Mafuriko makubwa yaliharibu nyasi kando ya mto wiki iliyopita.

Huge floods destroyed the grass beside the river last week.

Breakdown of Mafuriko makubwa yaliharibu nyasi kando ya mto wiki iliyopita.

• mafuriko: the flood
• kubwa: huge
• kuharibu: to destroy
• nyasi: the grass
• kando ya mto: beside the river
• wiki iliyopita: last week

Questions & Answers about Mafuriko makubwa yaliharibu nyasi kando ya mto wiki iliyopita.

What noun class is mafuriko, and how do you recognize it?

Mafuriko is in noun class 6. You can tell because of the prefix ma- on the noun. Class 6 is the plural counterpart of class 5 (which would have a singular prefix ji-/li-), though in practice “furiko” (class 5 singular) is rarely used and we treat mafuriko as a mass/plural noun meaning “floods” or “flooding.”

Why is the adjective makubwa used instead of just kubwa to mean “big”?

In Swahili, adjectives must agree with the noun they modify in noun class. Since mafuriko is class 6 (prefix ma-), the adjective also takes the class 6 prefix ma-, giving makubwa (“big” for class 6) rather than the base form kubwa.

How is the verb yaliharibu formed, and what do its parts mean?

Yaliharibu breaks down into three parts:

• ya-: the subject concord for class 6 (matching mafuriko)
• -li-: the past‐tense marker
• haribu: the verb root meaning “destroy”
  Put together, ya-li-haribu = “they (the floods) destroyed.”

Why is there no object prefix on the verb to show “nyasi” is what was destroyed?

Object prefixes in Swahili are mandatory for pronominal or human objects but optional for many inanimate or non-human nouns. Grass (nyasi) is non-human, so we typically omit the object prefix. If you did include it, you’d use the class 9/10 object prefix -i- (yielding something like ya-li-i-haribu), but that’s uncommon here.

What does kando mean, and how does kando ya mto translate to “beside the river”?

Kando means “side” or “edge.” To express “beside” or “alongside,” Swahili uses the structure kando ya [noun], literally “side of [noun].” So kando ya mto = “side of the river” = “beside the river.”

Why is ya used after kando to link to mto, and why not some other form?

That ya is the genitive/linking preposition that agrees with the noun class of mto. Mto is class 3 (prefix m-), so its genitive concord is ya. If you had a class 7 word (e.g. tunda), you’d say kando ya tunda, but for a class 9 noun like nyasi, you’d say kando ya nyasi if you needed a linking, etc.

How is wiki iliyopita constructed, and what does it literally mean?

• wiki (“week”) is class 9.
• Relative prefix for class 9 is i-.
• li is the past‐tense marker inside a relative.
• pita is the verb root “to pass.”
  Combine them: i-li-pita = “that passed.” So wiki iliyopita = “the week that passed,” i.e. “last week.”

Can I move wiki iliyopita or kando ya mto to the beginning of the sentence for emphasis?

Yes. Swahili word order is relatively flexible. The neutral order is Subject-Verb-Object followed by location/time, but you can front time or place for emphasis:

• Wiki iliyopita, mafuriko makubwa yaliharibu nyasi kando ya mto.
• Kando ya mto, mafuriko makubwa yaliharibu nyasi wiki iliyopita.

Both are grammatically correct, with a slight shift in focus (time vs. place).