"The first student"

Translation: Mwanafunzi wa kwanza

[vnClJTUL]

Why is the translation "mwanafunzi wa kwanza" and not "mwanafunzi kwanza?"

[AGreatUserName]

Because kwanza on its own means "to start", "to begin", "to begin with". To use it as an ordinal number modifying a noun, it needs to be used with "-a".

Mwanafunzi wa kwanza / wa pili / wa tatu ..." = The first / second / third ... student.

[AndraNoelle]

The help text even specifies that 'wa' is not needed.