Learn Hardcore Swahili: Mimi nasimulia hadithi kwa watoto nyumbani kila jioni. - I tell stories to the children at home every evening.

In Swahili, verbs normally take both a subject marker and a tense marker as prefixes. The first person singular subject marker is ni- and the present tense marker is -na-, so you’d get ninasimulia (ni- + na- + simulia) for “I narrate.” However, when you use the explicit pronoun Mimi (“I”), you can drop the subject marker ni- on the verb and keep only the tense marker -na-, giving nasimulia (na- + simulia). If you omit Mimi, you must say ninasimulia to indicate “I.”

What is the role of Mimi here? Do we have to use it?

Personal pronouns like Mimi (“I”) are optional in Swahili because the verb prefix already shows the subject. You include Mimi for emphasis or clarity. Without it, Nasimulia hadithi kwa watoto nyumbani kila jioni still means “I narrate a story to the children at home every evening.” Adding Mimi simply stresses “I” as opposed to someone else.

What function does hadithi serve in this sentence?

Hadithi (“story”) is the direct object of the verb simulia (“to narrate”). It answers the question “What is being narrated?”

Why do we say kwa watoto? What does kwa do here?

Kwa is the preposition meaning “to” or “for.” It marks watoto (“children”) as the beneficiary or audience of the narration. Nasimulia hadithi kwa watoto literally means “I narrate a story for/to the children.” Without kwa, watoto would look like a direct object (“to narrate children”), which doesn’t make sense with simulia.

Why is it nyumbani instead of just nyumba?

Nyumbani is the locative form of nyumba (“house/home”), created by adding the suffix -ni to indicate location. So nyumbani means “at home.” Without -ni, nyumba simply names the noun “home” and does not express “at/in.”

In the sentence we see nyumbani kila jioni. Is that the correct order for place and time?

Yes. The typical Swahili order is: Subject + Verb + Object + (Indirect Object) + Place + Time. So nyumbani (place) comes before kila jioni (time). While you can sometimes swap them for emphasis, …nyumbani kila jioni is the neutral, expected order.

What exactly does kila jioni mean, and how is it different from kila usiku?

Kila means “every” or “each.” Jioni is “evening,” so kila jioni = “every evening.” Usiku is “night,” so kila usiku = “every night.” Use jioni for the period before nightfall; use usiku for the later, darker hours.

Is the action here one-time, ongoing, or habitual? How would I make it future or past?

The prefix -na- in Swahili covers both present continuous (“I am narrating”) and habitual (“I narrate regularly”) actions. To express future, change -na- to -ta-: nitasimulia (“I will narrate”). For past, use -li-: nilisimulia (“I narrated”).