Log inSign up

Kofia yangu ni bluu.

Kofia yangu ni bluu.
My hat is blue.

Breakdown of Kofia yangu ni bluu.

ni
to be
yangu
my
kofia
the hat
bluu
blue
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Swahili grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning Swahili now

Questions & Answers about Kofia yangu ni bluu.

What does ni mean in Kofia yangu ni bluu?

Ni is the Swahili verb “to be” in this kind of sentence. Here it corresponds to “is” in English:

  • Kofia yangu ni bluu. = My hat is blue.

A few key points:

  • ni does not change with person or number:
    • Mimi ni mrefu. – I am tall.
    • Wewe ni mrefu. – You are tall.
    • Kofia yangu ni bluu. – My hat is blue.
    • Kofia zangu ni bluu. – My hats are blue.

So ni can mean am/is/are depending on the subject.

What does yangu mean, and why is it placed after kofia?

Yangu means “my” and shows that the hat belongs to the speaker.

  • Kofia yangu = my hat

In Swahili, possessive words like yangu usually come after the noun:

  • kofia yangu – my hat
  • kitabu changu – my book
  • rafiki wangu – my friend

So you don’t say my hat = yangu kofia; the normal order is kofia yangu.

Why is it yangu and not just angu for “my”?

The basic form for “my” is -angu, but it has to agree with the noun class of the noun it describes. The first letter changes:

  • kofia belongs to the N-class (class 9/10).
  • In that class, “my” is yangu.

Compare with other noun classes:

  • mtoto wangu – my child
  • kitabu changu – my book
  • kofia yangu – my hat

So:

  • Base meaning: -angu = “my”
  • With kofia (N-class): yangu = “my” (agreeing form)
Is kofia singular or plural? How would I say “my hats are blue”?

In Kofia yangu ni bluu, kofia is singular: my hat.

To say “my hats are blue”, you change the possessive to plural agreement:

  • Kofia zangu ni bluu. – My hats are blue.

Changes:

  • yangu → zangu (plural agreement for class 10)
  • ni stays the same (it works for both singular and plural).
Why does “my” change from yangu to zangu in the plural?

Swahili has noun classes instead of grammatical gender (like masculine/feminine). Each class has its own agreement pattern, including how to say “my”.

Kofia is in class 9 (singular) and class 10 (plural):

  • Class 9 (singular): kofia → kofia yangu – my hat
  • Class 10 (plural): kofia → kofia zangu – my hats

So the agreement prefix on -angu changes:

  • y-angu with singular class 9
  • z-angu with plural class 10
Why doesn’t bluu change to agree with kofia the way yangu/zangu do?

Many adjectives of color in Swahili are loanwords (borrowed from other languages), and they often do not change for noun class. Bluu is one of these:

  • kofia yangu ni bluu – my hat is blue
  • kofia zangu ni bluu – my hats are blue

Bluu stays the same in both cases.

Native Swahili adjectives do change for noun class, e.g.:

  • mtu mrefu – tall person
  • watu warefu – tall people

But with loaned color words like bluu, pinki, krimu, you usually leave them unchanged.

Is bluu an adjective like “blue,” or is it really a noun in Swahili?

In practice, bluu is used both:

  1. Like an adjective (as in your sentence):

    • Kofia yangu ni bluu. – My hat is blue.

  2. As a color noun, often with rangi (color):

    • Rangi ya bluu. – The color blue / blue color.
    • Kofia yangu ina rangi ya bluu. – My hat has the color blue.

So grammatically it behaves more like a noun (“the color blue”), but in everyday speech people often use it in a position where, in English, we would expect an adjective.

Can I say Kofia yangu ni ya bluu? How is that different from Kofia yangu ni bluu?

Yes, you can say:

  • Kofia yangu ni ya bluu.

This is slightly more explicit and literally means “My hat is of blue (color).”
Here:

  • ya agrees with kofia (class 9)
  • ya bluu = “of blue”

Meaning-wise:

  • Kofia yangu ni bluu. – My hat is blue.
  • Kofia yangu ni ya bluu. – My hat is (a hat) of blue (color).

Both are natural. Ni bluu is shorter and very common in speech; ni ya bluu sounds a bit more “careful” or explicit.

Why is there no word for “the” or “a” in Kofia yangu ni bluu?

Swahili has no articles like “the” or “a/an”. The noun kofia can mean:

  • “a hat”, “the hat”, or just “hat” in general.

So Kofia yangu ni bluu could be translated as:

  • My hat is blue.
    (“My” already makes it specific, so English needs “my hat,” not “a my hat.”)

When Swahili needs to be more specific, it often uses demonstratives instead of articles:

  • Kofia hii ni bluu. – This hat is blue.
  • Kofia ile ni bluu. – That hat is blue.
Can I drop yangu and just say Kofia ni bluu? What would that mean?

Yes, you can say Kofia ni bluu.

That would normally mean:

  • “The hat is blue” (a particular hat already known in the context), or
  • “A hat is blue” (if you’re speaking in general, though that sounds odd in English).

Without yangu, there is no “my” in the sentence. The hat is not clearly yours; it’s just “the hat” / “a hat,” depending on context.

Where does the stress fall in kofia yangu ni bluu? How do I pronounce bluu?

Swahili stress is usually on the second-to-last syllable of each word.

  • ko-FI-a – kofia (stress on FI)
  • YA-ngu – yangu (stress on YA)
  • NI – ni (one syllable, fully pronounced)
  • BLUU – bluu

Bluu is spelled with two u’s and is usually pronounced as two vowel beats: blu-u, with the stress on the first part: BLU-u. In everyday speech it often sounds like a long u: /bluː/.

Should bluu be capitalized in Swahili, like “Blue”?

No. In Swahili, color words are not capitalized unless they start a sentence or are part of a proper name.

Correct:

  • Kofia yangu ni bluu.
  • Napenda rangi ya bluu.

Only proper nouns (names of people, places, etc.) and sentence beginnings are capitalized, not ordinary color words.