kama
conjunction · preposition
if; like; as; approximately.
The same surface word can open a condition, make a comparison, or soften a quantity.
Origins
For the conjunction and preposition, kama is linked to Arabic كَمَا (kamā, “as” or “just as”) within a wider history of Indian Ocean borrowing. The exact route into Swahili remains unsettled.
Sources4
Sergio Baldi, Dictionary of Arabic Loanwords in the Languages of Central and East Africa (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2021), entry 2378, printed 256.
Records Arabic ka-mā, as or just as, and Swahili kama.
M. Haspelmath and U. Tadmor, World Loanword Database · Swahili profile (Max Planck Institute / Lexibank, 2009), Swahili profile; forms.csv.
Pre-modern Indian Ocean borrowing classification.
Edward Steere, A Handbook of the Swahili Language as Spoken at Zanzibar (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1884), alphabetical entry: kama.
Historical conjunction and preposition uses.
Kais Dukes, Quranic Arabic Corpus: subordinating conjunction mā (University of Leeds), 2:151:1.
Attests كَمَا, kamā, as or just as; supports the Arabic form, not a settled route into Swahili.
Examples
Fanya kama nilivyosema.
Do as I said.
Kama una muda, njoo.
If you have time, come.
Anaimba kama mama yake.
She sings like her mother.
Kama mvua itanyesha, tutakaa ndani.
If it rains, we will stay indoors.
Anaonekana kama rafiki yangu.
He looks like my friend.
Nipe kama lita mbili.
Give me about two litres.
Fanya kama kawaida.
Do it as usual.
Kama hutaki, niambie.
If you do not want to, tell me.
Nyumba hii ni kubwa kama shule.
This house is as big as a school.
