Rangi hizi tofauti zinapendeza sana ukutani.

These different colors look very nice on the wall.

Breakdown of Rangi hizi tofauti zinapendeza sana ukutani.

• sana: very
• rangi: the color
• kwenye: on
• tofauti: different
• hizi: these
• kupendeza: to look nice
• ukuta: the wall

Questions & Answers about Rangi hizi tofauti zinapendeza sana ukutani.

What does rangi hizi mean, and why is hizi used here?

Rangi means "color" (or "colors" in context) and hizi is the plural demonstrative used with rangi. In Swahili, nouns belong to specific classes that determine which demonstrative to use. Because rangi here is plural and falls into a class that takes hizi, the phrase becomes "these colors."

Why is the adjective tofauti placed after rangi hizi instead of before it?

In Swahili, adjectives customarily follow the noun they modify. Thus, tofauti ("different") comes after rangi hizi to form the phrase "these different colors," which is a typical word order in Swahili.

What does zinapendeza tell us about subject-verb agreement in Swahili?

The verb zinapendeza is marked with the subject prefix zi-, which agrees with the plural subject rangi. This shows that, in Swahili, verbs must agree with their subjects in both noun class and number—in this case, indicating that multiple colors are "pleasing."

How does the adverb sana function in this sentence?

Sana means "very" and is used to intensify the verb pendeza. Its addition emphasizes that the colors are "very pleasing" rather than just pleasing.

What is the meaning and structure of ukutani?

Ukutani is built from the noun ukuta (meaning "wall") with the locative suffix -ni, which indicates location. Together, ukutani translates to "on the wall."

How does the structure of this Swahili sentence compare to typical English sentence structures?

While both Swahili and English follow a subject–verb–complement order in many cases, Swahili places adjectives after the noun rather than before, as seen with rangi hizi tofauti ("these different colors"). Additionally, the verb in Swahili carries a subject prefix (here, zi-) that agrees in class and number with the subject, a feature that is less explicit in English grammar.