Spishi nyingi zinaishi hapa.

Spishi is a loanword, and in Swahili it normally behaves like a class 9/10 noun. Many nouns in this class use the same noun form in both singular and plural.

So:

• spishi = species / a species
• spishi = species / species (plural)

What changes is usually the agreement on adjectives, verbs, and other words around the noun.

For example:

• Spishi inaishi hapa. = A species lives here.
• Spishi zinaishi hapa. = Species live here.

Here, the plural is shown clearly by zinaishi.

Nyingi comes from the adjective stem -ingi, meaning many or much. In Swahili, adjectives must agree with the noun class of the noun they describe.

Since spishi is treated as a class 9/10 noun, the correct agreeing form is nyingi.

So:

• spishi nyingi = many species

It is not mengi, because mengi is used with a different noun class.

Swahili verbs agree with the noun class of the subject, not just with whether the subject is living or non-living in English terms.

Here, spishi belongs to noun class 10 in the plural, so the verb takes the zi- subject prefix:

• zi- = subject marker for class 10 plural
• -na- = present tense
• -ishi = live

So:

• zinaishi = they live / they are living

You would use wanaishi for class 2 plural nouns, such as watu:

• Watu wengi wanaishi hapa. = Many people live here.

It breaks down like this:

• zi- = they for class 10 nouns
• -na- = present tense marker
• -ishi = verb stem from kuishi = to live

So:

• zi-na-ishi = they are living / they live

This is a very common Swahili pattern:

subject prefix + tense marker + verb stem

-na- is the usual present tense marker in Swahili.

In many cases, it can cover both:

• are living
• live

So zinaishi can mean either:

• are living here
• live here

depending on context.

If you want a more clearly habitual or general meaning, Swahili can also use hu-:

• Spishi nyingi huishi hapa.

That sounds more like Many species live here as a general fact. But zinaishi hapa is also completely normal.

Yes. Kuishi is the standard verb for to live, to be alive, or to reside, depending on context.

Examples:

• Anaishi Nairobi. = He/she lives in Nairobi.
• Samaki wanaishi majini. = Fish live in water.

In your sentence, kuishi means to live in the sense of to exist / inhabit a place.

Hapa means here.

In this sentence, it comes at the end:

• Spishi nyingi zinaishi hapa.

That is a very natural word order.

But Swahili can move adverbs like hapa for emphasis:

• Hapa spishi nyingi zinaishi.

This puts more focus on here. The original version is the more neutral one.

You would usually say:

• Spishi inaishi hapa. = A species lives here.

Notice the change in the verb:

• singular class 9: i-
• plural class 10: zi-

So:

• Spishi inaishi hapa. = A species lives here.
• Spishi zinaishi hapa. = Species live here.

If you want to be more specific, you could also say:

• Spishi hii inaishi hapa. = This species lives here.

In Swahili, the verb itself already includes information that English often expresses with extra words.

In zinaishi:

• zi- tells you the subject
• -na- tells you the tense
• -ishi gives the main meaning

So Swahili does not need a separate word for are in are living, or a helper like do in do live.

This is one of the biggest structural differences from English.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

• spishi → SPI-shi
• nyingi → NYI-ngi
• zinaishi → zi-na-I-shi
• hapa → HA-pa

A rough full pronunciation:

• SPI-shi NYI-ngi zi-na-I-shi HA-pa

Swahili usually stresses the penultimate syllable of each word, which is why you hear:

• SPI-shi
• NYI-ngi
• zi-na-I-shi
• HA-pa