sijua

Sijua is a Swahili verb-form that expresses lack of knowledge, roughly translating to "I do not know." It is the first-person singular present negative form of the verb kujua, meaning to know. While sijua exists in use in some varieties and older or poetic texts, the more common contemporary expression for “I don’t know” in standard Swahili is sijui.

Usage of sijua generally conveys ignorance about a fact, a situation, or a piece of information. It can appear in standalone responses or within a sentence to negate knowledge about what is being stated or asked. In different dialects and registers, speakers may prefer sijui or other constructions, but sijua remains recognizable in East African Swahili discourse.

Phonology and morphology: sijua is formed with the prefix si- indicating negation and the verb stem jua (to know), yielding si-jua. The typical pronunciation is approximately [siˈd͡ʒua], with j representing the voiced palatal plosive found in Swahili. Spelling and pronunciation may vary slightly across dialects.

Etymology: sijua derives from the Swahili verb kujua, meaning to know, combined with the negative prefix si- to indicate negation. It is part of a broader system in Swahili where negation prefixes attach to tense-aspect-millions of verb forms.

See also: kujua, sijui, Swahili language.