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Usivute sigara ndani ya nyumba.

Usivute sigara ndani ya nyumba.
Do not smoke cigarettes inside the house.

Breakdown of Usivute sigara ndani ya nyumba.

nyumba
the house
ndani ya
inside
kuvuta
to smoke
sigara
the cigarette
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Questions & Answers about Usivute sigara ndani ya nyumba.

What is the role of usivute in this sentence?
usivute is the negative imperative form of vuta (“to smoke/inhale”). It literally means “don’t smoke” and is directed at one person.
How is the negative imperative formed in Swahili?

You combine:

  • the 2nd-person-singular subject prefix u- (“you”)
  • the negative marker -si-
  • the verb stem vut-
  • the final vowel -e
    Yielding u-si-vut-e → usivute (“don’t smoke”).
Why don’t we see a separate subject pronoun like wewe?
In Swahili the subject prefix is attached directly to the verb. For a negative command to one person, u- serves as both the subject marker and part of the verb, so wewe isn’t needed.
Why is sigara not taking any noun-class prefix?
Sigara is a loanword (from English “cigarette”) and is treated as indeclinable. It doesn’t change for singular/plural or take a Swahili noun-class prefix.
How would I tell a group “Don’t smoke cigarettes inside the house”?

Use the 2nd-person-plural subject prefix m- instead of u-, plus -si- and the rest of the verb:
msivute sigara ndani ya nyumba.

What does ndani ya nyumba mean, and why ya?
ndani means “inside/within.” It needs a possessive connector before a noun in class 9/10 (like nyumba “house”), so ndani ya nyumba = “inside the house.”
Could I insert tafadhali to make it more polite?

Yes. Simply add tafadhali (“please”) at the beginning:
Tafadhali usivute sigara ndani ya nyumba.

Why must the verb come before sigara and the location?
Swahili imperatives follow the pattern: (negative) verb-prefix + object + other complements. So usivute comes first, then sigara, then ndani ya nyumba.
Does vuta literally mean “to inhale” rather than “to smoke”?
Yes, its root sense is “to draw in” or “inhale.” In everyday Swahili vuta sigara has precisely the sense “to smoke a cigarette.”