Breakdown of Mwimbaji maarufu ataimba kesho kwenye ukumbi mpya mjini.
kwenye
at
kesho
tomorrow
mpya
new
kuimba
to sing
mji
the town
maarufu
famous
ukumbi
the hall
mwimbaji
the singer
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Questions & Answers about Mwimbaji maarufu ataimba kesho kwenye ukumbi mpya mjini.
Why does the sentence say mwimbaji maarufu instead of maarufu mwimbaji?
In Swahili descriptive adjectives normally follow the noun they modify. So instead of English “famous singer” (adjective + noun), Swahili uses noun + adjective. Hence you say mwimbaji maarufu (literally “singer famous”), not maarufu mwimbaji.
What do the pieces in ataimba stand for?
ataimba breaks down into three parts:
- a-: 3rd-person-singular subject prefix (he/she)
- -ta-: future-tense marker (will)
- imba: verb root meaning “to sing”
Put together, a-ta-imba means “he/she will sing.”
Why is there no separate word for he or she in the sentence?
Swahili encodes the subject pronoun on the verb itself via a prefix. In ataimba the prefix a- already means he or she, so you don’t need an extra word like yeye.
What part of speech is kesho, and where does it go in a Swahili sentence?
Kesho is a temporal adverb meaning “tomorrow.” It does not take noun-class prefixes. By default it follows the verb (ataimba kesho), but you can also front it for emphasis: Kesho mwimbaji maarufu ataimba kwenye ukumbi mpya mjini.
What is kwenye, and could I use katika here instead?
Kwenye is a preposition meaning “at/in/on” when referring to a location or venue. Katika also means “in/inside,” and you could say katika ukumbi mpya. However, kwenye is more idiomatic for events happening at a place.
What noun class is ukumbi, and why does the adjective become mpya?
Ukumbi (“hall”) is in noun class 11 (singular). Class 11 adjectives take the prefix m- before their root. The root for “new” is -pya, so class 11 gives mpya. Hence ukumbi mpya = new hall.
How does the locative suffix -ni work in mjini?
Adding -ni to a noun turns it into a locative (“in/at”). Here the noun mji (“town”) plus -ni becomes mjini (“in town”). When the noun ends in -i, you simply attach -ni, yielding -ini (merging the two i sounds).
How would you say famous singers will sing tomorrow at the new hall in town in Swahili?
First pluralize the nouns and adjust agreement:
• mwimbaji (class 1) → waimbaji (class 2)
• ukumbi (class 11) → vikumbi (class 10)
The adjective root -pya takes the class 10 prefix vi-, becoming vipya. Maarufu remains maarufu in the plural.
Putting it all together:
Waimbaji maarufu wataimba kesho kwenye vikumbi vipya mjini.