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 verbKuwa (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.
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 ziko kwenye masa. - The plates are on a table.