When to use it
Use it on a Sunday when you need medicine and your usual pharmacy is shut.
The sentence in English: “I'm looking for a pharmacy open on Sunday.”
In “I'm looking for a pharmacy open on Sunday.” ‘I'm looking’ shows an ongoing search.
- I'm
- contractionbe · tense: present · person: first · number: singular · contraction of "I am"
- looking
- verblook · form: -ing form · "am looking for" is an action happening now
- for
- prepositionpreposition; "look for" means "search"
- a
- determinerindefinite article
- pharmacy
- nounnoun
- open
- adjectiveadjective; in English a shop "is open"
- on
- prepositionpreposition used with days of the week
- Sunday
- proper nounproper noun; days of the week take a capital letter
The sentence in Swahili: “Ninatafuta duka la dawa lililo wazi Jumapili.”
In “Ninatafuta duka la dawa lililo wazi Jumapili.” the ‘-na-’ in ‘Ninatafuta’ marks the ongoing action. ‘lililo wazi’ (which is open) agrees with ‘duka’ (LI class), and ‘duka la dawa’ (shop of medicine) is a pharmacy.
- Ninatafuta
- verbtafuta · person: 1st singular · tense: present (-na-) · 'I am looking for'; -na- means right now
- duka
- noun'shop', LI-YA class
- la
- preposition'of', for duka
- dawa
- nounduka la dawa = pharmacy
- lililo
- verb-li · class: LI · form: relative (-lo) · li- + -li + -lo 'which is'
- wazi
- adjective'open'
- Jumapili
- proper noun'Sunday', no preposition
What changes from one language to the other: English × Swahili
English uses ‘am’ plus ‘-ing’ for an action in progress; Swahili only the marker ‘-na-’ inside the verb.
Example conversation
— Ninatafuta duka la dawa lililo wazi Jumapili.
— I'm looking for a pharmacy open on Sunday.
— Lile la hospitalini liko wazi siku nzima.
— The one at the hospital is open all day.