Tishu hii ni laini.

In Swahili, demonstratives like this usually come after the noun.

So:

• tishu hii = this tissue

This is the normal Swahili order:

• noun + demonstrative

Compare:

• kitabu hiki = this book
• meza hii = this table
• tishu hii = this tissue

So even though English says this tissue, Swahili says literally tissue this.

Ni is the copula here — in simple terms, it works like is / are in English.

So:

• Tishu hii ni laini.
• literally: This tissue is soft.

In this kind of sentence, ni links the subject and the description:

• X ni Y = X is Y

Examples:

• Huyu ni mwalimu. = This is a teacher.
• Kitabu hiki ni kizuri. = This book is good.
• Tishu hii ni laini. = This tissue is soft.

Word by word:

• tishu = tissue
• hii = this
• ni = is
• laini = soft / smooth

So the structure is:

• Tishu hii = this tissue
• ni laini = is soft

Swahili nouns belong to noun classes, and words connected to the noun often have to match that class.

Tishu is treated like a class 9 singular noun, so the matching form of this is hii.

That is why you get:

• tishu hii = this tissue

If the noun were in a different class, the form of this would change. For example:

• kitabu hiki = this book
• mtoto huyu = this child
• nyumba hii = this house

So hii is not a general word for this in every situation; it is the form that matches nouns like tishu.

Tishu is generally treated as a class 9 singular noun in Swahili.

Class 9 contains many nouns, including many borrowed words and many nouns whose singular and plural forms can look similar or be less obviously marked than in English.

Because tishu is treated as class 9 singular, it takes:

• hii for this

Its plural would normally use class 10 agreement:

• tishu hizi = these tissues

So the sentence in the plural would be:

• Tishu hizi ni laini. = These tissues are soft.

Not every descriptive word in Swahili changes in an obvious way.

Some adjectives show clear agreement with the noun class, but others are often used in a more fixed form. Laini is commonly used as laini without a visible change here.

So:

• tishu hii ni laini = this tissue is soft

For a learner, the safest approach is:

• learn laini as the word for soft / smooth
• notice that in this sentence it stays laini

Also, remember that in this sentence laini is a predicate adjective:

• is soft

That is different from putting a descriptive word directly before or after a noun inside a noun phrase.

No — tishu is a loanword, borrowed from English tissue.

Swahili has many loanwords, especially for modern objects and everyday items. When borrowed, they are adapted to Swahili pronunciation and spelling.

So:

• English tissue
• Swahili tishu

You may also hear other words depending on the exact meaning and context, but tishu is a common everyday word for tissue.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

• tishu ≈ TEE-shoo
• hii ≈ HEE-ee
• ni ≈ nee
• laini ≈ la-EE-nee or more carefully la-i-ni

A few useful pronunciation notes:

• Swahili vowels are usually pronounced clearly.
• hii has two i vowels, so do not reduce it to English-style hee only.
• laini is pronounced with all the vowels sounded.

A careful syllable breakdown would be:

• ti-shu hi-i ni la-i-ni

In this sentence, you should keep ni.

• Tishu hii ni laini. = This tissue is soft.

If you remove ni, the sentence sounds incomplete or unnatural for a learner’s basic pattern.

A good rule for sentences like this is:

• noun + demonstrative + ni + description

So:

• Tishu hii ni laini.

Keep that structure when you are starting out.

To make it plural, you change hii to hizi:

• Tishu hizi ni laini. = These tissues are soft.

So the key change is:

• hii = this
• hizi = these

The rest of the sentence stays the same here:

• ni laini = are soft

You can negate the sentence by changing ni to si:

• Tishu hii si laini. = This tissue is not soft.

So the pattern is:

• ni = is
• si = is not

Compare:

• Tishu hii ni laini. = This tissue is soft.
• Tishu hii si laini. = This tissue is not soft.

Not always. Laini can mean soft, but depending on context it can also suggest smooth or gentle.

For a tissue, soft is the most natural translation.

So in this sentence:

• Tishu hii ni laini.

the best meaning is:

• This tissue is soft.

But in other contexts, you may see laini translated a little differently depending on what is being described.