Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Swahili grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Athari hizo zitalazimisha wakulima kubadili mbegu na mbinu zao.
What is the function of hizo in Athari hizo, and why isn’t it hizi?
hizo is the plural demonstrative meaning those, and it agrees with athari (a class 9/10 noun) in number. Swahili demonstratives must match the noun’s class and number: for class 9/10 you use hizo for “those.” If you wanted “these effects,” you’d say Athari hizi.
How is zitalazimisha constructed? What do the parts zi-, -ta-, and lazimisha mean?
Breakdown of zitalazimisha:
• zi-: subject‐marker for noun class 10 (it agrees with athari)
• -ta-: future‐tense marker (“will”)
• lazimisha: root meaning “to force or oblige” (causative of lazima)
Put together, zi-ta-lazimisha = they (those effects) will force/oblige.
Why is lazimisha used instead of lazima?
lazimisha is the causative form “to make someone obliged,” while lazima is an impersonal modal “it is necessary/must.” Since athari hizo (those effects) are doing the forcing, we need the causative. If you used lazima, you’d get a structure like Wakulima lazima wabadili… (“The farmers must change…”), which shifts the grammatical subject and focus.
What is kubadili, and why does it start with ku-?
ku- is the infinitive prefix in Swahili, and badili is the verb stem meaning “to change.” So kubadili = to change. Here it serves as the complement of the causative verb lazimisha (“to force someone to change…”).
Why aren’t mbegu and mbinu marked for plural with an extra prefix or suffix?
Nouns in class 9/10 (like mbegu, mbinu) are invariable between singular and plural—they keep the same form. You rely on context to tell if they’re singular or plural. In this sentence they’re understood in the plural sense: “seeds and methods.”
What does zao mean in mbegu na mbinu zao, and why is it zao and not yake or wao?
zao is the possessive pronoun their, and it agrees with the possessed nouns’ class (class 10). In Swahili, possessive pronouns always match the noun being possessed (here mbegu/mbinu, class 10), not the possessor (wakulima). The class 10 pronoun ending is -ao, giving zao.
How do I know which noun is the subject and which is the object in this sentence?
Swahili uses a Subject–Verb–Object (SVO) order. The verb prefix zi- shows the subject is Athari hizo (class 10), and the noun immediately after the verb without an object prefix (wakulima) is the direct object.
Could I replace wakulima with an object marker on the verb, for example zitawalazimisha?
Yes. You can incorporate the object as a prefix on the verb. For class 2 (wakulima) the object marker is wa-, so zi-ta-wa-lazimisha = zitawalazimisha. If you do this, you typically omit the explicit noun wakulima, unless you want extra emphasis or clarity.