Simu haina chaji.

Haina means it does not have.

So Simu haina chaji literally means The phone does not have charge, and naturally it means The phone has no charge or The phone is out of battery.

You can compare:

• Simu ina chaji = The phone has charge
• Simu haina chaji = The phone does not have charge

Because simu is not a person, and Swahili verbs must agree with the noun class of the subject.

• hana = he/she does not have
• haina = it does not have for a noun like simu

So you use haina because simu takes the agreement marker i- in the singular.

A very simple breakdown is:

• ha- = negative
• -i- = subject marker for simu
• na = have / be with

So haina = it does not have

Chaji means charge, especially electrical charge or battery power.

In this sentence, it refers to the phone’s battery power, not the physical battery itself.

So:

• chaji = charge / battery power
• betri = battery

That is why Simu haina chaji means the phone has run out of power, not that it is missing a battery.

Yes. That is the literal structure.

Swahili often expresses to have with a structure based on being with something. So this sentence is built more like:

• simu = phone
• haina = does not have
• chaji = charge

Literal meaning: The phone does not have charge
Natural English meaning: The phone has no charge / The phone is dead

Because Swahili does not usually use articles like English a, an, or the.

So simu can mean:

• a phone
• the phone
• just phone

The exact meaning depends on context.

That means Simu haina chaji could be understood as:

• The phone has no charge
• A phone has no charge

In normal context, it usually means the phone.

It is made from several parts:

• ha- = negative marker
• -i- = subject marker for singular simu
• na = part of the expression meaning have

So:

• ina = it has
• haina = it does not have

This is very useful because you can use the same pattern with other things:

• Gari lina mafuta = The car has fuel
• Gari halina mafuta = The car does not have fuel

It is related, yes.

In Swahili, kuwa na literally means something like to be with, and that is how Swahili expresses to have.

So ina chaji is basically it is with charge, which English translates as it has charge.

This can feel unusual to English speakers, but it is a very common Swahili pattern.

Yes, if the context already makes it clear what you are talking about.

For example, if everyone is already talking about the phone, you can say:

• Haina chaji = It has no charge

But if you want to be clear, especially when starting a conversation or introducing the topic, say:

• Simu haina chaji

You would say:

Simu hazina chaji.

This is a very important point because simu looks the same in singular and plural, but the verb agreement changes.

• Simu haina chaji = The phone has no charge
• Simu hazina chaji = The phones have no charge

So even though the noun stays simu, the verb tells you whether it is singular or plural.

Chaji is pronounced roughly chaa-jee or cha-ji, with:

• ch like ch in chat
• j like j in jam
• final i pronounced as ee

So it sounds approximately like CHA-jee.

Also:

• simu = SEE-moo
• haina = roughly ha-EE-na

So the whole sentence sounds roughly like:

SEE-moo ha-EE-na CHA-jee