use v., okutera; vide almost,

mbadde) v.i. be. In certain tenses ba is replaced by -li, Both may be used as primary verbs or as auxiliaries in compound tenses. bwe tuba mu ssomero, when we are in school. Yabadde anzise. He nearly killed me. Tuli mu kisenge. We are in the room. Twali tuli mu kisenge. We were in the room, ba and -li may be followed by na (-na in the case of -li) to express possession. Tulina ensimbi. We have money. Twabadde n'ensimbi. We had money.

a- as an adv. a little, a little bit; slightly. Yatambulako katono. He walked a short distance (or a short time). After a neg. verb, n'akatono means not at all, not in the least. Simukkiriza n'akatono. I do not believe him at all. Before a verb in the subjunctive it means nearly, almost.

katono is also the form of the adj. -tono used before sing, nouns of the ka/bu class, cf. -tono, ^kata.

o- adv. near, nearby; almost, nearly. followed by ne = near, close to. okumpi n'ennynmba ye, near his house. Kumpi kikakafu nti..., It is almost certain that... kumpimpi adv. rather near, quite close. cf. -mpi, wampi.