Nahau hiyo haipaswi kutafsiriwa neno kwa neno.

Nahau means idiom: a fixed expression whose meaning is not simply the sum of its individual words.

It is a useful word to distinguish from things like:

• methali = proverb
• maneno ya kawaida = ordinary words/phrases

So nahau hiyo specifically means that idiom.

In Swahili, demonstratives like this/that usually come after the noun, not before it.

So:

• nahau hiyo = that idiom
• not hiyo nahau

This noun + demonstrative order is very normal in Swahili.

That is a great question, because many class 9/10 nouns look the same in singular and plural.

The noun nahau can look identical in both numbers, so you tell from the agreement words around it:

• hiyo = singular that
• haipaswi = singular verb agreement

So this sentence means that idiom, not those idioms.

If it were plural, you would get:

• Nahau hizo hazipaswi kutafsiriwa neno kwa neno.
• Those idioms should not be translated word for word.

Haipaswi means something like it should not, it is not supposed to, or it ought not to.

It is one word because Swahili verbs pack a lot of information into a single form.

A helpful breakdown is:

• ha- = negative
• i- = subject marker for a singular class 9 noun, referring back to nahau
• -pasw- = the verb idea of being appropriate / being supposed to
• -i = the negative final vowel

So haipaswi literally works like it-should-not.

Because the idea of it is already built into the verb.

In English, we say:

• It should not...

In Swahili, the subject marker inside the verb does that job:

• ha-i-paswi

That i- refers back to nahau.

So Swahili often does not need a separate standalone pronoun when the verb already shows the subject.

Because after a verb like haipaswi meaning should not / is not supposed to, Swahili normally uses the infinitive of the next verb.

So:

• haipaswi kutafsiriwa = it should not be translated

Here ku- marks the infinitive, like to translate / to be translated.

This is very common after verbs and expressions of obligation, possibility, intention, and so on.

The ending -wa makes the verb passive.

Compare:

• kutafsiri = to translate
• kutafsiriwa = to be translated

So the sentence is not saying:

• the idiom should not translate

It is saying:

• the idiom should not be translated

That passive makes perfect sense here, because the idiom is receiving the action.

Because the focus is on the idiom, not on the person doing the translating.

English does this too:

• That idiom should not be translated word for word.

Swahili mirrors that idea very naturally with the passive:

• Nahau hiyo haipaswi kutafsiriwa...

If you used an active construction, the sentence would need to focus more on the translator.

Literally, neno kwa neno means word by word or word for word.

• neno = word
• kwa here gives the sense of by / for
• repeating the noun gives the distributive meaning: one word matched with one word

So this is the normal way to express a very literal, one-to-one translation.

Because this expression is a fixed idiomatic pattern, much like English word for word, which also uses the singular form.

So even though many words are involved, the singular noun is used in the expression:

• neno kwa neno = word for word

This is best learned as a set phrase.

Yes, very natural.

The structure is:

• Nahau hiyo = the subject noun phrase
• haipaswi = the main finite verb, meaning should not
• kutafsiriwa = infinitive passive, to be translated
• neno kwa neno = adverbial phrase, word for word

So the sentence flows naturally as:

• That idiom should not be translated word for word.

Not exactly.

Haipaswi is often closer to:

• should not
• ought not to
• is not supposed to

Depending on context, it can be strong, but it does not always feel as absolute as English must not.

So in this sentence, a good sense is:

• That idiom should not be translated word for word.

rather than the harsher:

• That idiom must not be translated word for word.

A good way to chunk it is:

• nahau hiyo = that idiom
• haipaswi = should not
• kutafsiriwa = be translated
• neno kwa neno = word for word

So you can mentally store it as:

• that idiom + should not + be translated + word for word

This makes it easier to reuse the pattern with other nouns and verbs.