Questions & Answers about Je, unasikia ngoma sasa?
Je, is a general yes/no question marker. It doesn’t add any lexical meaning but tells the listener you’re asking a question. It’s optional—if you drop it, the rising intonation alone makes it a question:
Unasikia ngoma sasa?
Yes. unasikia = u- (2nd-person singular subject) + -na- (present tense/aspect marker) + sikia (verb root “hear”).
So u + na + sikia → unasikia (“you are hearing” / “you hear”).
Object markers are used when the object is a pronoun. With a noun (like ngoma) you simply leave it in full after the verb:
Unasikia ngoma.
If you wanted “hear it,” you’d use the 3rd-person class-9 object marker -i-:
Ninaisikia (I hear it).
Drop the subject prefix (u-) and the tense marker (-na-), then add ku-:
ku + sikia = kusikia (“to hear”).
By default it goes after the verb or at sentence end:
Unasikia ngoma sasa?
For emphasis it can come first:
Sasa, unasikia ngoma?
But it rarely appears in the middle of the verb.
Yes:
Ndiyo, naisikia.
(“Yes, I hear it,” using the class-9 object marker -i-.)
No:
Hapana, husikii.
(Replace u-na- with hu-, change final -a to -i → husikii, “you don’t hear.”)
Swap the subject prefix on -na-sikia:
I hear → nasikia (n-na-sikia)
You hear → unasikia (u-na-sikia)
He/She hears → anasikia (a-na-sikia)
We hear → tunasikia (tu-na-sikia)
They hear → wanasikia (wa-na-sikia)
So “Does she hear the drum now?” →
Je, anasikia ngoma sasa?