Breakdown of Ni muhimu kuhamisha sufuria kwenye jiko kabla ya kupika.
ni
to be
kupika
to cook
kabla ya
before
muhimu
important
jiko
the stove
sufuria
the cooking pot
kwenye
onto
kuhamisha
to move
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Questions & Answers about Ni muhimu kuhamisha sufuria kwenye jiko kabla ya kupika.
Why does the sentence start with Ni muhimu? How do you express “it is important” in Swahili?
Swahili uses the copula ni plus an adjective to mean “it is ….” There’s no separate word for “it.” So Ni muhimu literally means “Is important,” i.e. “It is important.”
What does kuhamisha mean, and why does it begin with ku-?
Kuhamisha is the infinitive form of hamisha (to move). The prefix ku- turns the verb into an infinitive (“to move”), just like English uses “to” before a verb. Here kuhamisha = “to move.”
Why not simply use hamisha sufuria without ku-?
Without ku-, hamisha is a verb stem that you’d use in commands or present/future tense (“you move”). When you need the noun-like “moving the pot” (as the subject/object of ni muhimu), you use the infinitive kuhamisha.
What noun class is sufuria, and why doesn’t it have a prefix?
Sufuria (cooking pot) belongs to noun class 9/10, both of which take a null (zero) prefix in singular and plural. That’s why you see just sufuria without additional letters.
What does kwenye mean, and why is it used before jiko?
Kwenye means “on,” “in,” or “at” when talking about placing something at a specific location. Here kwenye jiko = “on/onto the stove.” If you said katika jiko, it would mean “inside the stove,” which isn’t what you want when you place a pot on top.
How does kabla ya kupika work? Why is ya necessary?
Kabla means “before.” When you follow it with a verb, you link them with ya + infinitive. So kabla ya kupika = “before cooking.” The ya connects kabla to the verbal noun kupika.
Could you start the sentence with Kabla ya kupika instead?
Yes. Swahili allows you to front the time clause:
“Kabla ya kupika, ni muhimu kuhamisha sufuria kwenye jiko.”
Both this and the original order are natural.
Can you add an object marker to kuhamisha, for example kuhamishia?
In theory you could insert the class 9 object marker -i-: ku-hamish-i-a (“to move it”). But since you explicitly name sufuria right after, adding -i- is redundant. Learners virtually always use kuhamisha sufuria rather than kuhamishia sufuria.