"Hajala ugali"
Translation:He has not eaten ugali
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Apart from questions about negation of the -ME- tense and monosyllabic verbs, I think the audio clip says "hujala ugali" instead of "hajala ugali". My only problem is with the audio.
This is getting Annoying, either the Correct Solution for "Ugali is "Ugali" or it's "Stiff Porridge" in the later lessons it's Stiff Porridge by a large margin, and in the earlier lessons Ugali just means "ugali" I reported this, but they need to be Interchangeable as far as answers because they mean the same. come on Duolingo Swahili team.
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Can someone explain the negative past? it is not in the notes... what happened to "kula" and why is there "ja" now?
In this case, it is the negative perfect tense, so "ja" is needed:
Perfect (negative)
Singular
sijala (1st person mimi)
hujala (2nd person wewe)
hajala (3rd person/Class 1 yeye/(m))
Plural
hatujala (1st person sisi)
hamjala (2nd person ninyi)
hawajala (3rd person/Class 2 wao/(wa))
From Wiktionary: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/la#Swahili
-ku- vs. -ja- "ku" indicates that something did not happen in the past (and therefore the opportunity was missed) "ja" is used for something that has not happened YET - so either the speaker still intends to do it; or it simply is still possible (to happen - my mother pointed out how shocking it sounds to translate it this way to non-Swahili-speakers. She had asked a woman whose daughter had been abducted in a bus along with others if that daughter had been harmed - she negated with -ja- BECAUSE the evil-doers had not been caught and been sent to jail; so the possibility, however slim, still stands.)
Is ugali, ugali or is it stiff porridge. I agree with the person below, it is rather irritating when you get it wrong and you really do know the answer
Ugali or stiff porridge, make both correct answers so we can move on without frustration
