Breakdown of Ndoa ni muhimu katika maisha yetu.
Questions & Answers about Ndoa ni muhimu katika maisha yetu.
Ni here is the copula, which you can think of as “is/are” in English.
- Ndoa ni muhimu = Marriage is important
- It links the subject (ndoa, “marriage”) to the description (muhimu, “important”).
However, Swahili doesn’t use ni in all the same places where English uses “to be.” For example, with adjectives about people you often use subject prefixes instead of ni:
- Mwalimu ni mrefu. – The teacher is tall.
- Yeye ni mwalimu. – He/She is a teacher.
So in this sentence, ni plays the “is” role, but it’s better to think of it as a linking word used in equational sentences, not a full verb that changes for person/tense like in English.
In this kind of simple equational sentence, you should keep ni.
- ✅ Ndoa ni muhimu katika maisha yetu. – correct
- ⛔ Ndoa muhimu katika maisha yetu. – sounds wrong/unnatural
There are some constructions where ni can be dropped (especially in casual speech or in headlines), but for a learner and in normal full sentences, keep ni here.
Swahili generally does not use articles like “the” or “a/an.” The noun ndoa can mean:
- marriage
- a marriage
- the marriage
The exact meaning comes from context, not from a separate word.
So:
- Ndoa ni muhimu katika maisha yetu.
can be understood as:- Marriage is important in our life (in general).
- or The marriage is important in our life, depending on what you are talking about.
If you need to be very specific, you usually add more information (e.g., ndoa yetu – “our marriage”).
These are related but not the same:
Ndoa = marriage as a state or institution
- being married
- the ongoing relationship
- the concept of marriage
Harusi = wedding (the ceremony/celebration)
- the event/day when people get married
- the party and ceremony
So:
- Ndoa ni muhimu katika maisha yetu. – Marriage is important in our life.
- Harusi yetu ilikuwa nzuri sana. – Our wedding was very beautiful.
Muhimu is most often treated as an adjective meaning “important” (or sometimes as a noun: “importance”).
Many common Swahili adjectives show agreement with the noun class using -a-, like:
- mtoto mzuri – good child
- vitabu vizuri – good books
But muhimu is one of several invariable adjectives: it does not change form with different noun classes:
- ndoa muhimu – important marriage
- mtoto muhimu – important child
- maamuzi muhimu – important decisions
So it stays muhimu no matter what noun it describes.
Katika is a preposition that generally means “in”, “inside”, or “within.”
In this sentence:
- katika maisha yetu = in our life / in our lives
Other ways to express “in” include:
- ndani ya – “inside (of)”
- ndani ya nyumba – inside the house
- Locative suffix -ni
- nyumbani – at home / in the home
- maishani – in (one’s) life
So you could also hear:
- Ndoa ni muhimu maishani mwetu. – Marriage is important in our life.
Katika is neutral and safe to use; ndani ya emphasizes physical inside-ness; -ni is more idiomatic in some fixed expressions.
Maisha usually means “life” in a general or collective sense, but grammatically it looks plural.
- It belongs to the ma- noun class (class 6), which often contains plurals:
- jambo / mambo (thing/things)
- jicho / macho (eye/eyes)
Maisha is a bit special:
- It is often used only as maisha (no common everyday singular form).
- In translation:
- maisha yangu – my life (singular in English)
- maisha yetu – our life or our lives (depending on context)
So in your sentence, maisha yetu is best understood as “our life” in a broad sense, even though the Swahili form is plural-like.
Possessives in Swahili must agree with the noun class of the noun they modify.
- Maisha is in the ma- class (class 6).
- The possessive “our” has different forms depending on the noun class. For class 6, the pattern is:
- ya (agreement prefix) + -etu (our) → yetu
So:
- maisha yetu – our life/lives
- majibu yetu – our answers
- mazao yetu – our crops
You do not say maisha zetu or maisha wetu; those prefixes (za-, wa-) belong to other noun classes.
In Swahili, possessive words usually follow the noun, unlike English:
- rafiki yangu – my friend
- kitabu chako – your book
- gari lake – his/her car
- maisha yetu – our life
So the structure is normally:
[Noun] + [possessive]
This is just the standard word order pattern for possession in Swahili.
That word order is not natural in the standard language.
The normal, clear order is:
Ndoa ni muhimu katika maisha yetu.
You can sometimes front ni muhimu for emphasis in speech or writing, but it’s usually followed directly by the subject, and you’d generally add a pause:
- Ni muhimu ndoa katika maisha yetu. – could be understood in a very spoken, emphatic style, but it sounds awkward for a learner and in writing.
For now, it’s best to stick to the standard pattern:
Subject + ni + predicate (+ other details)
Ndoa + ni + muhimu + katika maisha yetu
You negate ni by using si (for “is not” with a noun/adjective).
So:
- Ndoa si muhimu katika maisha yetu.
= Marriage is not important in our life.
Notes:
- si here is a negative copula (“is not”).
- You don’t say *Ndoa ni si muhimu – just replace ni with si.
Ndoa: [n-do-a]
- n and d are both pronounced; they’re together in one syllable: ndo.
- Then a is a separate syllable: a.
- So it’s like NDO-ah, two syllables.
- Don’t insert an extra vowel like “en-do-ah”; start straight with nd-.
Maisha: [ma-i-sha]
- Pronounce each vowel clearly:
- ma – like “ma” in mama
- i – like “ee” in see
- sha – like “sha” in sharp
- Smooth it together as ma-EE-sha, three syllables.
The sentence “Ndoa ni muhimu katika maisha yetu.” is neutral and widely usable.
- It’s appropriate in:
- everyday conversation
- a classroom
- a sermon or speech
- written texts
It doesn’t sound slangy or extremely formal. It’s a good, standard way to express the idea that marriage is important in our life.