vipi
interrogative · adverb
how?; in what way?; also a casual “how’s it going?”
Pairs with question words like nini and wapi. Morphologically it belongs with the -pi “which?” family, but learners meet the frozen question form first.
Origins
Vipi is the common Swahili how-question. Historical grammar notes the manner reading, and the comparative record lists it as the ordinary unborrowed form for “how?”
M. Haspelmath and U. Tadmor, World Loanword Database · Swahili profile (Max Planck Institute / Lexibank, 2009), Swahili profile; forms.csv (vipi).
Lists Swahili vipi for how? with no evidence for borrowing.
Charles Sacleux, Grammaire des dialectes Swahilis (Paris: Procure des Pères du Saint-Esprit, 1909), discussion of Vipi?.
Notes Vipi? in the manner or means reading “de quelle manière / par quel moyen.”
Examples
Vipi?
How’s it going?
Umefika vipi?
How did you arrive?
Tufanye vipi sasa?
How should we do it now?
Vipi kazi leo?
How is work today?
Alipata habari vipi?
How did she get the news?
Vipi nitaweza kukusaidia?
How can I help you?
Mnafika sokoni vipi?
How are you getting to the market?
Vipi, u poa?
How’s it going, you good?
Haijulikani vipi ilivyotokea.
It is unknown how it happened.
