Kuwako- to be at a place
| Ni - ko | I am at a place |
| U - ko | You are at a place |
| Yu - ko | He/she/ it is at a place |
| Tu - ko | We are at a place |
| M - ko | You (pl) are at a place |
| Wa - ko | They are at a place |
Did you notice anything familiar ?
The infinitive of our new verb is composed of two parts:
Kuwa (to be) and 'ko' (a non-specific place)
We know the verb Kuwa (to be) already. The conjugation is exactly as we have learned, except for the 3rd person sg. We have learned 'A-na', so it should be 'A-ko', however it is 'Yu-ko'. We have to remember this.
Wapi - where
Hapa - here
Uko wapi? - Where are you?
Mimi niko hapa. - I am here.
'-ko' talks about a vague location Somewhere here / hereabouts / around here It could also describe a location somewhat distant from the speaker. there / thereabouts / around there.
Niko jikoni. - I am in a kitchen.
Yuko kisiwani. - He is on an island.
Tuko juu ya kilima. - We are on a hill.
Wako nyumbani. - They are in a house. / They are home.
Uko nyumbani? - Are you in a house? / Are you home?
Mko baharini? - Are you somewhere at the sea?
Kiboko yuko majini. - The hippopotamus is in the water.
Paka yuko juu ya kitanda. - The cat is on a bed.
nje - outside
Mbwa wako nje. - The dogs are outside.
Actually here we have an ambiguity. This sentence could also translate as: Your dog is outside. So let's add an adjective to be clear.
Mbwa wakali wako nje. - The sharp dogs are outside. They could be still yours... but at least we got them plural.
If we want to talk about the location of N/N class nouns we need to change:
| yuko → | iko |
| wako → | ziko |
Sahani iko wapi? Iko hapa kwenye meza. - Where is the plate? Here on the table.
Sahani ziko kwenye meza. - The plates are on a table.
If we want to talk about the location of Ki/Vi class nouns we need to change:
| yuko → | kiko |
| wako → | viko |
Kitabu kiko wapi? - Where is the book?
Vitabu viko wapi - Where are the books?
Kisu kiko mezani. - The knife is on a table.
Visu viko mezani. - The knives are on a table.
I have kept translating all the -po locations with 'a' e.g. 'on a table'. That was for the purpose of avoiding confusion later on. However you might translate it as well as 'on the table at the other end of the room'.
As for 'kwenye meza' and 'mezani'... They both mean the same thing: at / on the table. In our sentence here you can use either.
There is just one slight difference. If you want to use an adjective to describe the table, you can't use -ni. So 'on the big table' has to be:
kwenye meza kubwa
Visu viko kwenye meza kubwa. - The knives are on the big table over there.
Let me give you a past tense sentence. We didn't treat past tense yet... we ll get there later. Just notice the infix 'li' as a past tense marker and then happily forget it again :D
nilikuweko - I was there. / I was somewhere in the area.
ajali - accident (N/N class)
wakati wa - (at) the time of
wakati wa ajali - (at) the time of the accident
Wakati wa ajali nilikuweko. - At the time of the accident I was there.
However, that doesn't necessarily imply that I was an eye witness. It might rather mean I was not far off, just two blocks around...