Mirathi inaweza kusababisha mgogoro.

The sentence follows the common Swahili order:

Subject + verb + object

• Mirathi = the subject
• inaweza kusababisha = the verb phrase, literally can cause
• mgogoro = the object

So the structure is very close to English.

Inaweza can be broken down like this:

• i- = subject agreement
• -na- = present tense
• -weza = be able

So inaweza literally means something like it is able or it can.

Because Swahili verbs must agree with the noun class of the subject.

Here, mirathi takes the subject agreement i-, so the verb becomes i-na-weza.

This is a very common feature of Swahili: the verb changes to match the noun class of the subject, not just person like in English.

After -weza (to be able), the next verb normally appears in the infinitive form, which begins with ku-.

• kusababisha = to cause
• inaweza kusababisha = can cause / is able to cause

So the ku- here works like English to in to cause.

It is similar in meaning, but not identical in grammar.

In English, can is a modal auxiliary. In Swahili, -weza behaves more like a normal verb meaning be able.

That is why it can show tense and agreement:

• inaweza = it can / it is able to
• iliweza = it could / it was able to
• itaweza = it will be able to

So the translation may use can, but the Swahili grammar is different.

Mgogoro usually means conflict, dispute, disagreement, or quarrel, depending on context.

So the sentence could be understood in slightly different ways in English, such as:

• Inheritance can cause conflict
• Inheritance can cause a dispute

The exact English choice depends on the situation.

Swahili does not have articles like English a, an, and the.

That means a noun like mgogoro can mean:

• a conflict
• the conflict
• just conflict in a general sense

Context tells you which meaning is intended.

This can be a tricky question for English speakers, because Swahili noun classes do not always match English singular/plural patterns neatly.

The most useful thing to notice here is how the noun behaves: it takes i- agreement on the verb, giving inaweza.

In translation, depending on context, English may render it as a general idea such as inheritance or inheritance matters. So it is best to focus on the agreement pattern and the meaning shown to you.

Sometimes, yes.

-weza can express:

• ability: can
• possibility: may / might

In a general statement like this, English can is usually the most natural translation. But in some contexts, an English speaker might also understand a sense of possibility.

A helpful pronunciation guide is:

mi-RA-thi i-na-WE-za ku-sa-ba-BI-sha mgo-GO-ro

A few notes:

• Swahili stress is usually on the second-to-last syllable
• th in mirathi is often pronounced like th in think in careful speech
• g in mgogoro is a hard g, as in go
• mg at the start of mgogoro is pronounced with a nasal sound before the g

So you can say it smoothly as:

mi-RA-thi i-na-WE-za ku-sa-ba-BI-sha mgo-GO-ro