Karne hii ni muhimu.

• 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.

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

Yes, ni is the copula used in simple identification or description sentences. It often corresponds to English is, am, or are.

So:

• Karne hii ni muhimu = This century is important
• literally, This century is important

Unlike English, Swahili does not change ni for singular or plural in this kind of sentence:

• Kitabu hiki ni kizuri = This book is good
• Vitabu hivi ni vizuri = These books are good

The ni stays the same.

Swahili uses noun classes, and words like demonstratives must agree with the noun’s class.

karne belongs to the N-class (often called class 9/10), so its this form is hii.

That is why you get:

• karne hii = this century

Compare with other noun classes:

• mtu huyu = this person
• kitabu hiki = this book
• nyumba hii = this house

So hii is not a general word for this in every situation; it is the form that matches nouns like karne.

Some Swahili adjectives and adjective-like words agree with noun classes, but some common descriptive words are often used in a more fixed form.

muhimu is one of those very common words that normally stays the same:

• karne hii ni muhimu
• kitabu hiki ni muhimu
• watu hawa ni muhimu

So even though the noun changes, muhimu usually does not.

No. Swahili does not have articles like a, an, or the.

Whether something is a century, the century, or this century is understood from context or from words like demonstratives.

Here, hii already makes it specific:

• karne hii = this century

So Swahili does not need a separate word for the.

The normal and most natural order is:

noun + demonstrative

• karne hii

So Karne hii ni muhimu is the standard way to say it.

A learner should strongly prefer this order. Putting the demonstrative before the noun is not the regular basic pattern you should start with.

Yes. In Swahili, vowels are pronounced clearly, and spelling is very regular.

hii is pronounced with both vowels sounded, roughly:

• hee-ee

So it has two vowel beats, not just one shortened sound.

A simple pronunciation guide for the whole sentence is:

• KAR-ne HEE-ee ni mu-HEE-mu

Swahili stress usually falls on the second-to-last syllable:

• KAR-ne
• HI-i
• mu-HI-mu

It is a borrowed word, ultimately from Arabic, but it is fully normal in Swahili.

That is very common in Swahili vocabulary. Many everyday Swahili words come from Arabic, especially in religion, trade, time, and abstract vocabulary.

For a learner, the important point is simply that karne is a standard Swahili word meaning century.

Because karne is in the N-class, the plural often looks the same as the singular. The agreement words show the difference.

You would say:

Karne hizi ni muhimu.

Here:

• karne = century / centuries
• hizi = these
• ni muhimu = are important

So:

• Karne hii ni muhimu = This century is important
• Karne hizi ni muhimu = These centuries are important