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Watalii wengi wamevutiwa na muziki wa kwaya ya watoto.

Watalii wengi wamevutiwa na muziki wa kwaya ya watoto.
Many tourists have been attracted by the music of the children’s choir.
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Questions & Answers about Watalii wengi wamevutiwa na muziki wa kwaya ya watoto.

Why is the verb wamevutiwa in the passive voice here?
Swahili often uses the passive when the focus is on who receives the action. In this sentence, watalii wengi (“many tourists”) are the ones being attracted. To form the passive of -vutia (“to attract”), you add the passive suffix -w-a and include the subject prefix and tense marker: wa-me-vuti-wa = “they have been attracted.”
What does each part of wamevutiwa represent?

Breakdown of wamevutiwa:

  • wa- = subject prefix for noun class 2 (plural “they,” agreeing with watalii)
  • -me- = present perfect tense marker (“have”)
  • -vuti- = verb root from -vutia (“to attract”)
  • -w-a = passive suffix + final vowel
What role does na play in wamevutiwa na muziki?
In a passive construction, na introduces the agent: the “doer” of the action. Here, na muziki means “by the music,” so wamevutiwa na muziki = “have been attracted by the music.”
How is the phrase muziki wa kwaya ya watoto structured grammatically?

This is a chain of genitive (of) relationships:

  1. muziki = music
  2. wa = “of,” agreeing with muziki (class 3/4)
  3. kwaya = choir
  4. ya = “of,” agreeing with kwaya (class 9/10)
  5. watoto = children
    Altogether: “music of (the) choir of children” = “children’s choir music.”
Why is it wa after muziki but ya after kwaya?

Swahili genitive concords match the noun class of the preceding noun:

  • muziki belongs to class 3/4 (u-/m- class), whose genitive is wa.
  • kwaya belongs to class 9/10, whose genitive is ya.
Which noun class does watalii belong to, and how do you know?
watalii (“tourists”) is class 2 (plural of class 1). Clue: it has the wa- prefix typical of class 2 plurals. The singular is mtalii (class 1).
How would you express this idea in active voice?

Make muziki wa kwaya ya watoto the subject and watalii wengi the object:
“Muziki wa kwaya ya watoto umevutia watalii wengi.”
Here umevutia = u-me-vutia (class 3 perfect “has attracted”).

How would you ask “Who has been attracted by the children’s choir music?” in Swahili?

Replace watalii wengi with nani (who):
“Nani amevutiwa na muziki wa kwaya ya watoto?”
Note a-me-vuti-wa uses the class 1 subject prefix a- for “he/she/it.”

What is the singular form of watalii, and how does it change agreement in the sentence?

The singular is mtalii (class 1). If you said “One tourist has been attracted by the music” it would be:
“Mtalii mmoja amevutiwa na muziki wa kwaya ya watoto.”
The subject prefix changes from wa- (class 2) to a- (class 1).

Why does English often say “attracted to” whereas Swahili uses “wamevutiwa na”?
In English, to attract to frames attraction toward something (“attracted to the music”). Swahili instead casts it as a passive: X wamevutiwa na Y, literally “X have been attracted by Y,” marking the agent with na. This is just a different but standard way to express the same idea.