Word
Pundamilia yule ana mistari mingi mwilini.
Meaning
That zebra has many stripes on its body.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Pundamilia yule ana mistari mingi mwilini.
kuwa na
to have
yule
that
mingi
many
mstari
the stripe
Questions & Answers about Pundamilia yule ana mistari mingi mwilini.
Why is yule placed after pundamilia instead of before it?
In Swahili, demonstratives usually come after the noun, not before it as in English.
So:
- pundamilia yule = that zebra
- literally, it is closer to zebra that
This noun-first pattern is very common in Swahili:
- mtoto huyu = this child
- kitabu kile = that book
What does yule mean here?
Yule means that and refers to a specific singular animate noun.
In this sentence, it points to that zebra rather than just a zebra or the zebra in a general sense.
A useful comparison:
- huyu = this (animate singular)
- yule = that (animate singular)
Why do yule and ana use animate agreement for a zebra?