"The nose smells"

Translation: Pua hunusa

[BeelerFami]

I think this is trying to say that the nose smells [constantly, habitually, regularly, all the time]...
hence Pua [noun class 9] hu-nusa, where hu- is for habitual or regular...
but "the nose smells" seems like a direct translation should be
Pua i-nusa or Pua i-na-nusa...
is this not acceptable?

[machieng]

the sentence is in present simple tense, habitual, so the infix '-hu-' is used. The infix '-na-' is used in present simple tense for non-action verbs ('I like bananas' - 'Ninapenda ndizi') or for verbs in present continuous tense i.e. 'the nose is smelling' - pua linanusa

'Pua' is in the noun class 'Ji/Ma', and if you want to exclude the '-na-', you'd say 'pua lanusa'. For the noun class N/N you'd say 'yanusa'

[Ljmlbor5]

Hi! Could you explain why, if "pua linanusa" (Ji/Ma), I am expected to translate "my nose" with "pua yangu" (N class) instead of "pua langu" (Ji/Ma)? Thanks!

[SimonWerman]

A reasonable explanation -- except that I don't believe the "present tense, habitual" infix -hu- has been introduced yet, has it?

[DatLebbe]

I ain't smart enough... where does the hu comes from? I thought pua inanusa or pua linanusa should be correct, but hunusa sounds very similar to you do not smell ... would like some lesson notes to this topic as well...

[EllieCross2]

As far as I understand the 'hu' indicates that the action is constantly being done - the nose habitually smells

[gloucester5]

how do we distinguish between this habitual prefix and the negative prefix 'hu'?

[machieng]

I discuss it in the comment section of this post

[Kironde_]

Thanks!