The Swahili verb consists of a subject marker, a tense marker and a verb stem.
For instance the word "Ninalala" can be split up into three parts fitting the above category.
Ni- is the subject marker for "I"
na- is the tense marker indicating "present tense"
lala- is the verb stem for "sleep"
The verb in Kiswahili is marked by a prefix which identifies the subject. The following are some of the various prefixes.
ni - I - first person singular
u - you - second person singular
a - s/he third person singular
tu - we - first person plural
m - you - second person plural
wa - they - third person plural
Thus: Ninalala, unalala, analala, tunalala, mnalala, wanalala
In referring to the "past tense" we use the tense marker "li"
Thus nililala, ulilala, alilala, tulilala, mlilala, walilala
The future tense marker is "ta"
e.g. Nitalala, tutalala etc.
You can then proceed to attempt constructing a sentence in whatever tense you prefer. For instance :
Nitalala Nairobi Kesho - I will sleep in Nairobi tomorrow.
The above sentence does not tell us where in Nairobi the subject will sleep.
To be able to do so correctly, you may want to remember that the locative "ni" is used in swahili to place subjects/objects at a precise location. Thus it would be different from the sentence:
Nitalala nyumbani kesho - I will sleep at home tomorrow.
The "ni" in the word nyumba (house) is the locative.
Swahili also marks objects by using prefixes
Below are some examples:
ni - me
ku - you
m - her/him
tu - us
wa - you (pl)
wa - them
The object prefix follows the tense marker and comes before the verb stem
Examples:
Ni-na-m-ngojea - I am waiting for him/her
Ni=subject marker
na - tense marker
m - object
ngojea - verb stem