-nge-kamilika and ya-nge-pita.

How can I recognize that handaki is class 9 and magari is class 6?

• handaki begins with h-, a variant of the class 9 prefix (underlying N-).
• magari uses ma-, the plural prefix of class 5, making it class 6.

Prefix shape often signals noun class in Swahili.

Why is the class 9/10 prefix realized as h- in handaki instead of n-?

Class 9/10 has an underlying nasal prefix N-. Phonological rules surface this as h- before certain consonants (like nd). So -ndaki becomes handaki.

How does kama function here, and could I replace it with ikiwa?

Both kama and ikiwa mean “if.”
• kama is very common in spoken and written hypotheticals.
• ikiwa is more formal but interchangeable.
You can say ikiwa handaki lingekamilika with the same core meaning.

Why does bila not trigger noun class agreement, and why is the adjective ndefu unprefixed?

bila (“without”) is a preposition and does not take noun class prefixes. The noun stays in its bare form.
Adjectives after bila likewise stay uninflected, though many start with a linking n- before roots beginning with vowels or certain consonants. Hence ndefu rather than defu.

Can I switch the order of the conditional clause and the main clause, and does that affect emphasis?

Yes. You could say:
magari yangepita bila foleni ndefu, kama handaki lingekamilika
The meaning remains the same. Starting with kama is more neutral; ending with it can put slightly more focus on the result first, but it’s less common to finish a sentence on kama alone.