Breakdown of Tanuri letu la kisasa linatumia umeme kidogo sana.
kutumia
to use
sana
very
kidogo
little
la
of
kisasa
modern
umeme
the electricity
tanuri
the oven
letu
our
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Questions & Answers about Tanuri letu la kisasa linatumia umeme kidogo sana.
Why is the word tanuri treated as noun class 5, and how can I tell?
Swahili nouns are grouped into classes. You can identify tanuri as class 5 because:
- Its subject‐agreement prefix on the verb is li- (as in linatumia).
- Its possessive pronoun uses the l- stem (letu for “our”).
Class 5 nouns typically trigger these l- markers in verbs and possessives.
Why do we say tanuri letu and not tanuri yetu for “our oven”?
Possessive pronouns in Swahili must agree with the noun’s class.
- Class 5 singular pronouns all start with l-: langu (my), lako (your), lake (his/her), letu (our), lenu (your pl.), lao (their).
- Yetu is the class 9/10 form for “our” on N-nouns, so it doesn’t match tanuri.
What is the function of la in la kisasa?
la is the class 5 genitive (or linking) connector. It joins a noun to a qualifier treated as a noun phrase. Here:
tanuri le|tu la kisasa
(oven –our) (of) modern
Literally “our oven of modern,” i.e. “our modern oven.”
Could I drop la and say tanuri letu kisasa instead?
No. kisasa isn’t a plain adjective that takes the noun’s class 5 agreement; it’s a bound adjective from class 7 (ki-sasa) treated as a noun. You must use the class 5 genitive la to link it to tanuri.
Why is the verb linatumia and not inatumia or wanatumia?
The subject of the verb is tanuri, a class 5 noun, so the subject‐agreement prefix must be li-. The pattern for present tense is:
subject prefix + -na- (present marker) + verb root + final vowel
Thus li-na-tumia → linatumia (“it uses”).
What role does -na- play in linatumia?
-na- is the present‐tense (or present‐continuous) tense marker. Every tense has its own marker:
- present/continuous → -na-
- past → -li-
- future → -ta-
So li-na-tumia = “it is using/uses.”
Why isn’t there an article like the or a before umeme?
Swahili does not use definite or indefinite articles. A bare noun can be definite or indefinite according to context. Here umeme simply means “electricity,” and context tells you it’s a specific (the) or general (some) electricity.
How does kidogo sana express “very little,” and why is sana after kidogo?
- kidogo = “little, a small amount”
- sana = “very, a lot” (intensifier)
In Swahili, intensifiers follow the word they modify. Placing sana after kidogo gives “kidogo sana” = “very little.”
So linatumia umeme kidogo sana = “it uses very little electricity.”