Karne hii ni muhimu.

This century is important.

Breakdown of Karne hii ni muhimu.

• kuwa: to be
• muhimu: important
• hii: this
• karne: the century

Questions & Answers about Karne hii ni muhimu.

What does each word in Karne hii ni muhimu do?

• karne = century
• hii = this
• ni = is / are in an equational sentence
• muhimu = important

So the structure is literally:

century this is important

which corresponds to This century is important in natural English.

Why is hii placed after karne instead of before it?

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

So:

• karne hii = this century
• not the English-style order this century

This is a very normal Swahili pattern:

• mtu huyu = this person
• kitabu hiki = this book
• karne hii = this century

What is ni here? Is it a verb like English is?