When to use it
Use it when travelling and you need a train to another town.
The sentence in English — “Where is the nearest train station?”
In “Where is the nearest train station?” ‘nearest’ adds ‘-est’ to ‘near’ and needs ‘the’.
- Where
- adverbquestion word asking about place
- is
- verbbe · tense: present · person: third · number: singular · form of "to be"; here it says where something is
- the
- determinerdefinite article
- nearest
- adjectivesuperlative of "near"
- train
- nounnoun; it says what kind of station
- station
- nounnoun
The sentence in Swahili — “Kituo cha treni kilicho karibu kiko wapi?”
In “Kituo cha treni kilicho karibu kiko wapi?” ‘nearest’ is a relative clause: ‘kilicho karibu’ (which is near). Both ‘kilicho’ and ‘kiko’ carry ‘ki-’ to agree with ‘kituo’ (station).
- Kituo
- noun'station', KI class
- cha
- preposition'of', agreeing with kituo
- treni
- noun'train', from English
- kilicho
- verb-li · class: KI · form: relative (-cho) · ki- + -li + -cho 'which is'
- karibu
- adverb'near'; here the nearest
- kiko
- verb-ko · class: KI · tense: present · 'is located', agreeing with kituo
- wapi
- adverb'where', closing the question
English × Swahili — What changes from one language to the other
English uses the suffix ‘-est’; Swahili a relative clause after the noun.
Example conversation
— Kituo cha treni kilicho karibu kiko wapi?
— Where is the nearest train station?
— Tembea moja kwa moja kwa dakika kumi.
— Walk straight ahead for ten minutes.