"How is mom?"

Translation: Mama hajambo?

[GodiSandra]

Is "Habari ya mama?" correct?

[Ersika]

I think not. I believe "Habari ya mama" is "How are you mother?" meaning you are speaking with her, where in "How is mom?" you are not, hence "Mama hajambo?"

[GodiSandra]

I think "Habari" means "News" so News about mom=How is mom. :)

[Gazelle1596]

It is correct. You would only use "Habari ya mama." when speaking about her, not TO her. (That would be something like "Habari yako?" or "Hujambo?")
"Habari ya..." usually is used to ask the person you speak to about various events/places/people - roughly such as "How is... (it going with)?" - it is to get news about something specific/or see below: to be polite.

[Maelfried]

Yep, "Habari za mama?" means literally "News of mother?"

[GodiSandra]

What is the difference between za and ya?

[Maelfried]

ya is singular and za plural
So for example ndizi ya mama means the banana of mum and ndizi za mama means the bananas of mum.
It refers to different classes in Kiswahili, for the case of habari and ndizi which are in the same class, the plural looks the same as the singular, the only differentiation you can have is through stuff like ya and za (sorry I am not a grammar expert and I don't know the exact words for it).

I hope I could help :)

[GodiSandra]

Thank you for your answer. :)
I have googled the ya/za and I have found this:
"There are two possibilities : either you are expecting a precise answer : in this case you use Habari ya ... ? (= What's the news of ... ? ), or you are simply asking out of mere politeness, without any precise intention, in that case you use Habari za ... ? (= What are the news of ... ? ). "
What do you think? :)

[Maelfried]

It could be but I was never aware of it when I lived in Tanzania. Grammatically it ya, za, wa and so on are referring to a relationship like I already explained.

[KenMur]

I carelessly chose hujambo, and it accepted me answer saying I just had a typo... Reporting.

[mieppon]

"Habari za mama?" is it also fine?