The Post was Given a Title by Me - Swahili Passive Voice

The King of Cool. What a voice.

Speaking of voice...

I've been trying to figure out how to form passive voice verbs in Swahili for a few weeks. I even reached out to Mama Moshi with a vague request for help (which she promptly and graciosity fulfilled). I just couldn't quite figure out how to crack the passive voice code.

The hurdle that I was having trouble clearing is easier to see than to explain. 

In the Active Voice examples below, the verb ends are -a for each example. Simple. Straightforward.

• Zinabomoa nyumba. [They are demolishing the houses.]
• Emilian aliandika kitabu. [Emilian wrote the book.]
• Mwalimu atakaa kiti. [The teacher will sit in the chair.]

I noticed that there is something unusual about the verb ends with passive voice verbs. Passive Voice verbs don't use the -a verb end, but I couldn't figure out the rule that determines which verb end they do use because they use different verb ends. Here are a few examples.

• Nyumba zinabomolewa. [Houses are being demolished.]
• Kitabu kiliandikwa na Emilian. [The book was written by Emilian.]
• Kiti kitakaliwa na mwalimu. [The chair will be sat on by the teacher.]

And then I found the Passive Voice section of the Swahili Cheat Sheet which explains how to form Passive Voice verbs. Here's the gist:

1. If the infinitive ends in -a, form the root-verb by dropping the last -a off the infinitive. Then drop the leading ku-. From the earlier examples,
• The root-verb for kubomoa is bomo
• The root-verb for kuandika is andik
• The root-verb for kukaa is ka
2. If the root-verb ends in a consonant (e.g., kuandik), the Passive Verb end is -wa
3. If the root-verb ends in a, i, or u (e.g., kuka), the Passive Verb end is -liwa
4. If the root-verb ends in e or o, (e.g., kubomo), the verb end is -lewa

Wham! Bam! Thank you, Swahili Cheat Sheet! I hope you're satisfied.