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Questions & Answers about Kabla ya kulala, bibi husimulia simulizi fupi ambazo zinahusu wanyama wa porini.
What does Kabla ya kulala mean, and why do we have ya after kabla?
- Kabla means “before.”
- When you want to link kabla to a noun or a verbal noun (here kulala), you insert ya as a genitive connector.
- Kulala (“sleeping”) is the infinitive/gerund form of lala (“to sleep”), so Kabla ya kulala literally is “Before the sleeping,” i.e. “Before sleeping.”
Why is kulala formed with ku-, and what role does this prefix play?
- The prefix ku- in Swahili marks the infinitive (or verbal noun) of a verb.
- Lala is the root meaning “sleep,” and kulala turns it into “to sleep” or “sleeping.”
- After prepositions like ya, you need a noun form, so you use ku-
- verb root.
How is bibi husimulia constructed, and what does the hu- prefix in husimulia indicate?
- Bibi means “grandmother” (class 1 noun).
- Simulia is the verb root “tell/narrate.”
- The prefix hu- marks the present habitual/continuous tense for third-person singular in many Swahili dialects (standard Kiswahili often uses ana-, as in bibi anasimulia).
- Therefore, bibi husimulia means “grandmother tells” or “grandmother is telling.”
What does simulizi fupi mean, and why don’t simulizi or fupi change to show plural?
- Simulizi means “story” or “narration.”
- Fupi means “short.”
- Both belong to noun class 9/10, which uses the same form for singular and plural; its adjectives also stay unchanged.
- Even though we translate it as short stories (plural), Swahili shows plurality by agreement elsewhere (see the verb zinahusu).
Why is the adjective fupi placed after simulizi rather than before, as in English?
- In Swahili, adjectives follow the noun they modify.
- They must also agree in noun class, but in class 9/10 they remain in the “plain” form.
- Hence simulizi fupi (“story short”) = “short story(ies).”
What is the purpose of ambazo in the sentence?
- Ambazo is the plural relative pronoun “which” for noun class 9/10.
- It links simulizi fupi to the next clause zinahusu wanyama wa porini.
- So it literally says “short stories which concern…”
Why do we use zinahusu here, and what does the zi- prefix refer to?
- Husu is the verb root “concern/about.”
- The prefix zi- is the subject prefix for class 9/10 nouns in the present tense.
- Since simulizi is class 9/10 (plural here), the verb becomes zinahusu: “they concern” or “they are about.”
What does wanyama wa porini mean, and how is wa porini structured?
- Wanyama is the plural of nyama (“animal”), so “animals.”
- Porini comes from pori (“bush/wilderness”) + locative suffix -ni, meaning “in the bush” or “in the wild.”
- Wa is the genitive connector “of,” so wanyama wa porini = “animals of the wild,” i.e. “wild animals.”
What role does the -ni suffix play in porini?
- The suffix -ni is the locative marker meaning “in,” “at,” or “on.”
- It turns pori (“bush”) into porini, “in the bush” (used idiomatically as “in the wild”).