Earl W. Stevick

“ The word stress always falls on the next-to-last syllable of a word. But there are certain prefixes which never take word stress. They are egg: , -na- , -li- , -ta-, -me- and -nge- (par. 29 ) , and the relative prefixes (par. 42 ) . If one of these would otherwise be the next-to-last syllable of the verb, then the meaningless syllable ku is inserted (from a historical point of view, 'retained,' and not 'inserted') . 52/ In the same tenses, if there is an object prefix, the meaningless ku is not needed.
53/ The most troublesome thing about Swahili verbs is the way they form the negative. ”

“ All verb infinitives (par. 48f) have the prefix ku: and take concords of the KU class. Almost all members of the U class are abstract nouns with no plural, but some nouns in this class stand for concrete objects and have plurals in the N class. 9/ None of the other classes has any obvious overall meaning, although certain tendencies are worth remembering. 10/ Diminutive nouns are sometimes in the KI—VI class, and augmentative nouns are sometimes in the LI-MA class. ”

“ The parts of Swahili grammar that require the most effort from speakers of European languages are (1) the requirements of 'concord' which exist between nouns and other words (including verbs) that are related to them in the sentence, and (2) the internal structure of the verb phrase. 'concord' is treated in par. 17 - 26 of this synopsis; the verb phrase is covered in par. 29 - 70. *⁠*⁠*⁠*⁠*
19. Demonstratives must agree with the nouns to which they refer. There are three series of demonstratives, typified by huyu, huyo, and yule. ”