Kifo ni sehemu ya maisha.

Ni is the basic Swahili linking word used in sentences like X ni Y. In this kind of sentence, it works like English is/are.

So:

• Kifo ni sehemu ya maisha = Death is part of life

A useful thing to remember is that ni does not change the way English am/is/are do. The same ni is used with different subjects.

The -a word here means of, and its form changes to match the noun before it.

In sehemu ya maisha:

• sehemu = part
• ya = of
• maisha = life

So sehemu ya maisha means part of life.

It is ya because sehemu belongs to the noun class that uses ya in this pattern.

A few similar patterns are:

• kitabu cha mwanafunzi = the student's book / book of the student
• watu wa mjini = people of the town
• sehemu ya maisha = part of life

This is a very common learner question. Maisha often looks plural because it has the ma- prefix, but in actual use it commonly means life in a general or abstract sense.

So even though it looks plural in form, it is often translated as singular English life.

You should mostly learn maisha as a fixed, very common noun meaning:

• life
• living
• way of life, depending on context

Swahili and English do not always match one-for-one in number.

Yes. Kifo is related to kufa, which means to die.

• kufa = to die
• kifo = death

This is a common pattern in Swahili: a noun is formed from a verb root.

Another helpful point:

• kifo is singular
• vifo = deaths

So kifo belongs to the ki-/vi- noun class pair.

Here are the main ones:

• kifo: noun class 7 singular
  
  • plural: vifo (class 8)
• sehemu: usually class 9 singular
  
  • plural: sehemu (class 10; same form)
• maisha: commonly treated as class 6

This matters because Swahili grammar often shows agreement based on noun class. In this sentence, the clearest place you see that is ya, which matches sehemu.

Swahili does not normally use articles like English a/an/the.

So:

• kifo can mean death or the death, depending on context
• sehemu can mean part or the part, depending on context

In this sentence, the general meaning is abstract, so English naturally translates it without an article before death and with life as an abstract noun.

Yes. Sehemu ya is a very useful pattern meaning part of.

Examples:

• sehemu ya kazi = part of the work
• sehemu ya nyumba = part of the house
• sehemu ya tatizo = part of the problem
• sehemu ya maisha = part of life

So this sentence is also useful as a model for making new phrases.

Yes, but changing the order can change the focus.

• Kifo ni sehemu ya maisha = Death is part of life
• Sehemu ya maisha ni kifo = A part of life is death

The first version is the more natural one if you want death as the topic. The second is grammatical, but it sounds more like you are emphasizing part of life first.

A simple English-friendly guide is:

kee-fo nee seh-HEH-moo yah mah-EE-shah

A few pronunciation tips:

• ki in kifo sounds like kee
• ni sounds like nee
• sehemu has all vowels pronounced clearly: se-he-mu
• ya sounds like yah
• maisha is ma-i-sha, with ai pronounced separately, not as a single English vowel sound

Swahili pronunciation is usually quite regular, so saying each vowel clearly will help a lot.