Kalamu yako ina rangi ya njano, na daftari langu ni la kahawia.

Your pen is yellow, and my notebook is brown.

Breakdown of Kalamu yako ina rangi ya njano, na daftari langu ni la kahawia.

• ni: to be
• kuwa na: to have
• yako: your
• na: and
• ya: of
• kalamu: the pen
• la: of
• rangi: the color
• daftari: the notebook
• langu: my
• njano: yellow
• kahawia: brown

Questions & Answers about Kalamu yako ina rangi ya njano, na daftari langu ni la kahawia.

Why does the sentence say “ina rangi ya njano” instead of just something like “kalamu yako ni njano”?

Swahili often talks about colors using the structure “kuwa na rangi ya X” – literally “to have a color of X”.

• Kalamu yako ina rangi ya njano
  = “Your pen has the color of yellow” → “Your pen is yellow.”

You can say “kalamu yako ni ya njano”, which is also correct and common, but “ina rangi ya njano” is a very natural and explicit way to say “is yellow,” especially in careful or textbook Swahili.

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What is the difference between “ina” and “ni” in this sentence?

They come from two different verbs/structures:

• ina = “has” (from kuwa na = to have)

  • Kalamu yako ina rangi ya njano → “Your pen has a yellow color.”

• ni = “is” (copula “to be”)

  • Daftari langu ni la kahawia → “My notebook is brown.”

So the first half uses “have + color”, the second half uses “be + (of) brown”. Both are grammatically fine; they’re just two different ways of expressing color.

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What exactly does “rangi ya njano” mean, and what is “ya” doing there?

• rangi = color
• njano = yellow
• ya is the agreement form of “of” (an associative marker) that goes with rangi, which is a class 9 noun.

So rangi ya njano literally = “color of yellow”.

The pattern is:

• rangi ya + color-word
  
  • rangi ya njano = (the) color of yellow
  • rangi ya kahawia = (the) color of brown

“Ya” agrees with rangi (class 9), not with njano.

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Why is it “kalamu yako” and not “kalamu lako” or “kalamu wako”?

The possessive agrees with the noun class of the thing possessed.

• kalamu is a class 9 noun.
• Class 9 uses -y- in possessives: yangu, yako, yake, yetu, yenu, yao.

So:

• kalamu yangu = my pen
• kalamu yako = your pen
• kalamu yake = his/her pen

Forms like lako, wako are for other noun classes (e.g. class 5 uses langu, lako, lake), so they don’t fit with kalamu.

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Why is it “daftari langu” and not “daftari yangu”?

Because daftari belongs to noun class 5 (plural: madaftari, class 6).

Class 5 uses l- in possessives:

• langu, lako, lake, letu, lenu, lao

So:

• daftari langu = my notebook
• daftari lako = your notebook

“Daftari yangu” would use the class 9 pattern, but daftari is not class 9, so that’s incorrect.

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What is the role of “la” in “ni la kahawia”, and why isn’t it “ya kahawia” here?

“La” is another form of that same “of”-type linker (associative/possessive), but this time it is agreeing with daftari (class 5).

• Class 5 associative: la
• Class 9 associative: ya

So:

• daftari (5) → la kahawia
• rangi (9) → ya njano

“Daftari langu ni la kahawia” is literally “My notebook is of brown (color).”
You can think of an omitted noun rangi in the background:

• Daftari langu ni la (rangi ya) kahawia.

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Are “njano” and “kahawia” adjectives or nouns in Swahili? They don’t seem to change form.

In Swahili, many color words behave more like nouns that are used in color expressions, and they often don’t change form to agree with noun classes.

• njano = yellow (essentially “yellowness”)
• kahawia = brown

Common patterns:

• rangi ya njano = (color of) yellow
• mti wa kijani = a green tree (literally “tree of green”)

You will also see some colors with class prefixes (e.g. mweupe, mweusi, kijani kibichi), but njano and kahawia usually stay the same.

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Could I say “Daftari langu lina rangi ya kahawia” instead of “ni la kahawia”?

Yes, that’s grammatically correct and natural.

• Daftari langu lina rangi ya kahawia
  = “My notebook has a brown color.”

Here:

• lina = “it has” for a class 5 noun (daftari).
  
  • class 5 subject prefix: li-
  • li + na → lina

So in this sentence you’d be using the same pattern as in the first half:

• Kalamu yako ina rangi ya njano
• Daftari langu lina rangi ya kahawia

The original sentence just mixes two equally valid patterns (“have color” and “be of color”).

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Can I say “Kalamu yako ni ya njano” instead of “ina rangi ya njano”?

Yes.

• Kalamu yako ni ya njano
  = Your pen is yellow.

Here:

• ni = is
• ya njano agrees with kalamu’s class (9), using ya.

So you have two good options:

• Kalamu yako ina rangi ya njano.
• Kalamu yako ni ya njano.

Both are correct; the first is “has a color of yellow,” the second “is (of) yellow.”

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Why is it “na daftari langu”? What does “na” do here?

na has many meanings, but here it simply means “and”.

• Kalamu yako ina rangi ya njano, na daftari langu ni la kahawia.
  = Your pen is yellow, and my notebook is brown.

Other uses of na in Swahili:

• with: Ninatembea na rafiki yangu. = I’m walking with my friend.
• by/using: Anaandika na kalamu. = He/She writes with a pen.

But in your sentence, it’s the coordinating conjunction “and.”

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How would I say “your pens are yellow, and my notebooks are brown”?

You need plurals and plural agreements:

• pens → kalamu (same form; class 10 here)
• notebooks → madaftari (class 6)

One natural way:

• Kalamu zako zina rangi ya njano, na madaftari yangu yana rangi ya kahawia.

Breakdown:

• kalamu zako = your pens (class 10 + possessive: zako)
• zina = they have (class 10 subject prefix zi-
  • na)
• madaftari yangu = my notebooks (class 6 + possessive: yangu)
• yana = they have (class 6 subject prefix ya-
  • na)

You could also mirror the “ni ya / ni ya” style:

• Kalamu zako ni za njano, na madaftari yangu ni ya kahawia.

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Why is there a comma before “na” in this sentence? Do I always need it?

The comma is just normal punctuation, marking a pause between two clauses:

• Kalamu yako ina rangi ya njano, na daftari langu ni la kahawia.

In practice:

• You’ll often see a comma if the clauses are a bit longer or independent.
• It’s not grammatically required for Swahili; it’s just good writing style, similar to English.

You can write it with or without the comma in casual text; the grammar of the Swahili itself doesn’t change.