"Tunavaa viatu"

Translation: We are putting on shoes

[jennayymo]

Did not accept "we are wearing shoes"

[AGreatUserName]

tunavaa viatu = we are putting on shoes
tumevaa viatu = we are wearing shoes

[pixilico]

It refused "we're putting the shoes on". I'm reporting it.

[MBG266009]

It is strange to have "we are wearing" as one of the definitions they give, but then they do not accept it in the sentence. Glitch in the system, I think

[AGreatUserName]

tunavaa viatu = we are putting on shoes
tumevaa viatu = we are wearing shoes

[Hotdoh]

What about "we put on shoes?"

[AGreatUserName]

That should be right too.

[BwanaSimba]

With -vaa “wear/be wearing”, a verb of action that triggers a state of being, the
perfect marker -me- may also express the notion of “completed state”, while the present
tense marker -na- refers to an action that is just taking place. English uses the pattern “be + present participial (-ing form)” in both cases.
a. Juma anavaa shati
“Juma is wearing a shirt (is putting on a shirt)/Juma wears a shirt”
b. Juma amevaa shati
“Juma is wearing a shirt (is dressed in a shirt)/Juma has worn a shirt”

[Catriona28475]

Thanks for the detailed explanation. Note though that, in English, "Juma is wearing a shirt" is not the same meaning as "Juma is putting on a shirt". It is just the same tense (present continuous).

[TessEwing1]

Yes, in English we use 2 different verbs, whereas in Swahili it's 1 verb but 2 tenses.

[Martin633120]

It's interesting that in speaking of one's garb, in Swahili, one doesn't "possess" his items of clothing, as we do in English and in many other languages. One speaks, e.g, of putting on "the shirt", not "my shirt", etc. I like this feature. The same feature is practiced in Russian. What about other languages you all are studying?

[CliffordPereira]

As a native English speaker I translated this as "we are putting shoes on", since I have never heard anyone say "we are putting on shoes". Cannot understand why this was wrong.

[TessEwing1]

Of course, you are right. When something like this comes up, report it. This course is in beta; it needs a lot of fixing. And the people who can fix it read the reports but not the comments.