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Questions & Answers about Ambukizi huleta ugonjwa.
What does ambukizi mean in this sentence?
Ambukizi translates to infection in English. It refers to the process by which a pathogen enters or invades the body.
What does huleta mean, and why does it begin with hu-?
Huleta is derived from the verb leta, meaning "to bring." The prefix hu- is a subject concord marker used to indicate the general present or habitual tense for third person singular. It shows that, in general, an infection brings or causes something.
What does ugonjwa mean?
Ugonjwa means disease or illness. In this sentence, it is the object that receives the action—that is, it is what an infection brings.
How is the sentence structured in terms of subject, verb, and object?
Swahili typically follows a Subject-Verb-Object order. Here, ambukizi is the subject, huleta is the verb (with a prefix that agrees with the subject), and ugonjwa is the object.
Why are there no articles like “a” or “the” before ambukizi or ugonjwa?
Swahili does not use articles in the way that English does. Nouns appear without definite or indefinite articles, so simply stating ambukizi huleta ugonjwa is both grammatically correct and complete.
Is this sentence referring to a specific instance of infection causing disease or expressing a general truth?
The use of the habitual present tense marker hu- in huleta indicates that the sentence is making a general statement. It expresses that infections, in general, bring about disease, rather than describing a one-time event.
Can ambukizi and ugonjwa be changed to indicate plurality, and would that affect the meaning of the sentence?
Swahili nouns belong to various noun classes that determine both singular and plural forms. In this general statement, the singular forms are used to express an abstract truth. If you wanted to specifically refer to multiple instances (for example, “infections cause diseases”), you might modify the nouns according to their noun class rules. However, in general factual statements, the singular form is often used to represent the concept in a broad sense.