When to use it
Use it to suggest a trip to the park with friends or family.
“Shall we go to the park tomorrow?” · The sentence in English
In “Shall we go to the park tomorrow?” ‘Shall we’ suggests politely, and ‘go’ needs ‘to the’.
- Shall
- auxiliary verbshall · tense: present · modal verb; "Shall we…?" makes a suggestion
- we
- pronounpersonal pronoun, first person plural
- go
- verbgo · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · main verb after "shall"
- to
- prepositionpreposition of direction
- the
- determinerdefinite article
- park
- nounnoun
- tomorrow
- adverbadverb of time
“Tuende bustanini kesho?” · The sentence in Swahili
In “Tuende bustanini kesho?” the suggestion sits inside the verb: ‘tu-’ (we) and the subjunctive ending ‘-e’. No preposition is needed: the suffix ‘-ni’ on ‘bustanini’ means ‘to the park’.
- Tuende
- verbenda · person: 1st plural · mood: subjunctive (-e) · tu- (we) + enda 'go' + -e: a suggestion
- bustanini
- nounbustani 'park' + locative -ni 'to/at'
- kesho
- adverb'tomorrow'
What changes from one language to the other · English × Swahili
English uses ‘Shall we’ and ‘to the’; Swahili packs both into ‘Tuende’ and the locative ‘-ni’.
Example conversation
— Tuende bustanini kesho?
— Shall we go to the park tomorrow?
— Ndiyo, kama mvua haitanyesha.
— Yes, if it doesn't rain.