Breakdown of Tafadhali weka vikombe hivi mezani mpaka vikauke.
meza
the table
tafadhali
please
kwenye
on
kuweka
to put
hivi
these
kikombe
the cup
mpaka vikauke
until they dry
Questions & Answers about Tafadhali weka vikombe hivi mezani mpaka vikauke.
What does tafadhali do in this sentence?
It means please and makes the command polite. It can appear at the beginning, as it does here, without changing the grammar of the rest of the sentence.
What form is weka?
Weka is the singular imperative of weka, meaning put or place. It is the form used to tell one person to do something. If you were speaking to more than one person, you would usually say wekeni.
Why is the noun vikombe?
The singular is kikombe (cup) and the plural is vikombe (cups). This noun belongs to the ki-/vi- noun class pair, so the plural changes from ki- to vi-.
Why is it vikombe hivi for these cups?
The demonstrative must agree with the noun class of vikombe, so plural class 8 uses hivi for these. Swahili also normally puts the demonstrative after the noun, so vikombe hivi is the natural order. Compare singular kikombe hiki = this cup.
What does mezani mean, and why isn’t there a separate word for on?
Mezani comes from meza (table) plus the locative ending -ni. That ending often covers meanings like in, at, or on, depending on context. With a table, the natural English translation is on the table, even though Swahili does not use a separate word for on here.
What does mpaka mean in this sentence?
Here mpaka means until. More generally, it can also mean up to or as far as, but in this sentence it marks the endpoint of the action: keep the cups there until they dry.
Why is the last verb vikauke?
It comes from kauka, meaning become dry or dry out. The form vikauke is vi- + kauk- + -e: vi- agrees with vikombe, and -e is the subjunctive ending. After mpaka, Swahili often uses this kind of form for something that is expected to happen later: until they dry.
Are the cups the subject of vikauke?
Yes. In the first part, vikombe hivi is the object of weka: put these cups. In the second part, those same cups become the subject of vikauke: until they dry. That is why the verb begins with vi-.
Why use kauka instead of kausha?
Kauka means become dry or dry by itself, while kausha means dry something. In this sentence, the idea is put the cups there and let them dry, not dry the cups yourself, so kauka is the correct verb.
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