Baba ni mzee.

Father is old.

Breakdown of Baba ni mzee.

• kuwa: to be
• baba: the father
• mzee: old

Questions & Answers about Baba ni mzee.

What does ni mean in Baba ni mzee? Is it the same as English is?

Yes. ni is the Swahili copula, and here it works like English is (or am / are).

• Baba ni mzee. → Father is old.
• Mimi ni mzee. → I am old.
• Wewe ni mzee. → You are old.

Notice that ni itself does not change for person or number (there’s no different form for am / is / are).
If you want to express tense (like was), you normally change something else in the sentence, for example:

• Baba alikuwa mzee. → Father was old.

Why isn’t there a word for the or a in the sentence?

Swahili doesn’t have separate words for the or a/an. There are no articles like in English.

So Baba ni mzee can be understood as:

• The father is old
• A father is old
• Father is old / Dad is old

The exact meaning (the/a/my) is decided by context, or by adding other words, like:

• Huyu baba ni mzee. → This father/dad is old.
• Yule baba ni mzee. → That father/dad is old.