Negative article not

MEANING 1

Placed before the subject and used in the conjugation of all tenses, except the 1^st person singular and other relative clauses which take shi. The a of ta follows the general rule of fusion, except before the a of class 1 when it remains short: elsewhere, it gives e long before e and i, o long before o and u: tali, he isn’t; Teela (taela) isabi, she does not fish with the basket; Teepaya (taipaya) nama, he does not kill animals – Toonta (taonta) mulilo, he does not warm himself – Tooma (tauma) abaice, he does not hit children.

 

Exception:

This contraction does not take place with a tense of the distance past, which has already submitted to a contraction: taali, he wasn’t. Taelele sabi, she did not fish with a basket (yesterday) – Teelele sabi, she did not fish with a basket (today). 

In interrogative sentences, ta is often equivalent to an assertion: nga waumo umubiyo, bushe taupangile umulandu? If you hit your companion, have you not commited a crime? (You are certainly going to get into trouble).