Mimi nina mkoba mpya.

I have a new bag.

Breakdown of Mimi nina mkoba mpya.

• mimi: I
• kuwa na: to have
• mpya: new
• mkoba: the bag

Questions & Answers about Mimi nina mkoba mpya.

Why does Mimi appear when nina already marks “I”?

In Swahili the verb prefix ni- in nina already tells you the subject is “I.” Adding Mimi is optional and simply adds emphasis or clarity (“As for me, I have…”). You can drop it entirely and say Nina mkoba mpya for “I have a new bag.”

What exactly is nina?

Nina is the present-tense form of the verb kuwa na (“to have”). It breaks down as:
• ni- = first-person-singular subject prefix (“I”)
• -na- = present-tense marker
• (verb root -wa is actually fused into the construction here)
So nina means “I have.”

Why is the noun mkoba used for “bag”?

Mkoba is the standard Swahili word for “bag” (often a shoulder or school bag). It belongs to noun class 3 (singular), which you can recognize from the prefix m-.

How does the adjective mpya (“new”) agree with mkoba?

Adjectives in Swahili must take a prefix matching the noun class. Here mkoba is class 3 (prefix m-), so “new” becomes mpya. If you pluralize mkoba to mikoba (class 4), the adjective would change to mipya.

Why is the adjective placed after the noun?

Swahili word order for noun phrases is usually: Noun + Adjective. Hence mkoba mpya (“bag new”) rather than “new bag.”

How do you form the negative, “I don’t have a new bag”?

You negate nina by replacing ni- with si- and dropping the tense marker -na-, so you get Sina mkoba mpya:
• si- = first-person negative prefix
• -na- is omitted in simple statement negation

How would you ask “Do you have a new bag?”

Use the second-person prefix u- and add the question intonation or je at the start:
• Una mkoba mpya?
• Je, una mkoba mpya?
Both mean “Do you have a new bag?”

How would you say “I had a new bag” or “I will have a new bag”?

Past tense: replace ni- with li- → Nilin a mkoba mpya (more commonly Nilikuwa na mkoba mpya using kuwa na).
Future tense: use ta- → Nitakuwa na mkoba mpya (“I will have a new bag”).