Jua linachomoza mashariki kila asubuhi.

the morning

Breakdown of Jua linachomoza mashariki kila asubuhi.

• kila: every
• jua: the sun
• kuchomoza: to rise

Questions & Answers about Jua linachomoza mashariki kila asubuhi.

What is the word-for-word breakdown of Jua linachomoza mashariki kila asubuhi?

A helpful breakdown is:

• jua = sun
• li-na-chomoza = it rises / it is rising
  
  • li- = subject marker agreeing with jua
  • -na- = present/imperfective marker
  • chomoza = rise, appear, come out
• mashariki = east / in the east
• kila asubuhi = every morning

So the sentence is built very naturally as:

Sun + it-rises + east + every morning

Swahili often does not match English word-for-word, but the structure is very regular.

Why is the verb linachomoza and not something like anachomoza?

Because Swahili verbs must agree with the noun class of the subject.

Jua belongs to noun class 5, and the subject marker for class 5 is li-. That is why the verb begins with li-:

• jua linachomoza = the sun rises

If the subject belonged to a different noun class, the verb prefix would change. This agreement system is one of the most important parts of Swahili grammar.

What exactly does li-na-chomoza mean?