- Forum >
- Topic: Swahili >
- "The nose smells"
"The nose smells"
Translation:Pua hunusa
9 Comments
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 la
nusa'. For the noun class N/N you'd say 'ya
nusa'
241
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!
291
A reasonable explanation -- except that I don't believe the "present tense, habitual" infix -hu- has been introduced yet, has it?
258
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...