Maji ni rasilimali muhimu.

to be

Breakdown of Maji ni rasilimali muhimu.

• maji: the water
• muhimu: important
• rasilimali: the resource

Questions & Answers about Maji ni rasilimali muhimu.

Why does maji mean water if it looks plural?

In Swahili, maji is treated as a mass noun: a substance rather than a countable object. English does something similar with water, sand, or rice.

Historically, maji belongs to a noun class that often has plural-looking forms, but in modern usage it simply means water. So even though it may look plural to a learner, you should usually just learn maji as the normal word for water.

What does ni mean here?

In this sentence, ni is the verb to be.

So:

• Maji ni rasilimali muhimu = Water is an important resource

Swahili often uses ni to link two nouns or a noun and a description in simple present statements.

Examples:

• Huyu ni mwalimu = This person is a teacher
• Hiki ni kitabu = This is a book

Why isn’t there a word for a/an in rasilimali muhimu?