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Nilipoteza risiti sokoni jana.

Nilipoteza risiti sokoni jana.
I lost the receipt at the market yesterday.
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Questions & Answers about Nilipoteza risiti sokoni jana.

How is the verb nilipoteza built from Swahili verb parts?

Swahili verbs follow a template: Subject-Tense-(Object)-Root-Extension.

  • ni- = 1st person singular subject (“I”)
  • -li- = simple past tense marker (“lost”)
  • poteza = verb root “lose (something)”
    Putting them together: ni-li-poteza = “I lost.”
Why did we use the past marker -li- here instead of the perfect marker -me- (as in nimepoteza)?

The difference is aspect:

  • -li- = simple/definite past (“I lost at a specific time”)
  • -me- = perfect (“I have lost,” with present relevance)
    Since the sentence refers to a particular event yesterday, the simple past nilipoteza is more natural. You could say Nimepoteza risiti to stress “I’ve lost the receipt (and it’s still lost now).”
What’s the difference between kupoteza and kupotea?

They are two separate verbs:

  • kupoteza = transitive “to lose something” (you drop or misplace an object)
  • kupotea = intransitive “to get lost” (the subject itself is lost)
    Examples:
    • Nilipoteza risiti = “I lost the receipt.”
    • Risiti ilipotea = “The receipt got lost.”
How do we get sokoni from soko, and what does it mean?

sokoni = soko (“market”) + locative suffix -ni. The -ni suffix marks “at/in/on” a place.
So sokoni literally means “at the market.”

Why is jana placed at the end of the sentence? Can it go elsewhere?

jana means “yesterday.” In Swahili, time expressions are quite flexible:

  • Nilipoteza risiti sokoni jana.
  • Jana nilipoteza risiti sokoni.
  • Nilipoteza jana risiti sokoni.
    All are grammatically correct; putting jana at the end is common in spoken Swahili.
Can I add the pronoun mimi in front, as in Mimi nilipoteza risiti sokoni jana? What changes?
Yes. mimi means “I” and is optional because ni- in nilipoteza already encodes “I.” You’d add mimi only for emphasis or contrast (“I lost the receipt, not someone else”).
How would I ask “Did you lose the receipt at the market yesterday?” in Swahili?

Use the question marker je (optional) and switch to 2nd person:
Je, ulipoteza risiti sokoni jana?
Breakdown:

  • u- = you (2nd person)
  • -li- = past tense
  • poteza = lose
    This literally asks “You lost the receipt at the market yesterday?” with rising intonation or je at the start to signal a yes/no question.