Embedded and Indirect Questions | Swahili Grammar

An indirect question makes the unknown information part of a larger sentence: “I do not know whether the office is open” or “She asked when the bus would leave.” Standard Swahili introduces an embedded yes–no alternative with kama and retains an embedded wh-form such as lini, wapi, nani, nini, or agreeing -pi.

The embedded clause keeps statement-like Swahili order. It does not copy English do-support or auxiliary inversion, and its finite verb chooses agreement and time reference for the embedded event rather than mechanically copying the matrix verb.

Polar questions: kama means “whether/if”

After verbs of asking, knowing, checking, remembering, deciding, or wondering, kama can introduce a question whose answer is yes or no.

Sijui kama ofisi ya posta imefunguliwa leo.

I do not know whether the post office is open today.

Msimamizi aliuliza kama tutamaliza hesabu kabla ya jioni.

The supervisor asked whether we would finish the calculations before evening.

Tafadhali angalia kama maji yamerudi kwenye bomba la jikoni.

Please check whether the water has returned to the kitchen tap.

The word kama also has conditional and comparative uses elsewhere. Here the selecting expressions sijui, aliuliza, and angalia create an unresolved information choice: true or false. This page limits itself to that “whether/if” use.

Add au la “or not” when both poles need to be explicit:

Hatujaamua kama tutasafiri Jumamosi au la.

We have not decided whether we will travel on Saturday or not.

The question is embedded under hatujaamua. The whole sentence is a statement, so it ends with a period rather than a question mark.

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Use kama for an embedded yes–no gap. Use kwamba for declarative content that the speaker presents as a proposition; the two complementizers do not do the same job.

Content questions retain the wh-form

If the direct question asks for a person, thing, place, time, reason, manner, quantity, or selection, keep the corresponding interrogative in the embedded clause.

Direct question	Embedded form
Wageni watawasili lini?	Sijui wageni watawasili lini.
Umeweka funguo wapi?	Aliniuliza nimeweka funguo wapi.
Nani atasaini?	Tunataka kujua nani atasaini.
Tutatumia ukumbi upi?	Aliuliza tutatumia ukumbi upi.

Nataka kujua treni ya mwisho itaondoka lini usiku huu.

I want to know when the last train will leave tonight.

Mhasibu alituuliza tulikuwa tumeweka risiti za mwezi uliopita wapi.

The accountant asked us where we had put last month's receipts.

Bado hatujafahamu nani atakayesimamia kituo kipya cha afya.

We still have not found out who will manage the new health center.

Kamati inataka kujua tutakodisha gari lipi kwa ziara ya vijijini.

The committee wants to know which car we will rent for the rural tour.

The final example keeps class 5 gari lipi. Embedding does not make -pi invariant. The finite verb tutakodisha remains a single word with first-person plural subject and future TAM.

Statement-like order, not English inversion

English contrasts direct “When will the train leave?” with embedded “Do you know when the train will leave?” Swahili does not perform that auxiliary movement in either clause. Compare:

Treni itaondoka lini?

When will the train leave?

Unajua treni itaondoka lini?

Do you know when the train will leave?

The second entire sentence is itself a direct yes–no question, so it takes a question mark. Inside it, treni itaondoka lini keeps subject–verb–time-question order. No equivalent of English “will” moves before treni.

Wh-fronting can occur for discourse focus, but it is not triggered by embedding. Neutral indirect questions are easiest to build by placing the interrogative where the answer would occur; see wh-words in situ.

Matrix and embedded time are independent

A past verb of asking does not force the embedded event into ordinary past. The event may be earlier, simultaneous, or later relative to that question.

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Give the matrix and embedded verbs separate timelines. First date the act of asking or knowing; then decide whether the event asked about was earlier, simultaneous, or later.

Jana meneja aliuliza kama wageni watafika kabla ya mkutano wa leo.

Yesterday the manager asked whether the guests would arrive before today's meeting.

