Leo ni siku ya kuzaliwa ya Asha.

Today is Asha's birthday.

Breakdown of Leo ni siku ya kuzaliwa ya Asha.

• ni: to be
• Asha: Asha
• leo: today
• ya: of
• siku ya kuzaliwa: the birthday

Questions & Answers about Leo ni siku ya kuzaliwa ya Asha.

Why are there two ya words in siku ya kuzaliwa ya Asha? Do we really need both?

The phrase siku ya kuzaliwa ya Asha is literally:

• siku – day
• ya kuzaliwa – of being born / of birth
• ya Asha – of Asha

So the structure is: day of birth of Asha.

Each ya links two parts:

1. siku ⇢ kuzaliwa → siku ya kuzaliwa (day of birth)
2. siku ya kuzaliwa ⇢ Asha → siku ya kuzaliwa ya Asha (birthday of Asha)

Grammatically, both ya are normal and make the structure clear. However:

• Many speakers also say siku ya kuzaliwa kwa Asha, using kwa before a person’s name.
• In fast or casual speech you may hear siku ya kuzaliwa Asha, dropping the second ya/kwa, but in careful or written Swahili the extra ya (or kwa) is preferred.

What exactly does ya mean here, and why is it ya and not something like wa?

Ya here is an associative/possessive marker meaning roughly of. In Swahili it must agree with the noun class of the head noun (the first noun in the chain).

The head noun is siku (day). Siku belongs to the N-class (class 9/10). For this class, the associative forms are:

• singular: ya
• plural: za

So:

• siku ya kuzaliwa – day of birth
• siku ya kuzaliwa ya Asha – birthday of Asha

If the head noun were in a different class, the form would change, for example:

• mtoto wa Asha – Asha’s child (class 1 → wa)
• kitabu cha Asha – Asha’s book (class 7 → cha)
• vitabu vya Asha – Asha’s books (class 8 → vya)

It is ya here only because siku is an N-class noun.

Is kuzaliwa a verb or a noun in this sentence? Why does it have ku-?

The root is -zaliwa → to be born.

kuzaliwa is the infinitive/gerund form of the verb:

• As an infinitive, it can mean to be born.
• As a verbal noun, it can mean being born / birth.

In siku ya kuzaliwa, kuzaliwa is functioning like a noun: the day of birth / the day of being born.

The ku- prefix is what normally forms:

• infinitives: kuzaliwa – to be born
• gerunds / verbal nouns: kuzaliwa – birth / being born

So siku ya kuzaliwa is literally day of being born, which is exactly what birthday is.

Could I say Leo ni siku ya Asha to mean “Today is Asha’s birthday”?

No, Leo ni siku ya Asha does not specifically mean “It’s Asha’s birthday today.”

• Leo ni siku ya Asha would more naturally mean something like
  “Today is Asha’s day” (a day dedicated to her, important for her, etc.),
  but it doesn’t clearly say it’s her birthday.
• To say “Today is Asha’s birthday,” you need the idea of birth in there, hence:
  • Leo ni siku ya kuzaliwa ya Asha.
  • or Leo ni siku ya kuzaliwa kwa Asha.

So siku ya Asha is too vague; siku ya kuzaliwa ya Asha clearly means Asha’s birthday.

Can I use a different word order, like Siku ya kuzaliwa ya Asha ni leo?

Yes. Both of these are correct and natural:

• Leo ni siku ya kuzaliwa ya Asha. – Today is Asha’s birthday.
• Siku ya kuzaliwa ya Asha ni leo. – Asha’s birthday is today.

Swahili is fairly flexible with word order in such equational sentences. The choice is mostly about emphasis:

• Starting with Leo emphasizes today.
• Starting with Siku ya kuzaliwa ya Asha emphasizes Asha’s birthday.

Grammatically, both are fine.

What does ni do in this sentence? Does it change depending on the subject?

Ni is the copula, corresponding to English “is/are” in this kind of sentence.

• Leo ni siku ya kuzaliwa ya Asha.
  → Leo (subject) ni (is) siku ya kuzaliwa ya Asha (complement).

Key points about ni:

• It does not change for person or number:
  • Mimi ni mwalimu. – I am a teacher.
  • Wewe ni mwanafunzi. – You are a student.
  • Leo ni siku ya kuzaliwa ya Asha. – Today is Asha’s birthday.
  • Hizi ni nyumba za walimu. – These are teachers’ houses.
• It has no tense markers itself; tense is usually shown elsewhere (for example, with time words like leo, jana, kesho).

So ni is a fixed form used to equate two things.

What’s the difference between ya Asha and kwa Asha in this kind of sentence?

