Asubuhi mama hutupikia uji wa mahindi uliochemshwa polepole.

In the morning mother cooks us maize porridge that has been boiled slowly.

Breakdown of Asubuhi mama hutupikia uji wa mahindi uliochemshwa polepole.

• asubuhi: in the morning
• mama: the mother
• wa: of
• mahindi: the maize
• polepole: slowly
• kupikia: to cook for
• uji: the porridge
• kuchemshwa: to be boiled

Questions & Answers about Asubuhi mama hutupikia uji wa mahindi uliochemshwa polepole.

What does the word Asubuhi mean, and how is it used in this sentence?

• Asubuhi is a time noun meaning “morning.”
• In Swahili you can place a time noun at the start of a sentence without a preposition (no need for “in” or “during”).
• Here Asubuhi tells us when the action (“mom cooks porridge”) happens.

How is the verb hutupikia formed, and what does each part mean?

Breakdown of hutupikia:
• hu- = habitual tense marker (she regularly/always does this)
• -tu- = object marker “us” (1st person plural)
• piki = root from kupikia (“to cook for”)
• -a = final vowel for indicative verbs
Putting it together, hutupikia means “she habitually cooks for us.”

What’s the difference between kupika and kupikia?

• kupika = “to cook” (general cooking; may not specify for whom)
• kupikia = “to cook for” (the -ia applicative extension makes the verb take an indirect object: you cook for somebody)

Why is it uji wa mahindi and not uji ya mahindi?

• Swahili uses different genitive connectors depending on the noun class of the head noun.
• uji (porridge) is in noun class 11, whose connector is wa.
• Therefore uji wa mahindi = “porridge of maize.”

Why is mahindi plural, and what does it refer to here?

• mahindi is always plural in Swahili; there is no singular form for “corn/maize.”
• It refers to the maize grain or the corn used to make the porridge.

What does uliochemshwa polepole mean, and how is it constructed?

This is a relative clause modifying uji (“porridge”). It means “that was slowly cooked.”
Breakdown:

1. u- = relative prefix for class 11 (“which/that” referring to uji)
2. li- = past tense marker
3. o- = relative extension (joins the verb to the noun)
4. chemsha = “to boil”
5. -w- = passive extension (“be boiled”)
6. -a = final vowel
7. polepole = adverb “slowly” (placed after the verb)

Why is polepole placed at the end of the sentence instead of next to chemsha?

In Swahili the adverb of manner usually follows the entire verb or verb phrase it modifies. Hence uliochemshwa polepole rather than polepole uliochemshwa.

Can you have both a subject noun and a subject marker in the verb, as in mama hutupikia?

Yes. Swahili often uses a noun (here mama) plus a subject/tense marker (here hu- for 3 sg habitual). The noun gives clarity or emphasis, while the marker carries grammatical information.