Gari langu ni la zamani.

to be

Breakdown of Gari langu ni la zamani.

• gari: the car
• la: of
• langu: my

Questions & Answers about Gari langu ni la zamani.

Why is my car expressed as gari langu instead of putting my before the noun?

In Swahili, the noun normally comes first and the possessive comes after it.

• gari langu = my car
• literally: car my

This is the usual pattern:

• kitabu changu = my book
• rafiki yangu = my friend
• nyumba yangu = my house

So gari langu is the natural Swahili word order.

What does langu mean exactly?

Langu means my, but more specifically it is the possessive form that agrees with gari.

It is made from the possessive stem -angu = my, plus an agreement element that matches the noun class.

So:

• gari langu = my car
• jina langu = my name

You will not always use the same form for my with every noun:

• kitabu changu = my book
• nyumba yangu = my house
• magari yangu = my cars

So my in Swahili changes form depending on the noun class.