"Kaka mkubwa"

Translation: Elder brother

[RaizinM]

Always watching you.

[BeepBopNotaBot]

Anakuangalia milele

[Harry_the_Hyrax]

Would you say "Kaka wangu mkubwa" or Kaka mkubwa wangu"?

[the3lusive]

This would depend on what you are trying to convey. Kaka wangu mkubwa means "my brother is big" and Kaka mkubwa wangu means "the big brother is mine".

[Harry_the_Hyrax]

What about if you wanted to say "my big brother"?

[the3lusive]

Kakangu mkubwa

[federklaun]

Why's it not "Kaka wangu ni mkubwa" and "Kaka mkubwa ni wangu"?

[the3lusive]

Kaka wangu ni mkubwa means "my brother is big" and Kaka mkubwa ni wangu means "the big brother is mine".

[federklaun]

I know, but why is the correct answer without "ni"?

[Ms.Mzee]

In your first example saying "Kaka wangu ni mkubwa" Then you are saying "My brother is big" Saying "Kaka mkubwa ni wangu" is saying "Big Brother is mine" which isn't correct in english or kiswahili. "Ni" basically is the swahili translation for the word "is" in english. The reason why its without "ni" is cause its saying Big brother swahili. Hopefully i helped :)

[Ms.Mzee]

Saying "My big brother " in kiswahili is "kaka wangu mkubwa"

[Ms.Mzee]

Or kakangu mkubwa

[Djjxkkdkdkd]

Does this translate to "older brother" or refer to the brother's physical attributes?

[nessihix]

im inclined to believe it is older brother, since i incorrectly tried to use mrefu (tall) in place of mkubwa in another answer

[M1G2B3learner]

If it helps, it seems "-kubwa" comes from Arabic "kubra" which means "bigger"

[dag.chr]

But you can say tembo mkubwa, which would mean big elephant, not older elephant. Why mix it up when you can just keep one adjective for elder and another adjective for big? Haha i get that it'd be a synonym for "big" too, just a lot of vocab to learn that's all! :)
I love Swahili though...
Asante Emilian!

[Ernst557459]

Most, if not all, languages have homonyms.