LESSON 66

Imperatives with the Subjunctive

Vocabulary

131. In Lesson 22 you learned the simple singular imperative. For the plural imperative the personal prefix mu- is used, and the final a of the stem is changed to e. e.g. mugende - go (pl.), mukore - work.

132. You will remember that, as given in par. 37, the singular imperative is just the stem of the verb. However, whenever an object pronoun occurs in the verb (imperative), except that of the first person singular, the final a of the verb must change to e. e.g. Mpa igitabo - give me the book; Muhe igitabo - give him the book; Duhe igitabo - give us the book; Yabumbe - mold them (bricks); Bizane - bring them (books).

133. Subjunctive. All these imperative forms which end in e are in reality in the subjunctive mood, about which you will learn more in the next lesson.

The singular imperative may also be used in the subjunctive: ukore neza - work well, uzane imbaho - bring the boards, wandike amazina - write the names.

Usually the simple form (not SUbjunctive) means “do it right now”, but the imperative using the subjunctive may mean “do it any time today”. Genda - go (now), Ugende - go (any time today)

However, the subjunctive form must be used for the second of two commands e.g. Zana ibijumba ubiteke - Bring the sweet potatoes and cook them. Genda ushake isuka - Go and look for a hoe.

Observe that no word is used for “and” for joining the two commands.

Note: If the first imperative verb is affirmative, the second will be subjunctive, but if the first is negative the second will often be the infinitive. e.g. Subira ubikore - do it again; Ntusubire kubikora - don’t do it again. Bwira Yohana aze - tell John to come; Ntubwire Yohana kuza - don’t tell John to come.

Note 2: Often the imperative is prefixed by ni-, especially in the plural. This does not particularly change the meaning. Nimugende - go (pl.) Nuze - come (s.)

Exercises:

I. Translate into English:

1. Mubwire umugabo aze hano uyu munsi. 2. Injangwe irashonje; yihe inyama nke. 3. Mutegereze ibitabo byanyu; ndabibaha vuba. 4. Abakobwa baje; babwire gushaka andi masuka abiri gusa. 5. Abakozi bagiye; bahamagare vuba; ndabashaka. 6. Mubaze imbaho, kuko tuzatangira kwubakaivuba. 7. Hari amatafari menshi mu kabande; muyazane hano yose. 8. Mu ishuri ni habi cyane; hakubure vuba. 9. Abana bagiye kure; genda ubabwire kugaruka kuko bwije. 10. Nabahaye imirimo mike; muyirangize mu gitondo, nyuma ndabaha indi.

II. Translate into Kinyarwanda:

1. Where is your pencil? Bring it to school. 2. Bring all the books; put them away in the large box. 3. Come back here (pl.). Help the boys hoe in the garden. 4. Go, wash your hands well (pl.); now set the table. 5. You have the names of all the pupils; write them in the book. 6. I can’t find (= see) my goats; look for them and bring them here. 7. We have only a few bricks; mold (pl.) some more today. 8. Learn well now (pI.) because later you will want to know much wisdom. 9. First (= begin by) (pI.) wash the dishes; afterward work outside. 10. The hammer and nails and saw are here: take them to the skilled workman.