"Unaoza"
Translation:It is rotting
18 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
The "u-" prefix can mean the second person singular "you", as you noted.
However, it is also the subject prefix for singular "u/n" and "m/mi" class nouns. As something is rotting, it is not very likely to be a person, so it's assumed to be an object.
Example:
Mti unaoza - The tree is rotting
Unaoza - It is rotting
Jiti (very huge tree) linaoza. [No lesson on this yet]. Miti (trees) inaoza.
Those are the only ways I see to use "linaoza" and "inaoza" when talking about tree(s).
See my reply to the reverse sentence.
Prefixes (and object infixes) for the main non-M/Wa noun classes (relevant class in bold) are:
U- -------M/Mi, U/N
I- --------M/Mi, N/N
Li- -------Ji/Ma
Zi- -------N/N, U/N
Ki- -------Ki/Vi
Vi- -------Ki/Vi
If you come across pa-, ku- or m- they are part of the place classes of nouns. I've still not quite gotten a grasp of those. I think pa- is for specific locations, ku- is general and m- is inside a location, but I might have mixed them up. I don't think the prefix version of these are are really covered in this course.
2995
Strictly speaking, it can mean that, so that translation should be accepted. I don't really want to think too much, though, about a situation where you might need to use it.
1388
Yes metaphorically it would depend on context but if you want to say "you stink", that would be "unanuka"
618
why is it "unaoza" and not "inaoza"? Some frases earlier, there was "embe linaoza" ... one of these should be wrong, no?