"Tutaona baadaye"

Translation: We will see later

[dsimonds]

I'm not a native speaker, but I know "kuona" can be used in many ways with many different meanings, not just to literally see with one's eyes. Example: Unaonaje? - What do you think (about it)?

[Catriona28475]

See what? Is this another example of Swahili leaving out the direct object that would be required in English for a transitive verb?

(I'm guessing it doesn't mean "We will decide / find out later".)

[AGreatUserName]

It's just another example of the English translation not being up to scratch. It means "We will see each other later." The normal English translation of this would be "(I'll) see you later!"

kuona = to see
kuonana = to see each other

[Catriona28475]

But wouldn't the question then say "Tutaonana"?
Here, they didn't mention "each other" in the Swahili ("Tutaona").

[Konrad-Michal]

See you later has been rejected. Reported.

[Phmeza]

If this is to be taken like other bantu languages, then yes "We'll findout/decide later" is a reasonable and even likely meaning.

[Catriona28475]

Thanks, Phmeza! Then it makes sense after all.

[sonjasennfrieden]

We will see us later... would be correct???

[Catriona28475]

Well, it doesn't mention "us", only "we". (Also, that wouldn't be a grammatically logical sentence in English. It would have to be "we will see them" or "they will see us" or "we will see each other".)

Maybe we just have to take it literally: "We will see later". What we will see is unknown, both in this Swahili example and in the given translation, so they do in fact match each other.

Can any native Swahili speakers explain whether this has some other meaning (as in "We hope to have a day off soon but we will see", or something like that)?

[Ben837613]

Can we have some context please?

[JoppyMalembi]

We'll see each other later.

[dsimonds]

Pretty sure that needs the reflexive "Tutaonana baadaye." But the sentence here is "Tutaona baadaye."