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- "Mtoto ameanguka"
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Since I don't know where else to report it, I'll mention here that this appeared for me in the 'Present 3' unit, even though this sentence does not use the present tense, and the tense that it does use is not introduced until later in the tree.
The -me- form is actually present tense. It's called present perfect, and according to native speakers I interact with, this tense is used when something has happened just now (quoting the explanation they have given me). The focus is actually on the present time. The action is at present finished, but it is not necessarily true that it was finished at a previous moment in time (although that might have been the case, the focus is still on the present). This might seem strange to a westerner, since we tend to conflate the perfective aspect with the past tense. One way of thinking about the -me- form that I find helpful, is to see it, not as describing an action, but a state. It describes a present state resulting from a past action.
But yes, I get the frustration. Duolingo isn't always very good at explaining things before they are presented.
The lesson name on the tree is present 3, but the last time i "leveled up" it called this unit "present perfect"
What is 'me' ? In the other sentences the past tense marker was 'li' . Why is it not a-LI- anguka ?
Let's answer myself...
me = Present Perfect marker li = Past Tense marker ta = Future marker na = Present Tense marker
Mfano:
-
Mtoto ameanguka - the child has fallen
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Mtoto alianguka - the child fell
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Mtoto ataanguka - the child will fall
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Mtoto anaanguka- the child is falling/ falls
To take it a step further:
Negative
Present Tense - mtoto haanguki - the child is not falling down
Future - mtoto hataanguka - the child will not fall down
Past Tense - mtoto hakuanguka - the child did not fall down
Perfect - mtoto hajaanguka - the child has not fallen down
Plural
Positive
Present: watoto wanaanguka -the children are falling down
Future: watoto wataanguka - the children will fall down
Past: watoto walianguka - the children fell down
Perfect: watoto wameanguka- the children have fallen down
Negative
Present: watoto hawaanguki - the children don't fall down
Future: watoto hawataanguka - the children won't fall down
Past: watoto hawakuanguka - the children did not fall down
Perfect: watoto hawajaanguka - the children have not fallen down
Disclaimer: I am not a native speaker. This might contain mistakes
If you consider all the different ways you could modify a verb regularly in Swahili you have hundreds of different forms in regular use. The ones you have mentioned are only the most common forms.
actually, it's more like thousands if you include all the forms with object concords and every combination of object and relative concords. probably over 10,000 for one verb, and maybe closer to 50,000 if you include its verbal derivations.
Oh, thanks! I was just thinking I'm becoming crazy. I was lost about these makers.
Interesting that the perfect 'me' has been used in this example although it has not yet been covered in the course
1060
And we are in a lesson about the present tense. It's a bit early to introduce another aspect (present perfect). There's a separate lesson for that, isn't there? If so, this question has simply turned up in the wrong lesson.
Shouldn't (the child has fallen) also be acceptable. Technically they didnt mention chini (down).
Yes, kitoto is the diminutive of mtoto, and would mean a small baby, but mtoto means both baby and child. As i've understood the diminutives, when applied to people, it refers more to size than age. Kitoto would mean then a baby that's small in size.
