unapendeza
The English phrase "you look beautiful" is translated into Swahili as unapendeza.
unapendeza is a compliment used to tell someone that their appearance is attractive or pleasing. While it is often translated as "you look beautiful," it is used more broadly in Swahili to mean "you look lovely" or "you are charming" in a general sense.
What does it mean word for word?
The word unapendeza is composed of the subject prefix u- (you), the tense marker -na- (present continuous) and the verb -pendeza (to be pleasing or attractive).
Which one should you use?
To intensify the compliment, you can say unapendeza sana, which means "you look very beautiful".
How does it change in a sentence?
To say "you all look beautiful" to more than one person, change the subject prefix from u- to m- to get mnapendeza.
Did you know?
- The root of unapendeza is related to penda, which means 'to love'. In Swahili, looking beautiful is linguistically tied to the act of being loved or liked.
- To express that someone is 'exceptionally' beautiful beyond sana, a speaker might use the word ajabu, which literally means 'miracle' or 'wonder'.
- Because unapendeza is so versatile, using it to describe an inanimate object like a room or a piece of art is also grammatically correct and very common.
Examples in context
- Mgeni wetu unaonekana mzuri sana leo.Our guest, you look very beautiful today.
- Twende tuanze siku nzuri pamoja. Wewe ni mrembo sana leo.Let's start a great day together. You look very beautiful today.
- Unapendeza sana leo.You look very beautiful today.
- Unapendeza katika nguo hiyo.You look beautiful in that dress.
- Hakika unapendeza leo.Truly, you look beautiful today.
Example conversation
Said compliments Fatuma before they leave for a party.
- SaidFatuma, unapendeza sana.Fatuma, you look very beautiful.
- FatumaAsante, Said.Thank you, Said.
- SaidRangi hii inakufaa.This color suits you.
- FatumaNashukuru sana.I appreciate it very much.
