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Questions & Answers about Mama ana mavazi mazuri.
Why does the sentence use the form ana instead of just a single word meaning "has"?
In Swahili, ana is composed of the subject marker a- (for "he/she") plus the present tense marker -na. When combined with the concept of "to have" (kuwa na), it becomes ana (he/she has). So Mama ana ... = "Mother has ...".
Why is mavazi plural, and what is its singular form?
Mavazi is the plural form of vazi, following the Ji-Ma noun class in Swahili. Vazi (singular) typically means "an article of clothing," while mavazi (plural) means "clothes" or "clothing items" in general.
What does mazuri mean, and why does it agree with mavazi?
Mazuri is the adjective zuri ("beautiful," "nice") in its plural form, because it must agree in number (plural) and noun class (Ji-Ma) with mavazi. Adjectives in Swahili take different prefixes depending on the noun class and whether they are singular or plural.
Does mama need to be capitalized all the time in Swahili?
In Swahili, mama means "mother" and is not always capitalized unless it appears at the start of a sentence or as a proper name/title. In everyday writing, you’ll often see mama or Mama depending on context and stylistic preference, especially at the beginning of a sentence.
What noun class does mavazi belong to, and what are some other examples in that class?
Mavazi belongs to the Ji-Ma (also called N-Class 5/6) noun class. In this class, the singular often starts with ji- (or can have no visible prefix) and the plural with ma-. Examples are tunda (fruit) → matunda, jambo (matter/thing) → mambo, gari (car) → magari.
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