Questions & Answers about Kadi ina picha ya Asha.
In Swahili, possession is expressed with the verb -na (“have”). You don’t say kuwa na in a simple present-tense sentence; you attach the subject and tense markers directly to -na:
- kadi is in noun class 9 → subject prefix i-
- present-tense marker -na-
- verb root -na (“have”)
Putting them together: i- + na- + na → ina = “it has.”
The base linking particle is -a. When it comes before a word beginning with a vowel (like Asha), a y sound is inserted to ease pronunciation:
-a + Asha → ya Asha
If the second noun began with a consonant, you’d often just get a (e.g. mama a John would surface as mama wa John, because of different historical rules), but the key here is simple vowel assimilation.
Prepend Je (the question marker) or rely on intonation alone. For example:
• Je, kadi ina picha ya Asha?
• (spoken) Kadi ina picha ya Asha?
Swap the affirmative subject prefix i- for the negative ha-, and use the present negative form -ina → haina:
• Kadi haina picha ya Asha.
Here ha-…-na = “does not have.”
“Kadi” is a class 9/10 noun that looks the same in singular and plural, but the verb prefix changes to match class 10:
• class 10 subject prefix = zi-
• zi + na = zina
Hence: Kadi zina picha ya Asha.
Add the class 9/10 demonstrative hii after kadi:
• Kadi hii ina picha ya Asha.
(“hii” agrees with the noun class of kadi to mean “this.”)