Breakdown of Ndege inakuja kesho asubuhi.
asubuhi
in the morning
kesho
tomorrow
kuja
to come
ndege
the plane
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Questions & Answers about Ndege inakuja kesho asubuhi.
What does ndege mean in this sentence?
Ndege is a noun meaning airplane (however it can also mean bird in other contexts). Here, given the verb inakuja (“is coming”), it clearly refers to an airplane.
Why is there no article like the or a before ndege?
Swahili does not use separate words for indefinite or definite articles. A bare noun can be translated as “a,” “an,” or “the” in English, depending on context. So ndege can mean a plane or the plane without changing its form.
Which noun class does ndege belong to, and how does that affect the verb?
Ndege is in noun class 9 (and its plural class 10). Class 9/10 nouns take the subject concord i- on verbs in the present tense. That is why the verb begins with i- in inakuja.
How is inakuja formed? What do its parts i-, -na-, and -kuja indicate?
Breakdown of inakuja:
• i- = subject prefix for class 9/10 (it)
• -na- = present tense/aspect marker (is …)
• -kuja = verb stem meaning come
Put together literally “it is coming.”
What tense or aspect does the na marker in inakuja represent?
-na- marks the simple present or present continuous. When you include a future time adverbial (like kesho), this same marker often carries a “near future” or scheduled-future sense: “is coming” = “will come.”
What does kesho mean, and why isn’t there an extra word for “will”?
Kesho means tomorrow. You don’t need a separate word for “will” in Swahili because linking the present-tense verb marker na with a future time word like kesho already conveys “will.”
What time of day is asubuhi, and how precise is it?
Asubuhi means morning (roughly from sunrise until about 10–11 AM). It’s a general time adverbial, not a clock time; you could specify more (e.g. saa mbili asubuhi “at 8 AM”), but asubuhi alone simply means during the morning.
Why is there no preposition before asubuhi, unlike English “in the morning”?
Time words in Swahili (like asubuhi, jioni, usiku) function as adverbials on their own. No preposition is required. You can say kesho asubuhi straight—literally “tomorrow morning.”