wana

Swahili doesn't have a single verb for "to have." Instead, it uses the concept of "to be with" (Have with kuwa na).

In the simple present tense, the "to be" part is dropped. You just attach the subject prefix directly to na. For plural people and animals ("they"), the prefix is wa-, creating wana.

• wa- (they) + na (with) = wana (they have)

Important Rules:
1. Only for people and animals: You cannot use wana to say "the books have" or "the trees have." While people belong to the People in Classes 1 and 2 noun class, animals belong to other classes but still use the wa- prefix because of the Animacy Agreement rule. For inanimate objects, you must use their specific noun class prefix attached to na (for example, vitabu vina for "the books have" or miti ina for "the trees have").
2. Only in the present tense: To say "they had" or "they will have," you must use the full verb kuwa (to be) with the tense marker, like walikuwa na (they had). Note the spelling rule: unlike the single-word present tense wana, in the past and future tenses, the verb and na must be written as two separate words (e.g., walikuwa na, watakuwa na). To negate these past or future forms, you keep the kuwa (for example, hawakuwa na for "they did not have").
3. Don't confuse it with the present tense marker: In a verb like wanasoma (they are reading), the -na- is a Present -na- tense marker, not the word for "have."
4. The negative form is hawana: To say "they don't have," use the They Do Not hawa- prefix to make hawana.
5. Contrast with singular: While wana means "they have" for plural animate subjects, the singular form for "he, she, or it (animal) has" is He or She Has ana.
6. Wana also means children: The word wana is also a very common plural noun meaning "children" (the plural of mwana). Because of this, you might encounter sentences like Wana wana... which simply means "The children have..."
7. Used for states of being: In Swahili, you use wana (they have) with certain abstract nouns to express physical and emotional states where English uses the verb "to be." For example, to say "they are hungry," you say wana njaa (literally "they have hunger"). Other common examples include wana kiu (they are thirsty) and wana furaha (they are happy).
8. Also means "they are with": Because Swahili uses the concept of "to be with" for possession, wana is also actively used to mean "they are with" in a physical sense. For example, Wana Juma translates to "They are with Juma." In this pattern, "they have" and "they are with" are indistinguishable and depend entirely on context.