"Ninapenda chakula toka Zanzibar"

Translation: I love food from Zanzibar

[Ben138225]

Why is it incorrect to say "I love food from Zanzibar"?

[Catriona28475]

I think it is perfectly correct without "the". Please report it. (I just did, 4 July 2018.)

[5vZSXEt5]

"THE food" is actually even wrong here, isn't it? Wouldn't native speakers omit it?

[Catriona28475]

Not necessarily - it would depend on the context. To me, "the food" is more likely to be about the typical cuisine. Compare "I love the food and the people".

[Nsikan9]

Shouldn't this be 'kutoka'?

[AGreatUserName]

I think kutoka is more common but toka is also correct

[wbeeman]

I love food from Zanzibar is correct and should be accepted. "The" is optional in English

[Mrsaiz]

I have read that nearly all words in Swahili are stressed in the penultimate syllable. So far so good, as I have only found one exception (which is LAZIMA, stress in the first "A"), but it seems (from the voice recorded for this sentence) that ZANZIBAR is pronounced like in English: zAnzibar.
Is this correct? And: would you be able to provide any additional example of words whose stress is not in the penultimate syllabe?
Thanks in advance! Have a nice day! :)

[AGreatUserName]

Yeah, zanzibar is not a native Swahili word. That “r” on the end is a giveaway that it hasn’t been adapted to Swahili phonology.

Some other words that, as far as I’ve heard, are stressed on another syllable:

mahákama “judge”
kadhálika “like that”
wákati “time” (sometimes pronounced like “wakti” ... I believe the Arabic word it comes from is basically “wakt”)

[Mrsaiz]

Good to know! Thanks :)