"Pana ufa"

Translation: There is a crack

[Mitch116432]

Is this close to the french ''il y a''?

[the3lusive]

yes.

[malaikapuffer]

It's true that "pana" can be an adjective that means "wide" but we know that it isn't the case in this example because adjectives go AFTER the noun they are describing. A wide crack would be "ufa mpana" I believe.

[s.rombaut]

can someone please explain me "pana"?

[danielmokmad]

It is related to nina/una/ana (I have/you have/he or she has). In this case, instead of referring to a person having, it refers to a place having, so we use a locative (we had the three locatives: ku, pa and m). So, there are three forms: kuna/pana/mna (all translate as "the place has" or equivalently "there is/are"). The negative forms of these are hakuna/hapana/hamna.

In this case, the sentence is talking about a crack in a specific location, which is why they use "pana". If you were talking about say cracks inside a house, you might say "mna nyufa nyumbani".

[s.rombaut]

Thanks!

[jo2dSY]

Thanks for comprehensive answer!

[RudolfJan]

Thanks for your explanation!

[Edison447632]

Thanks.

[Paul_TY_Kim]

Thanks!!!

[Hampri]

There is.

Also translates to broad, wide or comprehensive.

[the3lusive]

Pana could also mean fat or plump.