Tunatumia intaneti ya shule kutafuta taarifa za somo letu jipya.

We use the school internet to search for information for our new subject.

Breakdown of Tunatumia intaneti ya shule kutafuta taarifa za somo letu jipya.

• sisi: we
• mpya: new
• shule: the school
• kutumia: to use
• somo: the subject
• kutafuta: to search
• taarifa: the information
• letu: our
• intaneti: the internet

Questions & Answers about Tunatumia intaneti ya shule kutafuta taarifa za somo letu jipya.

What does tunatumia mean and how is it formed?

Tunatumia is the 1st person plural present tense of the verb kutumia (“to use”). It breaks down into:

• tuna-: subject and present tense marker for “we”
• -tumia: verb stem “use”

So tunatumia = “we use” or “we are using.”

Why is intaneti ya shule used for “the school’s internet”? What role does ya play?

In Swahili, possession is shown with a genitive connector that agrees with the class of the possessed noun.

• intaneti is treated like a class 9/10 noun (borrowed from English).
• The connector for class 9/10 is ya.
  Thus intaneti ya shule literally means “internet of school,” i.e. “the school’s internet.”

Why is the form kutafuta (infinitive) used after tunatumia instead of another finite verb like tunatafuta?

Verbs of purpose or intention often take an infinitive. Here, tunatumia intaneti… kutafuta means “we use the internet… in order to search.” The infinitive kutafuta expresses the purpose (“to search for”). If you wanted to say “we search,” you would indeed use tunatafuta. But that changes the structure:

• “We search for information with the school’s internet” → Tunatafuta taarifa za somo letu jipya kwa/intaneti ya shule.

What does the za in taarifa za somo indicate?

Taarifa (“information,” singular/collective) belongs to noun class 8. The genitive connector for class 8 is za. So taarifa za somo = “information of the subject,” i.e. “information about the subject.”

Why is the phrase somo letu jipya ordered noun → possessive → adjective and not some other order?

Standard Swahili word order for a noun phrase is:
1) Noun (somo)
2) Possessive or genitive (letu, “our”)
3) Adjective (jipya, “new”)

So somo letu jipya literally is “subject our new,” i.e. “our new subject.”

Why is the adjective “new” jipya and not mpya?

Adjectives agree with the noun class of the noun they modify.

• Somo is class 7 (singular).
• The class 7 adjective prefix is ji-, so ji-pya yields jipya.
  You’ll see mpya if the noun is class 1/2 (people) where the prefix is m-.

What’s the difference between taarifa and habari? When would I use one or the other?

Both can translate as “information” or “news,” but:

• Habari often refers to “news” in a journalistic or general daily-news sense (“Habari za leo?” = “What’s today’s news?”).
• Taarifa leans more toward “data,” “details,” or “information” on a specific topic, e.g. taarifa za somo (“subject-related information”).

Is intaneti a native Swahili word? How do I know which class it belongs to?

Intaneti is a borrowed word from English “internet.” Loanwords are normally assigned to class 9/10 in modern usage. You can tell by:

• No plural change (internet doesn’t pluralize) → class 9/10 often has identical singular/plural forms for loanwords.
• Genitive connector ya (class 9/10 connector).
  Thus you treat intaneti like any class 9/10 noun.

Could we add kwa before kutafuta, as in tunatumia intaneti ya shule kwa kutafuta taarifa? Would that be correct?

Yes, you can!

• With kwa + infinitive, you explicitly mark purpose:
  “Tunatumia intaneti ya shule kwa kutafuta taarifa za somo letu jipya.”
• Without kwa, the infinitive alone still implies purpose in many contexts. Both are natural; adding kwa simply makes the “for the purpose of” link clearer.