ABSTRACT
The imperative and subjunctive moods are generally non-declarative. In Swahili, the imperative mood expresses strong requests in the affirmative form, while the subjunctive mood expresses negative requests, as well as weak and indirect requests. The subjunctive is also used in subordinate clauses to imply the connotation of "possibility", as opposed to "factual statements" that use verbs in the infinitive form or in the indicative mood. When addressing one person, the imperative is formed by removing the infinitive marker of the verb. This simple form of the imperative is used without an object pronoun or any other prefix. The subjunctive in Swahili expresses functions such as "requests" in the negative form, and "weak requests" that imply the notion of a delayed response. In the main clause, the subjunctive generally expresses weak requests addressed to the second person, that is, polite requests that imply the notion of a delayed response.
