Breakdown of Chumba ni kikubwa kiasi kwamba kitanda cha ziada kinafaa.
kuwa
to be
chumba
the room
kubwa
big
kufaa
to be suitable
Questions & Answers about Chumba ni kikubwa kiasi kwamba kitanda cha ziada kinafaa.
Can you break the sentence down word by word?
Yes:
- chumba = room
- ni = is
- kikubwa = big
- kiasi kwamba = to such an extent that / so ... that
- kitanda cha ziada = extra bed
- kinafaa = fits / is suitable
A very literal unpacking would be:
Room is big to the extent that extra bed fits.
Natural English would be something like The room is so big that an extra bed fits or The room is big enough for an extra bed to fit.
Why is it kikubwa and not just kubwa?
Because Swahili adjectives usually agree with the noun class of the noun they describe.
Here, chumba belongs to noun class 7/8, so the adjective root -kubwa takes the class prefix ki-:
- ki-
- -kubwa = kikubwa
So:
- chumba kikubwa = big room
- chumba ni kikubwa = the room is big
Even though chumba does not visibly begin with ki-, it still behaves like a class 7 noun. Its plural vyumba helps show that class membership.
What does ni do in this sentence?