Breakdown of Kiungo kingine kinachoongeza ladha ni pilipili hoho ya kijani.
ni
to be
ya
of
ladha
the flavor
kuongeza
to add
kijani
green
kingine
another
kiungo
the ingredient
pilipili hoho
the bell pepper
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Questions & Answers about Kiungo kingine kinachoongeza ladha ni pilipili hoho ya kijani.
What does kiungo mean, and what noun class is it in?
Kiungo means ingredient. It belongs to noun class 7, which in the singular uses the prefix ki-.
How do you form the plural of kiungo, and what happens to kingine?
To make kiungo plural, replace the class 7 prefix ki- with the class 8 prefix vi-, giving viungo. Since kingine (“other/another”) also uses class 7 ki-, its plural is vingine, so viungo vingine means other ingredients.
Why is kingine placed after kiungo?
In Swahili, adjectives and modifiers normally follow the noun they describe. So kingine (other/another) comes after kiungo, yielding kiungo kingine (“another ingredient”).
How is the relative clause kinachoongeza ladha structured, and why not just anaongeza ladha?
To say “that adds flavor,” Swahili forms a relative clause by combining:
• ki- (class 7 subject concord)
• -na- (present-tense/aspect marker)
• -cho- (relative marker for class 7)
• ongeza (verb root “add”)
This yields ki + na + cho + ongeza = kinachoongeza. It’s different from anaongeza, which is a standalone present-tense verb (“it is adding”) rather than a relative clause (“which adds”).
Why does kinachoongeza have two os in a row?
The first o is the final vowel of the relative marker -cho-; the second o is the first vowel of the verb root ongeza. Swahili spelling retains both, resulting in choo.
Why is ladha not preceded by ya, kwa, or any other preposition after kinachoongeza?
ongeza is a transitive verb that takes its object directly. No preposition is needed, so ladha (flavor) follows straight after kinachoongeza to mean “that adds flavor.”
What exactly is pilipili hoho, and how is it different from just pilipili?
By itself, pilipili often refers to chili pepper (spicy). pilipili hoho specifies bell pepper or sweet pepper. Here pilipili (class 9) is the head noun, and hoho (class 5) follows to qualify the type.
Why is ya used before kijani in pilipili hoho ya kijani, and how do you know which connector to use?
When linking a noun to an adjective or descriptor in Swahili, you use a possessive/relator concord based on the noun’s class. pilipili is class 9/10, whose concord is ya. Hence pilipili hoho ya kijani literally means “bell pepper of green,” i.e. green bell pepper.
Could you use ambacho instead of fusing the relative marker onto the verb?
Yes. You can say Kiungo kingine ambacho kinaongeza ladha. ambacho is the standalone relative pronoun for class 7. In everyday speech, though, Swahili often fuses subject concord, tense marker, and relative marker directly onto the verb (as in kinachoongeza) instead of using ambacho.