# Swahili: upendi / upendo



## -Epic-

I was watching "Lion King 2: Simba's Pride" and there was a song that mentions the word upendi (which according to the song means love).

From which language is it taken?

I found out that akuna matata means no worries in Swahili (an African language), but love is upendo so I figured it must be from somewhere else.


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## Chike

Why wouldn't you think it is a variation on "upendo"?  I'm pretty sure it's Swahili (I know "penda" is the root form of the verb "to love").


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## Forero

Simba is Swahili for lion.  I imagine all those animals spoke Swahili, but for the American audience, they were portrayed speaking English except when their actual words were important.


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## sovereignwoman

Upendi means bow, bend, bending, or curve according to webster's online dictionary.  I checked another website called kamusi dot org and they have a translator.  Love does not mean upendi although upendo and upendezi mean love.  Type in "love" in the translator on kamusi dot org, which translates to Swahili and also provides several other languages to see what comes up.  I was surprised.  This website, however, could not find the word upendi.

My concern is if upendi means bow, is the message in that song "Upendi" telling people to submit?  It never says what the definition is, although Simba's daughter asks "Is the meaning of upendi love?"  Not an answer to the question, but a question about the meaning also.  Hmmm.


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## L'irlandais

sovereignwoman said:


> ...My concern is if upendi means bow, is the message in that song "Upendi" telling people to submit?  ...


Hello soverignwoman,
Welcome to the forums.  Nice try, however I don't feel "bow" (as in "to bow down") fits the mood of the song.
Part of the problem is the original poster didn't give us enough context to go on.  Certainly the film includes a bit of Swahili like "_Hakuna Matata_!"

I did find an unofficial *transcription *of the script of Simba's Pride on-line.
Just before the song we are told by Rafiki tha	t he will take the lions to a imaginary place called Upendi : _"To a special place in your heart... called *Upendi*!_ "





> The song then narrates a story about this place (for example here's 4 lines ) :  _"You can beat the bush like there's no tomorrow
> From Tanganyika to Kilimanjaro
> But you'll find Upendi wherever you are
> Oh underneath the sun"_


Further explained by the characters :
KIARA: Upendi-- it means "*love*", doesn't it? 
RAFIKI: Welcome to *Upendi*!

It may well be just a play on the Swahili word for love.


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## Forero

That "bow" translation is not for Swahili.


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## BigDinBigD

Upendi, in the movie, is a specific place, both literally and figuratively. "Upendi" refers to the bend in the river where the scene occurs, though it also refers to the change that occurs in one's life when one finds love and likens it to the change in direction of a river at a bend. It was probably chosen for its similarity to the word "upendo," though they are in two different languages with overlapping areas of speech.


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## yokumiya

I looked up on the translator on google and found out that while upendi doesnt mean 'love' it DOES mean 'like'


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## hMacD96

Upendi actually means " like them " so no worries about it meaning bow or anything. The film is talking about them falling in love hence the song being called Upendi as in they are in love or in love like them


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## L'irlandais

Hello hMacD96,
Welcome to the forums.
Do you have a source for that definition of the word Upendi?


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## Miru29

Forero said:


> Simba is Swahili for lion.  I imagine all those animals spoke Swahili, but for the American audience, they were portrayed speaking English except when their actual words were important.




*Simba*


A male given name common among the Shonapeoples of southern Africa, from a Shona word meaning "strong".


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## anahiseri

My teach-yourself-Swahili  book says
penda = love, like
but it's not easy to find out how verbs work, that is, what endings or prefixes they take.


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## Wazona

yokumiya said:


> I looked up on the translator on google and found out that while upendi doesnt mean 'love' it DOES mean 'like'


It doesn't mean like. The closest word in Swahili is hupendi which means you don't like or love.


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## entangledbank

We need some basic grammar here. The Swahili root _-pend-_ means "like, love". The root _-pind-_ means "bend". The most basic form of a verb is the imperative singular, which is just the root and the most general verb ending _-a_, so _penda_ means "love/like!" and _pinda_ means "bend!" (addressed to one person). The infinitive prefix is _ku-_, so you might also see verbs listed with that: _kupenda_ "(to) like/love".

The imperative plural changes the ending _-a_ to _-eni_: so _pendeni_ "love/like!" (addressed to two or more).

Subjects are indicated by prefixes: _nipenda_ "I love/like", _tupenda_ "we love/like". The second person singular prefix is _*u-*_: _upenda_ "you (sg.) love/like". This is the simple or general present, which has no tense marker. Other tenses have a prefix between the person and the verb: _ni*na*penda_ "I am liking", _ni*li*penda_ "I liked", etc.

The negative is basically formed with the prefix _ha-_. The verb ending changes to _-i_, so _tupenda_ "we love/like", _hatupendi_ "we do not love/like". But there is some merger: _*hu*pendi_ "you (sg.) do not like/love" (for _ha-u-_), and _sipendi_ "I do not like/love" (for _ha-ni-_). Note this is a second verb form that can end in _-i_; the imperative plural (above) is another. As Wazona says, this _hupendi_ is the closest verb form to a supposed 'upendi'. (Or the subjunctive _upende_ "that you may love".) I don't know where _The Lion King_ got that word.

Nouns are mostly formed with prefixes, and abstract nouns usually have the prefix _*u-*_. Thus a word beginning with _u-_ could be either an abstract noun or a second person singular verb. When verb roots are made into nouns they often take a different vowel suffix too. Thus the noun "love" is _upendo_ (_-o_ is a common suffix for actions), and the noun "bow" (the weapon) is _upinde_.


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