Learn Hardcore Swahili: Farasi anakunywa maji mtoni asubuhi. - The horse drinks water at the river in the morning.

In Swahili, a verb like anakunywa is built from three pieces:
• a- = 3rd person singular subject prefix (he/she/it).
• -na- = present tense/aspect marker (expressing either habitual or ongoing action).
• kunywa = the infinitive stem to drink (here the ku- remains part of the stem).
So a-na-kunywa literally means “he/she is drinking” or “drinks.”

How is the locative mtoni formed from mto, and what does it mean?

mto means river. To show “in/at the river,” Swahili adds the locative suffix -ni directly onto the noun:
mto → mtoni
Thus mtoni means “at/in the river.”

In English we say “in the river” or “at the river”—why don’t we see a separate word for “in” or “at” before mtoni?

Swahili uses locative suffixes instead of separate prepositions. Attaching -ni to mto turns the noun itself into “in/at the river”, so no extra word (like katika or kwenye) is needed.

Why are there no words for “the” or “a” before farasi, maji, mtoni, or asubuhi?

Swahili does not use articles (a/the) like English. Nouns stand alone, and context (or demonstratives such as huyu, hiyo) tells you whether something is definite or indefinite.

What is the typical word order for subject, verb, object, location, and time in Swahili?

The usual pattern is:
Subject → Verb → Object → Location (place) → Time.
In our example:
Farasi (S)
anakunywa (V)
maji (O)
mtoni (place)
asubuhi (time)

How would I turn Farasi anakunywa maji mtoni asubuhi into a question like “Is the horse drinking water in the river in the morning?”

Simply add the question marker je at the start (and/or use rising intonation):
Je, farasi anakunywa maji mtoni asubuhi?
In casual speech you can drop je and just raise your voice at the end: Farasi anakunywa maji mtoni asubuhi?

How do I change the sentence to past or future tense?

Swap out the present marker -na- for other tense markers:
• Past (simple): -li- → Farasi alikunywa maji mtoni asubuhi.
• Future (simple): -ta- → Farasi atakunywa maji mtoni asubuhi.
In each case, the subject prefix a- stays the same; only the tense/aspect infix changes.