Breakdown of Usafiri wa umma husaidia kupunguza gharama za safari yetu.
Questions & Answers about Usafiri wa umma husaidia kupunguza gharama za safari yetu.
wa is the associative/genitive connector meaning of (often functioning like an adjective-maker).
So usafiri wa umma is literally transport of the public, i.e. public transport.
The exact form of this connector depends on the noun class of the first noun (the “head” noun). Usafiri is an abstract u- noun (commonly treated as Class 14), and Class 14 typically uses wa in this construction (e.g., uzuri wa…, usalama wa…, usafiri wa…).
In this phrase, umma is a noun meaning the public / the community / the general public (originally from Arabic).
Swahili often expresses “adjectival” meanings by using a noun after the associative connector:
- usafiri wa umma = public transport (literally transport of the public)
- shule ya umma = public school (literally school of the public)
So it’s normal that it doesn’t look like a typical adjective with -a.
husaidia uses the marker hu-, which commonly expresses a general/habitual truth: helps / tends to help / generally helps.
A key feature: hu- does not use the normal subject agreement prefixes (like a-, wa-, u-, etc.). It’s “subject-neutral” in form.
You can also say:
- Usafiri wa umma unasaidia… = Public transport helps… (more like a straightforward present statement)
- Usafiri wa umma husaidia… = Public transport generally helps… (a general principle)
In most learner contexts, hu- is taught as a habitual / general statement marker. It often translates as:
- generally / usually / tends to
So husaidia is like (it) helps in general rather than “right now it is helping.”
ku- here marks the infinitive: to reduce.
After verbs like -saidia (to help), Swahili commonly uses an infinitive verb:
- husaidia kupunguza… = helps to reduce…
So kupunguza = to reduce, from the verb stem -punguza.
Very commonly, yes. Typical patterns include:
- -saidia + infinitive: alinisaidia kubeba mizigo = he helped me carry luggage
- -saidia + object (person) + infinitive: alinisaidia mtoto kusoma = he helped the child study
In your sentence, the “thing being helped” is the action kupunguza.
Both can be found, depending on what you mean and how you treat gharama:
- gharama ya … = the cost of … (singular “cost”)
- gharama za … = the costs/expenses of … (plural “costs/expenses”)
In real usage, gharama is a loanword and can behave a bit flexibly, but gharama za … is extremely common when talking about expenses in general (often naturally plural in English too).
- usafiri = travel/transportation as an activity/system (more abstract)
- safari = a trip/journey (a specific journey, or journeys)
So:
- Usafiri wa umma = the system/type of transportation (public transport)
- gharama za safari yetu = the expenses of our trip/journey
Because safari is singular here: our trip.
- safari yetu = our trip
- safari zetu = our trips
The possessive agreement changes with number/class. For Class 9 singular safari, yetu is the correct form; for the plural safari (Class 10), you’d use zetu.
It’s in yetu.
-etu is the possessive stem meaning our, and Swahili adds agreement to match the noun being possessed. With safari (Class 9 singular), the form comes out as yetu:
- safari yetu = our trip
- gari letu = our car (Class 5 → letu)
- watoto wetu = our children (Class 2 → wetu)
Because yetu modifies safari, not gharama.
The structure is:
- gharama za [safari yetu]
- = costs of [our trip]
If you wanted to say our costs/expenses, you would attach the possessive to gharama instead (and the agreement would follow how you’re treating gharama), e.g. commonly:
- gharama zetu = our expenses
- Usafiri: oo-sa-FEE-ree (each vowel is pronounced; stress often feels strongest near the second-to-last syllable)
- umma: OOM-ma (double mm is held slightly longer)
- gharama: many speakers pronounce gh close to a hard g or a voiced fricative depending on accent; as a learner, ga-RA-ma with a normal g is usually understood well.