Juma anasema hatutapika chakula jioni kama tutachelewa sokoni.

Juma says we will not cook food in the evening if we are late at the market.

Breakdown of Juma anasema hatutapika chakula jioni kama tutachelewa sokoni.

• Juma: Juma
• sisi: we
• kwenye: at
• soko: the market
• jioni: the evening
• chakula: the food
• kusema: to say
• kama: if
• kuchelewa: to be late

Questions & Answers about Juma anasema hatutapika chakula jioni kama tutachelewa sokoni.

Why does the sentence use hatu as part of hatutapika?

In Swahili, ha- is a negative marker and tu indicates "we." When combined (hatu-), it forms the negative future tense "we will not." Therefore, hatutapika means "we will not cook."

What role does kama play in this sentence?

Kama generally means "if" in Swahili. In this context, kama tutachelewa sokoni translates to "if we will be late at the market."

Why is there a future tense marker in tutachelewa?

Tuta- is the future tense marker for "we" in Swahili, showing that the action of "being late" happens in the future. Hence, tutachelewa means "we will be late."

Why is the sentence structured as "Juma anasema hatutapika…” instead of saying "Juma anasema kwamba hatutapika"?

In Swahili, you can introduce reported speech directly after anasema without using kwamba ("that"). Using kwamba is optional and can sometimes make the statement sound more formal or explicit, but it is not always necessary.

What does chakula jioni literally mean?

Chakula jioni is literally "food (of the) evening." It’s commonly understood as "dinner" or "supper" in English.