Baada ya kazi, baba hunywa bia baridi moja tu kabla ya chakula.

After work, father drinks just one cold beer before the meal.

Breakdown of Baada ya kazi, baba hunywa bia baridi moja tu kabla ya chakula.

• kunywa: to drink
• kazi: the work
• baba: the father
• kabla ya: before
• baada ya: after
• chakula: the meal
• baridi: cold
• moja: one
• tu: only
• bia: the beer

Questions & Answers about Baada ya kazi, baba hunywa bia baridi moja tu kabla ya chakula.

What is the function of baada ya kazi, and why is ya needed between baada and kazi?

baada is a noun meaning “after.” To link it with another noun (kazi, “work”) you must use the genitive connector ya. So baada ya kazi literally means “the aftermath of work,” i.e. “after work.” In Swahili you always say baada ya + noun for “after [something].”

How would I say “after my work” instead of just “after work”?

You add a possessive suffix to kazi: baada ya kazi yangu, where -yangu means “my.” The structure remains baada ya + noun + possessive.

Why is the verb hunywa used here, and what tense or aspect does it show?

hunywa comes from the stem nywa (“drink”) with the habitual marker hu-. It expresses a routine or regular action: “he habitually drinks.” If you wanted to describe an action happening right now, you’d use the present progressive anakunywa (“he is drinking”).

In bia baridi, why does baridi come after bia, and why is there no prefix on baridi?

Adjectives in Swahili normally follow the noun they modify. bia (“beer”) is Class 9/10, and Class 9/10 adjectives take a zero agreement prefix, so baridi (“cold”) appears unchanged. Hence bia baridi = “cold beer.”

What does moja tu mean, and why is tu placed after moja?

moja means “one,” and the particle tu means “only” or “just.” You place tu immediately after the word it modifies. Thus moja tu = “only one” or “just one.”

Why is kabla ya chakula used for “before food”? Could I say kabla kula?

Like baada, kabla is a noun and requires the genitive connector ya before another noun: kabla ya chakula = “before the meal/food.” If you want to say “before eating,” you still need ya, but you follow it with a verbal noun (infinitive): kabla ya kula. You cannot drop ya.

Does baada ya kazi have to come at the beginning of the sentence, or can it be moved elsewhere?

Time‐of‐action phrases are flexible. It’s most natural at the start (Baada ya kazi, baba hunywa…), but you could also place it after the verb or at the end without changing the meaning. The basic SVO order remains clear.