When to use it
Use it to check whether visitors or relatives you were expecting arrived.
The sentence in English (“Did they arrive last night?”)
In “Did they arrive last night?” ‘Did’ carries the past and ‘arrive’ stays in base form.
- Did
- auxiliary verbdo · tense: past · auxiliary that makes a question in the past
- they
- pronounpersonal pronoun, third person plural
- arrive
- verbarrive · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · after "did" the verb stays in its base form
- last
- adjectiveadjective; "last night" means the night before today
- night
- nounnoun
The sentence in Swahili (“Je, walifika jana usiku?”)
In “Je, walifika jana usiku?” one verb, ‘walifika’, holds they (‘wa-’), the past (‘-li-’) and ‘fika’ (arrive). ‘jana usiku’ (yesterday night) is last night.
- Je
- particle'Je' shows it is a question
- walifika
- verbfika · person: 3rd plural · tense: past (-li-) · wa- (they) + -li- + fika 'arrive'
- jana
- adverb'yesterday'
- usiku
- noun'night'; jana usiku = last night
What changes from one language to the other (English × Swahili)
English uses three words for ‘Did they arrive’; Swahili one verb plus ‘Je’.
Example conversation
— Je, walifika jana usiku?
— Did they arrive last night?
— Ndiyo, karibu saa sita usiku; basi lilichelewa.
— Yes, around midnight; the bus was late.