Dada yangu pia amekuwa akifuata programu mpya ya lishe ili kuboresha afya yake.

Dada yangu pia amekuwa akifuata programu mpya ya lishe ili kuboresha afya yake.
My sister has also been following a new nutrition program to improve her health.
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Questions & Answers about Dada yangu pia amekuwa akifuata programu mpya ya lishe ili kuboresha afya yake.

Why does the sentence use both amekuwa and akifuata?

Swahili uses a double-verb construction here to express the perfect continuous (“has been following”).

  • amekuwa = a- (3rd person singular subject) + -me- (perfect aspect marker) + kuwa (auxiliary “to be”) → “has been”
  • akifuata = a- (3rd person singular subject) + -ki- (progressive marker) + fuata (“follow”) → “following”

Together amekuwa akifuata = “she has been following.”

What’s the difference between anafuata, amefuata, and amekuwa akifuata?
  • anafuata (a-na-fuata) = simple present/progressive “she follows” or “she is following (right now).”
  • amefuata (a-me-fuata) = present perfect “she has followed” (action completed).
  • amekuwa akifuata = present perfect continuous “she has been following” (action started in the past and still going on).
What does ili kuboresha mean, and why is kuboresha in the infinitive?
  • ili = “so that” or “in order to” (purpose marker)
  • kuboresha = ku- (infinitive prefix) + boresha (“improve”) → “to improve”
    Swahili uses ili + infinitive to express purpose. Here ili kuboresha afya yake = “in order to improve her health.”
Could we replace ili kuboresha with kwa kuboresha? What changes?
  • ili kuboresha expresses purpose (“so that she improves…”).
  • kwa kuboresha uses kwa + infinitive to express means or sometimes result (“by improving…”).
    If you said anakuwa akifuata programu mpya ya lishe kwa kuboresha afya yake, it would lean toward “she follows the new nutrition program by/improving her health,” which sounds awkward. Use ili for clear “in order to.”
What is the role of pia in this sentence and could it appear elsewhere?

pia means “also.” It adds the idea that, in addition to something else, she has been following the program. In standard word order it comes after the subject: Dada yangu pia. You could reposition it for emphasis:

  • Pia dada yangu amekuwa… (also, my sister has been…)
  • Dada yangu amekuwa aki­fuata programu mpya ya lishe pia… (my sister has been following the new program also…)
Why is it programu mpya ya lishe and not programu mpya wa lishe?

Swahili genitive (of/’s) concords agree with the noun class of the head noun.

  • programu is class 9 → genitive concord ya
  • mpango (plan) is class 3 → concord wa
    Hence programu mpya ya lishe = “new program of nutrition.”
How do the possessives yangu and yake work in dada yangu and afya yake?

Possessive suffixes also agree with the noun class:

  • dada (sister) is class 9 → “my” = yangu, “his/her” = yake → dada yangu = “my sister.”
  • afya (health) is class 9 → “her health” = afya yake.
How would you say “this new nutrition program” in Swahili, and where does hii go?

Demonstratives follow the noun and come before adjectives:
programu (noun) + hii (this) + mpya (new) + ya (of) + lishe (nutrition)
→ programu hii mpya ya lishe.