"A game is being started"
Translation:Mchezo unaanzwa
17 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
171
'Mchezo' is a MI- class noun (called this because the plurals are formed by adding mi-: 'michezo'). MI- class nouns take the u- subject prefix in the singular (and i- in the plural).
Thankfully, memorizing noun classes is less tedious than it sounds. With some practice, you'll start to pick up the patterns. :)
1258
but why unaanzWa ? What is the w at the end? Is that a passive voice ? why not stativ? unaanzika ?
1631
If you use the smartphone app (at least on Android) you can report any kind of problem.
I am also confused about it. So, 1. as already asked, why unaanzawa and not anaanzawa if this is a (passive) verb? I can't find this in the tips 2. I did not get the explanation by kshuck2... So far from this course I have learned only about the adjective agreement in MI- class (vowel mw-, my-, and consonant m-, mi-). So, please, give further explanation ( :
update! An explanation HERE chrome-extension://oemmndcbldboiebfnladdacbdfmadadm/https://www2.ku.edu/~kiswahili/pdfs/lesson_31.pdf
1631
HeikeTh had a good theory about that (in this discussion):
"I presume that it is a different way of thinking and games don't play themselves but are played by others."
1631
As explained above, the i- subject prefix in the singular (and zi- in the plural) is only for N/N class nouns.
Mchezo is in the M/MI class, which takes the u- prefix in the singular and i- in the plural.
171
You could say "michezo inaanzwa" for "the games are being started" (plural), but inanzwa is not a correct translation here for "a game is being started" (singular).