si
particle
Am not; is not; are not.
Use si before what you are denying: Mimi si mwalimu, “I am not a teacher”. It is not the independent answer “no”; sio can fill that role. Bound si- and -si- also occur in verbal grammar and need separate treatment.
Origins
Si belongs to Swahili’s earlier Bantu vocabulary. It expresses negation, including saying that one thing is not another.
Haspelmath and Tadmor / Lexibank, World Loanword Database CLDF (2009), wold-master/cldf/forms.csv row 60908.
Am not; is not; are not. Si belongs to Swahili’s earlier Bantu vocabulary. It expresses negation, including saying that one thing is not another. Retain as a grammar lemma for free negative copula; separate bound prefix/morpheme senses.
A. C. Madan, Swahili-English Dictionary (1903), si, page 371.
Am not; is not; are not. Retain as a grammar lemma for free negative copula; separate bound prefix/morpheme senses.
Examples
Mimi si mwalimu.
I am not a teacher.
Huyu si rafiki yangu.
This is not my friend.
Hii si hoteli.
This is not a hotel.
Leo si Jumatatu.
Today is not Monday.
Sisi si wageni hapa.
We are not visitors here.
Hilo si tatizo.
That is not a problem.
Hiki si kitabu changu.
This is not my book.
Bei hii si kubwa.
This price is not high.
Safari si ndefu.
The journey is not long.
