"Ikiwa watakuja tutanunua zawadi"
Translation:If they come, we will buy presents
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Here Ikiwa is followed by "watakuja", in the future, not conditional. AGreatUserName explains that ikiwa is actually a verb, so the conditional is already there. However, other sentences hve ikiwa followed by another verb in the conditional. How do we know whether the verb following ikiwa should be future or conditional?
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i assume both are options, at least in most cases. but i don't know swahili beyond duolingo
Ikiwa is another word for "if". It's actually simply a verb ... the verb "to be", kuwa with the subject prefix i- for class 9 (singular N class) "it" and the ki prefix. On its own, it means "if it is". So this sentence is like 'if-it-is they-will-come we-will-buy gift(s)'.
Kama also means "like" (as in "similar to").
watakuja - is this not - they will come It is demoralising getting wrong answers all the time for good translation into English
Ikiwa - again something without sense. " If it is they will come, we will buy the gift." The most funny is that in " Notes and tips" is no one word about " ikiwa" nor about these every freaks given before. For keep the meaning of the sentence in translation is well to write - Kama watakuja, tutanunua zawadi / Wakija, tutanunua zawadi.
The exact translation in this case is, "if they will come, we will buy gifts"
Zawadi can mean gift or present . How do we know which? Also what makes zawadi plural?
Gift and present mean the same thing, no?
In this case, zawadi can be singular or plural
Can someone please explain why watakuja = future tense (they will come) is translated into present tense (they come)? If this translation given by DL is correct - what I doubt right now - how would I say "if they will come" then?
In English, "if" is followed by a present tense verb to mean something that may happen in the future. So we wouldn't say "if they will come".
Thank you Tess, "if" always has been difficult for me because in German we have a much much bigger variety of using it. I just started this skill today and some English translation with if sound really strange to me. Because just like you say it may happen, so it also might not happen. So if we wake up, if you come home are a bit strange and I am getting the feeling that Swahili uses it more in the way we use it in German. I will find out. Thanks for your answer!