Shangazi yangu ni mjamzito, na mimba yake ina miezi saba.

In Swahili, possessive words usually come after the noun.

So:

• shangazi yangu = my aunt
• mimba yake = her pregnancy

This is very normal Swahili word order.

Here:

• yangu = my
• yake = his / her / its

Swahili does not normally distinguish his and her in this kind of possessive form. So yake can mean either one; the context tells you it means her here.

Ni is the basic Swahili copula, meaning is / am / are.

So:

• Shangazi yangu ni mjamzito = My aunt is pregnant

Literally, mjamzito behaves a bit like a noun meaning a pregnant person, so ni mjamzito is like saying is a pregnant person.

For a learner, the easiest way to understand it is: it functions as the normal word for pregnant.

But structurally, it often behaves more like a noun-like descriptor than like a typical English adjective. That is why using ni with it is completely natural.

You do not need to overthink this at first; just learn ni mjamzito as the normal pattern for is pregnant.

No. Swahili does not work like English with separate his/her adjective forms or grammatical masculine/feminine adjectives.

The form mjamzito itself does not change for gender. In real-world use, it normally refers to a woman or female animal because of the meaning pregnant, but grammatically the word itself is not marked differently for male vs. female.

Here na means and.

It links the two parts of the sentence:

• Shangazi yangu ni mjamzito
• na mimba yake ina miezi saba

You may also see na meaning with in other sentences, but here it clearly means and.

Literally, it means something like:

her pregnancy has seven months

or

her pregnancy is at seven months

This is a natural Swahili way to talk about how far along a pregnancy is. In smoother English, we would usually say she is seven months pregnant.

Because this part is not identifying one thing as another. It is expressing that the pregnancy has a duration/number of months.

So:

• ni = is
• ina = it has

Here ina agrees with mimba and means has. That is why mimba yake ina miezi saba means her pregnancy has seven months.

Because seven months is plural.

• mwezi = month
• miezi = months

So:

• mwezi mmoja = one month
• miezi saba = seven months

The number saba stays the same here.

Yes, it is natural and clear. Swahili often expresses this idea through the pregnancy itself rather than exactly the way English does.

Another common way you may hear is:

Shangazi yangu ana mimba ya miezi saba.

That also means My aunt is seven months pregnant.

A rough pronunciation guide is:

sha-nga-zi YA-ngu, ni mja-m-ZI-to, na MIM-ba YA-ke i-na mi-E-zi SA-ba

A few helpful points:

• Swahili vowels are usually pure:
  • a as in father
  • e as in bed but cleaner
  • i as in machine
  • o as in go but without a glide
  • u as in flute
• Stress is usually on the second-to-last syllable of each word:
  • shanGAzi
  • YAngu
  • mjamZIto
  • MIMba
  • YAke
  • Ina
  • miEzi
  • SAba

The cluster mj in mjamzito may feel unusual at first, but with practice it becomes easier.