Ukuta wa sebule ni kahawia.

The wall of the living room is brown.

Breakdown of Ukuta wa sebule ni kahawia.

• ni: to be
• wa: of
• sebule: the living room
• ukuta: the wall
• kahawia: brown

Questions & Answers about Ukuta wa sebule ni kahawia.

In Ukuta wa sebule ni kahawia, what does each word literally mean, and how does this match the English sentence?

Word‑by‑word:

• ukuta – wall
• wa – of (a connector that agrees with ukuta)
• sebule – living room / sitting room
• ni – is (copula “to be”)
• kahawia – brown

Literal structure: Ukuta wa sebule ni kahawia
→ Wall of living room is brown
Natural English: “The living room wall is brown.”

Why is it wa sebule and not ya sebule? Aren’t both wa and ya translated as “of”?

Both wa and ya can translate as “of”, but they must agree with the first noun (the “head noun”), not the second one.

• The head noun here is ukuta (wall).
• ukuta belongs to a noun class that takes wa for “of”.

So:

• ukuta wa sebule = wall of (the) living room ✅
• ✗ ukuta ya sebule – wrong, because ya doesn’t match ukuta’s class.

If we changed the head noun, the connector would change, for example:

• sebule ya wageni – guest living room (here sebule is the head noun, and it uses ya).

What noun class is ukuta, and why does that matter here?

ukuta (wall) is in a u‑ class (often treated together with classes 11/14 in grammar books).

What this affects:

1. “of” connector

   • For this class, “of” is wa
   • Hence: ukuta wa sebule

2. Possessive words like “my, your, his”

   • ukuta wangu – my wall
   • ukuta wake – his/her wall

3. Plural form

   • Singular: ukuta – wall
   • Plural: kuta – walls (different class, so agreements change)

You don’t have to memorize the class names immediately, but you do need to notice which connector each noun uses: ukuta wa…, kuta za…, etc.

Is ni here the verb “to be”? When do I use ni?

Yes, ni is the basic copula meaning “is / am / are”.

In Ukuta wa sebule ni kahawia, ni links the subject (ukuta wa sebule) to its description (kahawia = brown):

• X ni Y = X is Y

You generally use ni to connect:

• Noun to noun:
  
  • Yeye ni mwalimu. – She is a teacher.
• Noun to adjective / quality word:
  
  • Chakula hiki ni kitamu. – This food is delicious.
  • Ukuta wa sebule ni kahawia. – The living room wall is brown.

In the present tense, Swahili does not usually use a separate verb like English “to be” (is) – ni itself is the link.

Why isn’t there a word for “the” in this sentence?

Swahili does not have separate words for “the” or “a/an”.

• Ukuta wa sebule can mean:
  • a wall of the living room
  • the wall of the living room

Context (or extra words) shows whether you mean something specific:

• Ukuta mmoja wa sebule ni kahawia. – One wall of the living room is brown.
• Ukuta wote wa sebule ni kahawia. – The entire living room wall is brown.

But there is no direct equivalent of English the; it’s simply not expressed.

Does kahawia change its form to agree with the noun, like mweupe / nyeupe for “white”?

No, kahawia is one of the color words that usually does not change form with noun class. It typically stays kahawia for:

• ukuta ni kahawia – the wall is brown
• kuta ni kahawia – the walls are brown
• nguo ni kahawia – the clothes are brown

Compare to an agreeing color like -eupe (white):

• ukuta mweupe – white wall
• kuta nyeupe – white walls
• nguo nyeupe – white clothes

So:

• kahawia behaves more like an invariable color word (similar to bluu, kijani, pink(i), etc.).
• You don’t have to change it to match singular/plural or noun class in normal usage.

Could I also say Ukuta wa sebule ni wa kahawia or una rangi ya kahawia? Are these correct, and what’s the difference?

Yes, you may hear/see both of these:

1. Ukuta wa sebule ni kahawia.

   • Simple, everyday way: The living room wall is brown.
   • Treats kahawia almost like an adjective.