Matrix aliuliza is past, while embedded watafika is future because the arrival was later than the asking and is still presented prospectively.

Daktari alitaka kujua nilikuwa nimeanza kuhisi maumivu lini.

The doctor wanted to know when I had begun to feel pain.

Here nilikuwa nimeanza places the onset before the past medical inquiry.

Najiuliza kwa nini gharama zimeongezeka sana mwezi huu.

I wonder why the costs have increased so much this month.

The present matrix najiuliza contains a perfect embedded event zimeongezeka. Choose each TAM from the intended timeline, not from an English backshift formula.

Short dialogue: neutral, focused, and answered

Neutral embedded wh-question

A: Unajua semina itaanza lini kesho?

A: Do you know when the seminar will start tomorrow?

Focused alternatives inside a polar question

A: Unajua kama itaanza saa nne au saa tano?

A: Do you know whether it will start at ten or eleven?

Natural full-clause answer

B: Ndiyo, mratibu amesema semina itaanza saa tano kamili.

B: Yes, the coordinator said that the seminar will start at exactly eleven.

The first asks for an open time value. The second narrows the alternatives with kama...au.... The answer supplies a complete proposition with class 9 semina itaanza.

Reporting versus quoting

Direct speech preserves the original question and quotation punctuation:

Asha aliuliza, “Mkutano utaanza saa ngapi?”

Asha asked, “What time will the meeting begin?”

Indirect reporting integrates the content:

Asha aliuliza mkutano utaanza saa ngapi.

Asha asked what time the meeting would begin.

Person, place, and time expressions may also shift if the reporting viewpoint changes. The larger contrast belongs on the direct and indirect speech page.

Register and punctuation

Embedded kama and in-situ wh-forms are neutral across (informal) and (formal) Standard Swahili. Explicit matrix phrases such as ningependa kujua “I would like to know” soften questions in (formal) service encounters. Dense multiple embedding is more common in (academic) and administrative prose, but the word-order rule remains the same. A statement containing an indirect question takes a period; use a question mark only when the whole utterance is itself a direct question.

Common Mistakes

Using kwamba for an unresolved yes–no question

❌ Sijui kwamba duka limefunguliwa au la.

Incorrect — kwamba introduces declarative content, not the whether/or-not choice here.

✅ Sijui kama duka limefunguliwa leo au la.

I do not know whether the shop is open today or not.

Doubling kama with direct-question je

❌ Aliniuliza kama je nimeleta kitambulisho.

Incorrect — kama already introduces the embedded polar question.

✅ Aliniuliza kama nimeleta kitambulisho changu.

He or she asked me whether I had brought my identification.

Adding an English-style do verb

❌ Sijui lini kufanya wageni watawasili hotelini.

Incorrect — kufanya cannot serve as embedded English 'do.'

✅ Sijui wageni watawasili hotelini lini.

I do not know when the guests will arrive at the hotel.

Ignoring -pi agreement inside the embedded clause

❌ Kamati iliuliza tutatumia chumba lipi kwa mahojiano.

Incorrect — class 7 chumba requires kipi.

✅ Kamati iliuliza tutatumia chumba kipi kwa mahojiano.

The committee asked which room we would use for the interviews.

Copying matrix past onto a later embedded event

❌ Jana meneja aliuliza kama wageni walifika siku iliyofuata.

Incorrect for the intended later arrival — walifika presents it as completed past.

✅ Jana meneja aliuliza kama wageni watafika siku iliyofuata.

Yesterday the manager asked whether the guests would arrive the following day.

Key Takeaways

Introduce embedded yes–no questions with kama.
Retain the appropriate wh-form for embedded content questions.
Keep statement-like Swahili order; do not add English do-support or auxiliary inversion.
Agreement remains active, including class-agreeing -pi.
Choose embedded TAM from the event's timeline, independently of the matrix speech or thought verb.

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