Breakdown of Mimi ninatumia ufagio huu kusafisha sebule kila asubuhi.
Questions & Answers about Mimi ninatumia ufagio huu kusafisha sebule kila asubuhi.
In Swahili the verb prefix ni- in ninatumia already tells you the subject is “I.” Therefore Mimi is optional and usually added only for emphasis or clarity. You can perfectly say:
Ninatumia ufagio huu kusafisha sebule kila asubuhi.
ninatumia = ni- (1st person singular subject “I”) + -na- (present/habitual tense marker) + tumia (root “use”).
So it literally means “I am using” or “I use.” The -na- is required to show you’re talking about the present or a habitual action.
- ufagio is formed by the class-3 noun prefix u-
- verb root fagio (“to sweep”), giving “mop.”
- Demonstratives in Swahili must agree with noun classes. Class 3 (U-prefix nouns) uses huu for “this.”
Hence ufagio huu = “this mop.” You could also say huu ufagio, but noun + demonstrative is the more common order.
- safisha by itself is the verb root or the imperative “Clean!”
- kusafisha is the infinitive ku-
- safisha, meaning “to clean.”
In Swahili, when you express purpose right after another verb (here ninatumia), you use the infinitive. So:
ninatumia … kusafisha = “I use … to clean.”
- safisha, meaning “to clean.”
Yes. Adding ili or kwa makes it more explicit:
Ninatumia ufagio huu ili kusafisha sebule kila asubuhi.
or
Ninatumia ufagio huu kwa kusafisha sebule kila asubuhi.
Both mean “I use this mop in order to clean the living room every morning.” But Swahili often drops ili/kwa for brevity when the infinitive already conveys purpose.
Time expressions in Swahili are very flexible. You can place kila asubuhi at the start, in the middle, or at the end:
Kila asubuhi, ninatumia ufagio huu kusafisha sebule.
Ninatumia ufagio huu kila asubuhi kusafisha sebule.
Ninatumia ufagio huu kusafisha sebule kila asubuhi.
All are grammatical; you choose the position for emphasis or style.