2. Ukuta wa sebule ni wa kahawia.

   • Literally: The living room wall is of brown (color).
   • The wa here links ukuta to a kind of “brownness”.
   • Sounds a bit more formal / explicit in describing type, but is used in real speech too.

3. Ukuta wa sebule una rangi ya kahawia.

   • Literally: The living room wall has a color of brown.
   • Uses the verb kuwa na → una (“has”) and the noun rangi (color).
   • Slightly longer and more explicit: emphasizes “the color is brown”.

All three are grammatically acceptable. The original sentence is the shortest, most neutral version.

How would I say “The walls of the living room are brown” (plural)?

You need to make ukuta plural and adjust the agreements:

• Singular: ukuta wa sebule ni kahawia – The living room wall is brown.
• Plural noun: kuta – walls (note: plural form changes to kuta).

Then update the “of” connector to match kuta:

• kuta za sebule – walls of the living room (here za agrees with kuta, not sebule).

For the full sentence:

• Kuta za sebule ni kahawia.
  → The walls of the living room are brown.

Some speakers might also say:

• Kuta za sebule ni za kahawia. – inserting za before kahawia, similar to are of brown (color).
  Both are understandable; the simpler ni kahawia is very common.

If I want to say “the brown living room wall” (as a phrase before a verb), how would I say that in Swahili?

Swahili more often keeps colors in a separate phrase or uses “having” rather than stacking many modifiers before a noun.

Common ways:

1. Ukuta wa sebule ulio kahawia

   • Literally: the wall of the living room that is brown
   • Uses a relative clause (ulio) – more formal/written.

2. Ukuta wa sebule wenye rangi ya kahawia

   • Literally: the wall of the living room that has a brown color
   • Very natural description; wenye ≈ “having”.

3. In simpler everyday speech, people often just place the color after the noun if the context is clear:

   • Ukuta wa sebule wa kahawia or just ukuta wa sebule kahawia (you’ll hear this, though it’s less “textbooky”).

Swahili doesn’t usually do a tight unit like English “the brown living room wall” in front of another verb; it tends to unpack it with wenye, ulio, or a separate sentence.

What exactly does sebule mean? Is it the only word for “living room”?

sebule is the common word for:

• living room, sitting room, lounge – the main room where people sit, talk, watch TV, receive guests, etc.

Other related expressions:

• chumba cha kukaa – literally room for sitting; possible, but sebule is much more idiomatic.
• sebuleni – in the living room (that -ni ending marks location).

So in this sentence:

• ukuta wa sebule = the wall of the living room
• ukuta wa sebuleni would sound more like the wall (belonging to) the place “in the living room” and is not the normal way to say it. Stick with wa sebule here.

Why is it ukuta wa sebule and not something like ukuta katika sebule for “wall in the living room”?

wa and katika do different jobs:

• wa → “of”, shows belonging / association

  • ukuta wa sebule = the living room’s wall / the wall of the living room

• katika → “in, inside”, shows location

  • ukuta katika sebule = a wall (that is) in the living room – this is grammatically possible, but it sounds like you’re emphasizing the location of some unspecified wall.

In natural Swahili, when you mean “the living room wall” as a specific part of that room, you nearly always use:

• ukuta wa sebule – associative, “the living room’s wall”.

Use katika sebule when you want to say where something is happening:

• Tunapaka rangi ukutani katika sebule. – We are painting the wall in the living room.

How do you pronounce sebule and kahawia?

Swahili spelling is very phonetic: each letter is pronounced.

• sebule: se-bu-le

  • se as in “set” (no diphthong)
  • bu like “boo” (short)
  • le like “leh”
  • Stress usually on the second-to-last syllable: se-BU-le

• kahawia: ka-ha-wi-a

  • ka – “kah”
  • ha – like English “ha!”
  • wi – “wee”
  • a – “ah”
  • Again, stress on the second-to-last syllable: ka-ha-WI-a

All vowels are short and clear; nothing is silent.