Breakdown of Watoto wanapenda zabibu, lakini papai bado ni bichi.
kuwa
to be
kupenda
to like
mtoto
the child
lakini
but
Questions & Answers about Watoto wanapenda zabibu, lakini papai bado ni bichi.
What does each part of the sentence mean grammatically?
A useful word-by-word breakdown is:
- Watoto = children
- wana-penda = they like
- wa- = they
- -na- = present tense
- -penda = like / love
- zabibu = grapes
- lakini = but
- papai = papaya
- bado = still
- ni = is
- bichi = unripe / raw / fresh
So the structure is very close to English: Children like grapes, but the papaya is still unripe.
Why is wanapenda one word?
In Swahili, the verb often includes information that English expresses with separate words.
So wanapenda contains:
- wa- = subject marker, meaning they
- -na- = present tense marker
- penda = verb root, like
That means Swahili does not need a separate word for they here.
English: they like
Swahili: wanapenda
Why do both watoto and wanapenda have wa- in them?