Mission—Team—FAQ—Privacy—Terms—Sponsors—Grammar—Typing Course—Donate

© 2026 Elon Automation B.V.

Learn Hardcore Swahili: Hizi meza ni mpya. - These tables are new.

Hardcore Swahili
/Lesson 15
/Hizi meza ni mpya.

Hizi meza ni mpya.

Hizi meza ni mpya.

These tables are new.

Breakdown of Hizi meza ni mpya.

Questions & Answers about Hizi meza ni mpya.

Why is it hizi and not hii?

Hizi is the demonstrative for a plural noun in the class 10 pattern, so it means these.

The noun meza belongs to the class 9/10 group:

singular: class 9
plural: class 10

So:

hii meza / meza hii = this table
hizi meza / meza hizi = these tables

Is meza singular or plural here?

Here it is plural, but the form meza itself does not change between singular and plural.

That is very common in Swahili noun classes 9 and 10. The noun often looks the same in both numbers, and the agreement words tell you whether it is singular or plural.

So:

meza hii = this table
meza hizi = these tables

Why doesn’t meza take a plural ending like English -s?

Elon.io is an online learning platform

We have an entire course teaching Swahili grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning Swahili now

Because Swahili does not make plurals with one general ending like English does.

Instead, Swahili shows number through noun class agreement. In this sentence, plural is shown by hizi, not by changing meza itself.

So the plural meaning comes from the whole pattern, not just the noun:

hii meza = singular
hizi meza = plural

What does ni mean in this sentence?

Ni is the copula here, roughly equivalent to English is/are.

So in this sentence it links the subject hizi meza with the description mpya.

You can think of the structure as:

hizi meza = subject
ni = are
mpya = predicate adjective

Why is ni the same for both singular and plural?

In this kind of present-tense sentence, Swahili uses ni for both is and are.

So:

Meza hii ni mpya = This table is new
Meza hizi ni mpya = These tables are new

English changes between is and are, but Swahili does not here.

Why is the adjective mpya?

The basic adjective stem is -pya, meaning new. In Swahili, adjectives agree with the noun class of the noun they describe.

With class 9/10 nouns like meza, the adjective appears as mpya.

So:

meza mpya = new table or new tables, depending on context
hizi meza ni mpya = the tables are new

For this noun class, the singular and plural adjective form often looks the same.

Why is there no word for the in the sentence?

Swahili usually does not use articles like English a, an, and the.

Instead, definiteness is understood from context or from words like demonstratives.

In this sentence, hizi already points to specific tables, so English naturally uses these tables.

Is hizi meza the normal word order?

A very common basic order in Swahili is noun + demonstrative, so many learners will often see:

meza hizi ni mpya

That is a very natural way to say these tables are new.

Hizi meza ni mpya is still understandable, but it can sound more emphatic or more focused on these. So for beginners, it is useful to remember that meza hizi is the more neutral pattern.

How would I say the singular version?

You would say:

Meza hii ni mpya.

That means This table is new.

The main change is:

plural hizi → singular hii

Can this sentence mean These are new tables?

Not most naturally.

Hizi meza ni mpya means These tables are new.

If you want These are new tables, a more natural Swahili sentence is:

Hizi ni meza mpya.

That changes the structure:

Hizi = These
ni = are
meza mpya = new tables

Can I leave out ni?

Not if you want a full sentence meaning are new.

Without ni, you would just have something like hizi meza mpya, which sounds more like a noun phrase such as these new tables, not a complete statement.

So:

hizi meza mpya = these new tables
hizi meza ni mpya = these tables are new

How do I pronounce mpya?

It is pronounced roughly M-pyah.

A few tips:

pronounce the m
do not insert a vowel between m and p
the py is a consonant cluster, said smoothly together

So it is closer to m-pyah than to mu-pee-ya.

Your questions are stored by us to improve Elon.io