Sisi ni wanafunzi.

to be

Breakdown of Sisi ni wanafunzi.

• sisi: we
• mwanafunzi: the student

Questions & Answers about Sisi ni wanafunzi.

How is ni functioning in this sentence?

In Swahili, ni functions as a copula. It’s used to link the subject (Sisi) with its complement (wanafunzi), similar to “are” in English.

Why do we use the plural form wanafunzi rather than mwanafunzi?

Because Sisi refers to a plural subject (“we”), we need the plural form of “student,” which is wanafunzi rather than the singular mwanafunzi.

Is there any variation in ni for different subjects or tenses?

In the simple present tense, ni generally remains the same regardless of whether the subject is singular or plural. Swahili doesn't change ni in this form based on person or number.

Can we drop Sisi and still be understood?

Yes, context permitting. Swahili can often omit the subject pronoun if it's clear who or what is being talked about, so you could say Ni wanafunzi and still convey “We are students,” though including Sisi for emphasis or clarity is common.

What if we wanted to specify a different tense?

For different tenses, we typically use subject prefixes and tense markers attached to verbs, rather than only relying on ni. For example, for present continuous, you could say Sisi tunajifunza (“We are learning”), where tuna- is a present tense marker.