Mwanafunzi anasoma jenasi hii.

It breaks down like this:

• mwanafunzi = student
• a-na-soma = he/she is reading / studying
  • a- = subject marker for he/she or a singular class 1 noun
  • -na- = present/current time marker
  • -soma = read / study
• jenasi hii = this genus
  • jenasi = the noun
  • hii = this, agreeing with the noun class of jenasi

So the sentence structure is very compact, but each part has a clear job.

Because in Swahili, the verb normally includes a subject marker, even when the subject noun is stated separately.

So:

• mwanafunzi names the subject
• a- on the verb repeats that subject grammatically

This is normal Swahili structure. In English, we do not do this inside the verb, but in Swahili it is expected.

So Mwanafunzi anasoma is not redundant in a strange way; it is standard grammar.

-na- is the marker for the present/current tense-aspect in everyday Swahili.

In many situations, anasoma can mean:

• he/she is reading
• he/she is studying
• sometimes even he/she reads / studies

The exact English translation depends on context. Swahili does not always separate simple present and present continuous as strictly as English does.

It can mean both.

That is very common with -soma in Swahili:

• kusoma kitabu = to read a book
• kusoma shule / somo fulani = to study at school / to study a certain subject

So in this sentence, the intended English meaning comes from context. A learner often has to get used to one Swahili verb covering more than one English verb.

In Swahili, demonstratives such as this, that, and those usually come after the noun.

So the normal order is:

• jenasi hii = this genus
• not usually hii jenasi

This is a very common difference from English. Many modifiers in Swahili follow the noun rather than coming before it.

Because hii has to agree with the noun class of jenasi.

Swahili nouns belong to classes, and words connected to them often change form to match. Jenasi behaves like a class 9 noun here, so the correct demonstrative is hii.

That is why you get:

• jenasi hii = this genus

If the noun belonged to a different class, the form of this would also change.

Yes. Mwanafunzi is a singular human noun in class 1.

That is why the verb uses the class 1 singular subject marker:

• mwanafunzi → a-
• Mwanafunzi anasoma

If you made it plural, the noun and verb would change together:

• wanafunzi wanasoma = students are reading/studying

So noun class affects agreement all through the sentence.

No. Swahili does not use articles in the same way English does.

So mwanafunzi can mean:

• a student
• the student

And the exact meaning depends on context.

That is completely normal in Swahili. You should not look for a separate word corresponding exactly to English a or the in every sentence.

Yes, in this sentence the basic order is similar:

• Subject: Mwanafunzi
• Verb: anasoma
• Object: jenasi hii

So it follows a subject–verb–object pattern, which feels familiar to English speakers.

The main difference is inside the noun phrase:

• English: this genus
• Swahili: jenasi hii

So the overall sentence order may feel familiar, but noun modifiers often come after the noun.

Yes, if the subject is already clear from context.

Because a- already tells you the subject is he/she or a singular class 1 noun, Swahili often allows the full noun to be omitted.

So:

• Mwanafunzi anasoma jenasi hii = full noun stated
• Anasoma jenasi hii = He/she is reading/studying this genus

Both are grammatical. The second one just depends more on context.

If you want student to become students, you change both the noun and the verb agreement:

• Mwanafunzi anasoma jenasi hii = singular
• Wanafunzi wanasoma jenasi hii = plural

Changes:

• mwanafunzi → wanafunzi
• a- → wa-
• anasoma → wanasoma

If the object also became plural, then the demonstrative would change too:

• jenasi hizi = these genera / these genus items, depending on context

A rough pronunciation guide is:

• mwanafunzi = mwa-na-FUN-zi
• anasoma = a-na-SO-ma
• jenasi = je-NA-si
• hii = HII

A few useful points:

• Swahili pronunciation is usually very regular.
• Each vowel is pronounced clearly.
• Stress is typically on the second-to-last syllable of a word.

So the whole sentence is said smoothly as:

mwa-na-FUN-zi a-na-SO-ma je-NA-si HII