Mama, mimi ni mtoto wako wa ngapi?- English translation

Linda, this question has been around for sometime. Well the danger lies in an attempt at direct translation. The grammars of the two languages (Kiswahili and English) are very different. Therefore, to translate that thought into English would require that you first understand the message. The message presumes that there are many children in this family to the extent that this child is baffled, a very unlikely scenario. Be that as it may, the child is therefore dealing with births (the time in which they were born) and the order in which they happened. The other important thing to note is that this statement is in direct speech: the child is addressing its mother. With this information in mind it is now possible to do a translation: “Mother, what is my order of birth among your children?”