Nataka ujifunze upole ili uepuke kuwasumbua watu wengine bila sababu.

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Breakdown of Nataka ujifunze upole ili uepuke kuwasumbua watu wengine bila sababu.

• wewe: you
• kutaka: to want
• kujifunza: to learn

Questions & Answers about Nataka ujifunze upole ili uepuke kuwasumbua watu wengine bila sababu.

Why is it nataka ujifunze and not nataka kujifunza?

Because the sentence means I want you to learn..., not I want to learn...

In Swahili, after a verb of wanting like nataka, you often use the subjunctive when you want someone else to do something:

• Nataka ujifunze = I want you to learn
• Nataka kujifunza = I want to learn

So ujifunze shows that the speaker is talking about your action, not their own.

What is ujifunze made of?

Ujifunze can be broken down like this:

• u- = you (singular subject prefix)
• -ji- = reflexive element, often understood as yourself
• -funz- = verb root related to teaching/learning
• -e = subjunctive ending

So kujifunza is the dictionary form, meaning to learn / to study.

A helpful comparison is:

• kufunza = to teach
• kujifunza = to learn

Historically, it is like to teach oneself, though in modern Swahili you usually just learn kujifunza as the normal verb for to learn.