Habari za siku nyingi, rafiki!

the friend

Breakdown of Habari za siku nyingi, rafiki!

• habari za siku nyingi: long time no see (greeting after a long absence)

Questions & Answers about Habari za siku nyingi, rafiki!

What does habari mean by itself?

Habari literally means news or information, but in greetings it often works like how are things? or what's the news?

In Swahili, a lot of greetings are built around this idea of asking about someone’s state or situation, not just saying a fixed phrase like in English. So in Habari za siku nyingi, habari is the core greeting word.

Why is it za and not ya?

This is because habari belongs to a noun class in Swahili, and words that connect to it have to agree with that class.

• habari is treated as a class 9/10 noun
• the agreement word for of with that class is za

So:

• habari za ... = news/of/about ...

If the noun belonged to a different class, the connector would change. This is a very common feature of Swahili grammar.

What does siku nyingi literally mean?