sio
particle
No; it is not.
Sio can give a negative answer. It also belongs to the family of emphatic negative forms; class agreement and modern variation need separate explanation. Do not treat it as identical to bound si- “I do not”.
Origins
Sio was already recorded as an independent negative answer in early twentieth-century Swahili. It is related to the negative family built around si; its precise formation and later grammatical uses remain under review.
A. C. Madan, Swahili-English Dictionary (1903), sio, page 371.
No; it is not. Searchable grammatical form with independent negative-answer usage; link to si family rather than treating as unrelated lexical verb.
Edward Steere, A Handbook of the Swahili Language as Spoken at Zanzibar (1884), 413.
No; it is not. Searchable grammatical form with independent negative-answer usage; link to si family rather than treating as unrelated lexical verb.
Examples
“Ni leo?” “Sio.”
“Is it today?” “No.”
“Ni hapa?” “Sio.”
“Is it here?” “No.”
“Ni wewe?” “Sio.”
“Is it you?” “No.”
“Ni kesho?” “Sio.”
“Is it tomorrow?” “No.”
“Ni bure?” “Sio.”
“Is it free?” “No.”
“Ni mbali?” “Sio.”
“Is it far?” “No.”
“Ni kweli?” “Sio.”
“Is it true?” “No.”
“Ni lazima?” “Sio.”
“Is it necessary?” “No.”
“Ni rahisi?” “Sio.”
“Is it easy?” “No.”
