English Translation
This bread is stale.
“Mkate huu umeoza.” is a Swahili sentence that means “This bread has spoiled” or “This bread has gone bad” in English.
Let’s break down the components of the sentence for a better understanding:
"Mkate" - This is a noun that means "bread" in English. In Swahili, most nouns belong to specific noun classes which determine the agreements for adjectives and verbs. "Mkate" belongs to the noun class that generally encompasses objects and things without a specific number associated with them.
"Huu" - This is a demonstrative adjective, meaning "this" in English. It agrees with the noun "mkate" denoting that the speaker is referring to a specific bread that is close to, or within sight of, the speaker and the listener. The form "huu" is consistent with the noun class of "mkate," which is why it has the particular prefix "hu-".
"Umeoza" - This is a verb in a compound tense, in this case, the perfect tense. The composition of this verb is as follows:
"U-" is the subject prefix that agrees with the noun "mkate." It denotes the subject of the verb is third-person singular associated with the noun class of "mkate."
"me-" is the tense marker for the perfect tense, indicating that the action has been completed.
"oza" is the verb root meaning "to spoil" or "to rot."
Thus, "umeoza" means "it has spoiled."
Putting it together: “Mkate huu umeoza” literally translates to “Bread this has spoiled,” which we rearrange in English to say, “This bread has spoiled.”
Here is a bit more about the grammar rules in the sentence:
Swahili uses subject-prefixes rather than separate subject pronouns to indicate who is doing the action of the verb.
The adjective in Swahili must agree with the noun in both class and number.
Tense in Swahili is indicated by a specific infix that appears between the subject prefix and the verb root.
In summary, the sentence “Mkate huu umeoza” is informing someone that a particular loaf or piece of bread has gone bad or spoiled, and it uses Swahili noun-adjective agreement and verb conjugation to convey this information.