Learn Hardcore Swahili: Jicho langu linauma baada ya kusoma kitabu kizuri jioni. - My eye hurts after reading a nice book in the evening.

In Swahili, nouns belong to classes and each class has its own subject‐concord prefix. Jicho (“eye”) is a class 5 noun, and its present‐tense subject prefix is li-. So you get li-na-uma = “it hurts.” If you used ina-uma, that would be the class 9/10 prefix i-, which doesn’t match jicho.

What does langu mean, and why is it attached to jicho?

Langu is the class 5 possessive pronoun for “my.” Possessive pronouns in Swahili agree with the noun class of the possessed item. For class 5 nouns you use -angu (“my”), so jicho langu = “my eye.” If the noun were class 7 (like kitabu), you would use -changu (my book = kitabu changu).

Why do we say baada ya kusoma instead of “after I read” or using a different structure?

Baada ya is the standard way to say “after” in Swahili, but it requires a noun or noun phrase, not a full clause. To turn a verb into a noun phrase we use the infinitive form (ku- + verb root). So kusoma = “reading.” Baada ya kusoma literally means “after the reading.”

Can you explain why the verb is kusoma and not just soma?

In Swahili the infinitive is formed by adding the prefix ku- to the verb root. Here soma is “read,” and ku-soma is “to read” or “reading” (the noun form). After baada ya, you need this nominalized form.

Why does the adjective come after the noun in kitabu kizuri?

In Swahili descriptive adjectives normally follow the noun they modify. So “book” (kitabu) comes first, then “good” (adjective). That adjective also carries the noun class prefix (ki- for class 7), giving kizuri.

Why is kizuri prefixed with ki- instead of saying nzuri?

Like verbs and possessives, adjectives must agree with noun classes. Kitabu is class 7, so its adjective gets the class 7 prefix ki-, turning nzuri into kizuri (“good-CLASS7”).

What role does jioni play here, and why isn’t there a preposition before it?

Jioni means “evening” and, when used to indicate time of day, acts like an adverb in Swahili. Time nouns (asubuhi morning, mchana afternoon, jioni evening, usiku night) don’t need a preposition to mean “in the evening”; you just drop them in at the end (or beginning) of the sentence.

If I wanted to say “my eyes hurt” instead, how would I change the nouns and verbs?

“Eyes” is macho, a class 6 noun (plural of class 5). The possessive “my” becomes yangu for class 6, so macho yangu. The class 6 subject prefix in the present is ya-, giving macho yangu yanauma = “my eyes hurt.”