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Questions & Answers about Sisi tutaimba wimbo uwanjani.
Why is sisi included even though the verb already has tu- for “we”?
The independent pronoun sisi is optional in Swahili. The real subject is marked by the prefix tu- in tutaimba. You use sisi only for emphasis or clarity. In casual speech you can drop it altogether and say Tutaimba wimbo uwanjani.
What is the morphological breakdown of tutaimba?
tutaimba consists of three parts glued into one word:
- tu-: first‐person plural subject prefix (“we”)
- -ta-: future‐tense marker (“will”)
- imba: verb root (“to sing”)
Put together: tu-ta-imba = “we will sing.”
Why does uwanja become uwanjani and what does the -ni suffix do?
The suffix -ni marks the locative case in Swahili, indicating “at,” “in,” or “on” a place. So:
uwanja (“field” or “stadium”) + -ni → uwanjani (“at the stadium”).
Can I say katika uwanja or kwenye uwanja instead of using the -ni suffix?
Yes.
- katika uwanja means “in the stadium.”
- kwenye uwanja means “at the stadium.”
Using -ni (uwanjani) is simply a more concise, idiomatic way to express location.
What is the plural form of wimbo, and how would the sentence change for multiple songs?
The singular wimbo (“song”) becomes nyimbo (“songs”) in the plural. If you want to say “We will sing songs in the stadium,” you’d say:
Tutaimba nyimbo uwanjani.
How would I express this sentence in the present and past tenses?
Swap out the future marker -ta- for other tense/aspect markers:
- Present: Tunaimba wimbo uwanjani. (“We are singing a song in the stadium.”)
- Past: Tuliimba wimbo uwanjani. (“We sang a song in the stadium.”)
Why are tu, ta, and imba written together as tutaimba without hyphens or spaces?
Standard Swahili orthography treats subject prefixes, tense/aspect markers, object infixes, and the verb root as one agglutinated word. No hyphens or spaces are used; everything attaches directly to the verb root.