Kuna samaki nyingi baharini.

the fish

Breakdown of Kuna samaki nyingi baharini.

• kuwa: to be
• kwenye: at
• nyingi: many
• bahari: the sea

Questions & Answers about Kuna samaki nyingi baharini.

What does kuna mean in this sentence?

Kuna translates as “there is” or “there are.” It’s used in Swahili to assert the existence or presence of something. In this sentence, it introduces the fact that something exists.

Why is the noun samaki not modified to show plurality even though it means “fish”?

In Swahili, certain nouns like samaki are invariant, meaning the same word can refer to both singular and plural forms. The context—as reinforced by the adjective nyingi (“many”)—makes it clear that the sentence is referring to multiple fish.

What does the adjective nyingi indicate and why is it placed after samaki?

Nyingi means “many” or “a lot of.” In Swahili, adjectives typically follow the noun they modify. So samaki nyingi directly translates to “many fish,” with the adjective clarifying the quantity.

How is the locative meaning expressed in baharini?

Baharini is formed by taking the base noun bahari (meaning “sea”) and adding the suffix -ni, which is a common locative marker in Swahili. This suffix transforms bahari into a phrase meaning “in the sea.”

How does the overall sentence structure compare to an English existential sentence?

The sentence “Kuna samaki nyingi baharini” begins with the existential marker kuna (equivalent to “there is/are”), followed by the noun (samaki), the adjective (nyingi), and finally the locative phrase (baharini). While English uses “there is/are” to start an existential statement, Swahili employs kuna in a similar function, though with a word order that places modifiers immediately after the noun.