"The first and the last"

Translation: Ya kwanza na ya mwisho

[willynam]

What is wrong with translating it as "Kwanza na mwisho"?

[BhamSwahillian]

Because the English words has determiners "the" then you would have to use the equivalent to Swahili. So 'ya',' za', 'wa'

[Catriona28475]

That would be the answer to "First and last" (without "the").

[dieprinzessin]

This screams for a Bible quote.

Jesus says in Rev 1:17
"Usiogope! Mimi ni wa kwanza na wa mwisho"

(Don't be afraid, I am the first and the last.)

and in Rev. 22:13

Mimi ni Alfa na Omega, Mwanzo na Mwisho, wa kwanza na wa mwisho

(I am the Alpha
and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.)

interesting that in both cases 'wa' is used.

Let's add some random quotes from the net

'Wewe mke wangu wa kwanza na mwisho”

(You are my first and last wife.) Here of course the wa is because of mke - like the m/wa class

kutoka sura ya kwanza mpaka sura ya mwisho ya Katiba

(from the first chapter until the last chapter of the Constitution) - here again 'sura' (n class sg) needs the 'ya'

Je, Maana Halisi ya Majina yako ya kwanza na ya mwisho ni gani?

(What is the real meaning of your first and last names?) majina (Ji/Ma plural> ya)

kuanzia hatua ya kwanza hadi ya mwisho

(from the first step to the last) hatua n - class sg>ya)

Magazeti ya Tanzania leo March 29 2015, page ya kwanza na ya mwisho.

(Tanzania newspapers today March 29 2015, the first and last page.) page (n class sg>ya)

[billhatcher]

No articles occur in Swahili, so "the" (for ya) should not be required.

[circumbendibus]

Check out the comments that have been made since then. The "ya" apparently does require some equivalent (I'm guessing because "kwanza" and "mwisho" are adjectives? But I could be wrong on that part.)

[circumbendibus]

There's no reason it's "ya" and not "za" or "wa" is there? Would it have taken others? Is "ya" some kind of default?

[ElizabethF711355]

I was taught that "kwanza" means "beginning" and "mwisho" means "end, conclusion." Therefore "ya kwanza" is literally "of the beginning" which is a way of saying first. "Ya mwisho" is then "of the end" or last.

[machieng]

"beginning" is mwanzo, "end" is mwisho (both are nouns)

-a mwisho means "last", where the '-a' modifies the noun to an adjective phrase

-a kwanza is an ordinal number and therefore also an adjective. "Kwanza" (without the '-a') translates to the adverb "Firstly"

[Deddy56150]

Thanks for this explanation! Now I understand why YA etc. is required in this context

[Theluji]

What is the fuction of ''ya'' in this sentence?

[Wowza42]

Is the "ya" here at all comparable to the French "des" (only for singular)?

[deactivated user]

This course is full of inconsistencies

[PeterGauli]

Why isn't it mwanza? Isnt it abiut people?