Mti ule ni mkubwa.

That tree is big.

Breakdown of Mti ule ni mkubwa.

• kuwa: to be
• mti: the tree
• mkubwa: big
• ule: that one

Questions & Answers about Mti ule ni mkubwa.

Why does ule come after mti instead of before it?

In Swahili, the noun usually comes first, and words that describe or point to it usually come after it.

So:

• mti ule = that tree
• literally, it is closer to tree that

This is a very common pattern in Swahili:

• mtoto huyo = that child
• kitabu hiki = this book
• nyumba kubwa = big house

So mti ule is normal Swahili word order.

Why is it ule and not some other word for that?

Swahili words like this and that have to agree with the noun class of the noun.

mti belongs to the m-/mi- class:

• singular: mti = tree
• plural: miti = trees

Because mti is singular in that noun class, the matching demonstrative is ule.

So:

• mti ule = that tree
• miti ile = those trees

A learner coming from English often expects one word for that, but in Swahili the form changes depending on the noun class.

What exactly does ni mean here?