aliye

The word aliye is highly frequent and is the standard, elegant way to express "who is" for animate subjects (people and animals) in the present tense. It can also stand alone without a noun to mean "he/she who is" or "the one who is".

How to use it:
Place aliye after the noun (and any possessives/adjectives), and immediately before the description, or use it on its own.

• Mtu aliye tayari (The person who is ready)
• Aliye tayari (The one who is ready)
• Mbwa aliye mkali (The dog who is fierce)

Plural, Negative, and Inanimate Forms:

• Plural: For plural animate nouns (Class 2), use walio ("who are"). Example: Wanafunzi walio wagonjwa (The students who are sick).
• Negative: To say "who is not", the -li- is replaced by the negative marker -si-, forming asiye (singular) and wasio (plural).
• Inanimate Nouns: aliye is strictly for nouns taking Class 1 animate agreement. Do not use it for inanimate objects; instead, use the relative copula for that specific noun class, formed by the formula Subject Prefix + -li- + Relative Suffix (e.g., ki-li-cho for Class 7, i-li-yo for Class 9).

Important Distinctions:

• Present Tense Only: Despite containing -li-, aliye strictly means "who is". The -li- here is an ancient root for "to be", not the past tense marker. To say "who was", you must use the full verb kuwa: aliyekuwa (and the negative "who was not" is asiyekuwa).
• Compared to ambaye ni: You will also hear ambaye ni to mean "who is". While correct, aliye is the older, more native-like form and is preferred in standard Swahili.
• Having (Who Has): By simply adding na, you form aliye na to mean "who has" (e.g., Mtu aliye na kitabu - The person who has a book). The negative forms are asiye na (who does not have) and wasio na (who do not have). If referring to a pronoun object, na combines with a relative enclitic matching the object's class (e.g., Mtu aliye nalo - The person who has it [Class 5]).
• Location: When describing where someone is, aliye takes a locative suffix, becoming aliyeko, aliyepo, or aliyemo (e.g., Mtu aliyeko nyumbani - The person who is at home). To say "who is not" at a location, combine the negative marker with the locative suffix, forming words like asiyeko (who is not there) or wasiopo (who are not here).