Mkondo una nguvu.

Mkondo usually means current, stream, flow, or channel. In context, it often refers to:

• a water current
• an electrical current
• any flowing movement

So the exact English word depends on the situation. If the meaning has already been given to you, this is the noun being used as the subject of the sentence.

Yes, una can mean you have, but here it does not mean that.

In this sentence, una is made of:

• u- = the subject marker for the noun class of mkondo
• -na = have / with

So mkondo una nguvu literally means the current has strength.

This happens because Swahili subject markers can look the same for different meanings. So una can mean:

• you have if the subject is you
• it has if the subject is a class 3 noun like mkondo

You have to look at the subject noun to know which meaning is intended.

Swahili often expresses qualities with kuwa na + noun, literally to have + noun.

So:

• ana nguvu = he/she is strong literally he/she has strength
• mkondo una nguvu = the current is strong literally the current has strength

This is very natural in Swahili. English often uses an adjective, but Swahili frequently uses a noun like nguvu.

Mkondo is a singular noun in the m-/mi- class, specifically class 3 in the singular.

That matters because the verb has to agree with the noun class.
For class 3 singular, the subject marker is u-.

So:

• mkondo
  • u-
    • -na → mkondo una

If you made it plural, it would become:

• mikondo = currents
• class 4 subject marker = i-
• Mikondo ina nguvu. = The currents are strong.

Nguvu means strength, power, force, or energy, depending on context.

In this sentence, it refers to the strength or force of the current.

It is a very common word in Swahili and appears in many expressions, such as:

• kuwa na nguvu = to be strong
• nguvu za umeme = electrical power
• kwa nguvu = by force

So here, nguvu is the thing the current has.

Swahili generally does not use articles like the or a/an.

So mkondo can mean:

• a current
• the current

The context tells you which one sounds best in English.

That is very normal in Swahili, so learners should not expect an exact word-for-word equivalent of English articles.

A simple learner-friendly pronunciation is:

m-KON-doo OO-na NGOO-vu

A few helpful notes:

• mkondo has the stress on KON
• una is oo-na
• nguvu begins with ng, like in finger, not like the ng in singer for many English speakers

Also, the first m in mkondo is short and attached to the k sound, so it may feel a little unusual at first.

Yes. Mkondo is a broad word, so the sentence can work for different kinds of flow if the context is clear.

For example, it could describe:

• a river current
• a tidal current
• an electrical current
• another kind of flow

If you want to be more specific, Swahili often adds another word, such as:

• mkondo wa maji = water current
• mkondo wa umeme = electric current

So by itself, Mkondo una nguvu is correct, but context decides what kind of current is meant.

The structure is:

noun + subject agreement + have/with + noun

So:

• mkondo = subject
• una = has
• nguvu = strength/power

Literally:

Current has strength

Natural English:

The current is strong

This is a useful pattern to learn because it appears in many other Swahili sentences.