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Questions & Answers about Mama anasimamia shamba.
What does Mama mean in this sentence?
Mama translates to mother in Swahili. It functions as the subject, indicating who is performing the action.
How is the verb anasimamia constructed?
Anasimamia is built by combining the subject concord and the present tense marker with the verb root. The prefix a- agrees with the third person singular subject (Mama), na- marks the present tense, and simamia is the base verb meaning to manage. Together, they convey that the mother is currently managing or supervising the farm.
What does shamba mean in this sentence?
Shamba means farm (or farm field) in Swahili. It serves as the object of the sentence—the entity that is being managed by the mother.
What role does the na infix play in anasimamia?
The na infix functions as the marker for the present tense. It signals that the action—managing—is taking place now or regularly, aligning with the present context of the sentence.
What is the typical sentence structure demonstrated here?
The sentence follows a Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) order, which is standard in Swahili. Mama is the subject, anasimamia is the verb, and shamba is the object.
Why is the subject concord (the a- in anasimamia) necessary even though the subject is explicitly mentioned?
In Swahili, subject concords are essential for ensuring grammatical agreement between the subject and the verb. The a- in anasimamia confirms that the verb is being applied to a third person singular subject (Mama), reinforcing clarity and consistency in the language's verb conjugation system.
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