Breakdown of Mandhari inavutia watalii asubuhi.
asubuhi
in the morning
kuvutia
to attract
mtalii
the tourist
mandhari
the scenery
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Questions & Answers about Mandhari inavutia watalii asubuhi.
What does Mandhari mean and what role does it play in the sentence?
Mandhari means scenery or landscape, and here it functions as the subject of the sentence.
Why is Mandhari classified as singular (class 9) even though it begins with ma-?
Mandhari is an irregular collective noun borrowed from Arabic that belongs to noun class 9, so it takes class-9 agreement despite its ma- prefix.
How is the verb inavutia constructed?
It breaks down into three parts:
• i- – subject prefix for class 9
• -na- – present-tense marker
• vutia – verb stem meaning attract
Why is the subject prefix i- used and not ya-?
Because mandhari belongs to noun class 9, whose present-tense subject prefix is i-. The prefix ya- belongs to noun class 6.
Who or what is watalii in this sentence?
Watalii means tourists and serves as the direct object (class 2 plural).
Why isn’t there an object marker inside inavutia?
Since the object noun watalii is stated explicitly, the verb omits the object-class marker. You could instead say inawavutia – meaning it attracts them – if you leave out watalii.
What part of speech is asubuhi, and what does it indicate?
Asubuhi is an adverb of time meaning in the morning. It tells us when the action occurs.
Must you use a preposition like kwa before asubuhi?
No. Asubuhi can stand alone to express “in the morning.” You could optionally add katika (in), but kwa asubuhi is not used.
Can asubuhi be placed at the beginning of the sentence?
Yes. Fronting the time adverb is fine:
Asubuhi mandhari inavutia watalii
This has the same meaning.
How do you form the past and future tenses of this sentence?
Replace the present-tense marker -na- with:
• -li- for past: Mandhari ilivutia watalii asubuhi
• -ta- for future: Mandhari itawavutia watalii asubuhi
How would you ask “What attracts tourists in the morning?” in Swahili?
Use an interrogative structure:
Ni nini kinavutia watalii asubuhi?
Here ni nini means what, and ki- is the subject prefix (for class 7/8) used with nini.