Both can be used when talking about whose birthday it is, but they feel slightly different:

1. ya Asha – using the associative:

   • Leo ni siku ya kuzaliwa ya Asha.
     → literally Today is the day of birth of Asha.
   • Very literal “of Asha” relationship.

2. kwa Asha – using kwa (often “for” or “to/with”):

   • Leo ni siku ya kuzaliwa kwa Asha.
   • Literally something like Today is the day of birth for Asha.

In this specific expression (siku ya kuzaliwa …):

• Both ya Asha and kwa Asha are accepted.
• Many speakers find kwa Asha very natural when the possessor is a person.
• ya Asha sounds a bit more formal or bookish, but is still correct.

So you will commonly hear:

• Leo ni siku ya kuzaliwa kwa Asha.
• Leo ni siku ya kuzaliwa ya Asha.

Both mean “Today is Asha’s birthday.”

Can I omit the second ya and say siku ya kuzaliwa Asha?

You will hear siku ya kuzaliwa Asha in everyday speech, and many people say it. However:

• In careful or formal Swahili, it is more standard to include ya or kwa:
  • siku ya kuzaliwa ya Asha
  • siku ya kuzaliwa kwa Asha

Without the extra ya/kwa, the connection to Asha is less clearly marked, even though the meaning is usually understood from context.

So for learners and in writing, it’s safer and more correct to say:

• Leo ni siku ya kuzaliwa ya Asha.
  or
• Leo ni siku ya kuzaliwa kwa Asha.

How would I say “Today is my / your / his / her birthday” using this pattern?

You can use siku ya kuzaliwa plus a pronoun in the “of me/you/him/her” form:

• Leo ni siku ya kuzaliwa kwangu. – Today is my birthday.
• Leo ni siku ya kuzaliwa kwako. – Today is your birthday. (singular)
• Leo ni siku ya kuzaliwa kwake. – Today is his/her birthday.
• Leo ni siku ya kuzaliwa kwetu. – Today is our birthday.
• Leo ni siku ya kuzaliwa kwenu. – Today is your birthday. (plural)
• Leo ni siku ya kuzaliwa kwao. – Today is their birthday.

Here kwa- + pronoun (kwangu, kwako, kwake, etc.) works very naturally after siku ya kuzaliwa.

You’ll also sometimes see ya used instead of kwa with nouns (e.g. ya Asha), but with pronouns like kwangu/kwake, kwa- is the regular pattern.

Could I just say Leo ni kuzaliwa kwa Asha without siku?

That would sound odd and unidiomatic.

• Leo ni kuzaliwa kwa Asha literally suggests Today is the being-born of Asha, which doesn’t sound like natural Swahili.
• The idiomatic way to say “birthday” is siku ya kuzaliwa.

So keep siku in:

• Leo ni siku ya kuzaliwa kwa Asha.
• Leo ni siku ya kuzaliwa ya Asha.

Why is siku singular here? Could we ever use a plural form?

Siku is actually both singular and plural in form:

• siku – day / days

In Leo ni siku ya kuzaliwa ya Asha, the meaning is clearly one specific day: the birthday, so we understand it as singular.

You might see plural siku za kuzaliwa in contexts like:

• Tuna kumbukumbu za siku za kuzaliwa za wanafunzi.
  – We have records of the students’ birthdays.

There it refers to many birthdays, so za (plural associative) is used:

• siku za kuzaliwa – days of birth (birthdays).

How would I say “Yesterday was Asha’s birthday” or “Tomorrow is Asha’s birthday”?

You just replace Leo with the appropriate time word:

• Jana – yesterday
• Kesho – tomorrow

Examples:

• Jana ilikuwa siku ya kuzaliwa ya Asha.
  – Yesterday was Asha’s birthday.
• Kesho itakuwa siku ya kuzaliwa ya Asha.
  – Tomorrow will be Asha’s birthday.

You can also use kwa Asha instead of ya Asha:

• Jana ilikuwa siku ya kuzaliwa kwa Asha.
• Kesho itakuwa siku ya kuzaliwa kwa Asha.

Are Leo and Asha capitalized in Swahili like in English?

Yes, the capitalization you see is normal:

• Asha is a proper name, so it is capitalized, just like in English.
• leo (today) is normally written with a lowercase l in the middle of a sentence, but at the beginning of a sentence it is capitalized as Leo, again just like English.

So:

• Leo ni siku ya kuzaliwa ya Asha. (at the start of a sentence)
• In the middle of a sentence you would write:
  … kwa sababu leo ni siku ya kuzaliwa ya Asha.