Swali hili lina alama ya kuuliza mwishoni, sivyo?

In Swahili, demonstratives like this usually come after the noun.

So:

• swali hili = this question

This is the normal order in Swahili, unlike English, where we say this question.

Also, hili is not just any word for this. It agrees with the noun class of swali.

Swahili nouns belong to noun classes, and words that go with them often have to match that class.

Swali belongs to the ji-/ma- noun class (singular class 5, plural class 6), so the matching singular demonstrative is hili.

Examples:

• swali hili = this question
• maswali haya = these questions

So hili is used because it agrees with swali.

Lina means it has.

It is made up of:

• li- = the subject marker for the noun class of swali
• -na = have / with

So:

• Swali hili lina... = This question has...

This is a very common Swahili pattern for saying that something has something.

For example:

• kitabu kina picha = the book has pictures
• gari lina shida = the car has a problem

In Swahili, have is usually expressed with a subject marker plus -na.

So instead of a separate word like English has, Swahili builds it into the verb form:

• ni-na = I have
• u-na = you have
• a-na = he/she has
• li-na = it has (for class 5 nouns like swali)

That is why lina already includes the idea of it has.

Alama ya kuuliza means question mark.

Breaking it down:

• alama = mark / sign
• ya = of
• kuuliza = asking / to ask

So literally it is something like the mark of asking.

This is a normal Swahili way of building noun phrases:
noun + ya + noun/infinitive

Examples:

• chupa ya maji = bottle of water
• meza ya kazi = work table / desk
• alama ya kuuliza = question mark

Yes. Ku- is the infinitive marker, like English to in to ask.

So:

• kuuliza = to ask / asking

In Swahili, infinitives can also function like nouns. So in alama ya kuuliza, the infinitive is being used in a noun-like way.

That is why the phrase can literally mean something like a mark for asking or a mark of asking, even though the natural English meaning is question mark.

Mwishoni means at the end or in the end position.

It comes from:

• mwisho = end
• -ni = a locative ending, often meaning in / at / on

So:

• mwisho = end
• mwishoni = at the end

This -ni ending is very common in Swahili for places or locations.

Examples:

• nyumbani = at home
• shuleni = at school
• mwishoni = at the end

Sivyo? is a tag question, similar to English:

• right?
• isn’t that so?
• isn’t it?

It asks the listener to confirm what was just said.

So the sentence is basically saying:

• This question has a question mark at the end, right?

It is a very common conversational way to check agreement.

Because sivyo? here works more like a general confirmation tag than a noun-specific agreement form.

It does not behave exactly like English isn’t it?, where English seems to refer back to the subject. In Swahili, sivyo? often means something broader like:

• isn’t that so?
• right?

So it is not really trying to match the noun class of swali in a strict way. It is checking whether the whole statement is true.

Yes. The order is very natural.

The sentence is:

• Swali hili = this question
• lina = has
• alama ya kuuliza = a question mark
• mwishoni = at the end
• sivyo? = right?

So the structure is basically:

subject + verb + object + location/adverbial + tag

That is a very normal Swahili sentence pattern.

Yes, it could be, depending on the context.

• Swali lina alama ya kuuliza mwishoni, sivyo? = The question has a question mark at the end, right?
• Swali hili lina alama ya kuuliza mwishoni, sivyo? = This question has a question mark at the end, right?

Including hili makes it specifically this question, so it points to a particular question.

Because the final sivyo? turns the whole sentence into a confirmation question.

Without the tag, it would be a statement:

• Swali hili lina alama ya kuuliza mwishoni.
  = This question has a question mark at the end.

With sivyo?, it becomes:

• Swali hili lina alama ya kuuliza mwishoni, sivyo?
  = This question has a question mark at the end, right?

So the question mark is there because the speaker is asking for confirmation.

The two u’s are both pronounced. Swahili spelling is usually very regular, so you should not reduce them to one sound in the way English sometimes does.

• kuuliza is pronounced roughly like koo-oo-LEE-za

The double vowel happens because:

• ku- = infinitive marker
• -uliza = ask

When they come together, you get kuuliza.

In careful pronunciation, both vowels are heard.