Learn Hardcore Swahili: Ndimo nilimoweka vitabu vyako jana usiku. - That is where I put your books last night.

ndimo is a focused locative meaning roughly “it is in there/inside that (place).”
It’s built from the focus/copulative ndi- (“it is indeed”) + the locative ending -mo (“inside, within”).
It’s typically used to highlight the location, like an English cleft: “It’s in there that …”

Why does the verb have -mo in nilimoweka?

The -mo inside the verb is the locative relative marker meaning “where (inside).”
Structure: ni-li-mo-wek-a = I + past + where-inside + put + final vowel.
Together with ndimo, it creates a clefted relative clause: “It is in there that I put …”

Do I need both ndimo at the start and -mo in the verb?

In the classic cleft construction, yes: the initial ndi-… focus word and the matching locative relative (-mo) normally go together.
Natural alternatives if you don’t want the cleft:
- Humo niliweka vitabu vyako jana usiku.
- Niliweka vitabu vyako humo jana usiku.
Using ndimo but dropping -mo in the verb is usually considered nonstandard or at least less elegant.

Could I use ndipo or ndiko instead of ndimo?

Yes, but choose based on the type of location:
- ndipo … -po … = “at that place (general ‘at’)”
- ndiko … -ko … = “over there/that place (far/unspecified)”
- ndimo … -mo … = “inside (within) that place”
Example parallels:
- Ndipo nilipoweka … (general ‘there’)
- Ndiko nilikoweka … (far/that place)
- Ndimo nilimoweka … (inside)

Please break down nilimoweka morphologically.

ni- (I) + -li- (past) + -mo- (locative relative “where inside”) + wek (root “put”) + -a (final vowel)
Full segmentation: ni-li-mo-wek-a.

Is the m in nilimoweka the object marker “him/her”?

No. The m you see is part of -mo (the locative relative).
If you actually wanted the object marker for a person (class 1), it would come after -mo, e.g., ni-li-mo-m-wek-a = “I put him/her in there.”

Where would the object marker for vitabu go if I wanted to include it?

After the relative marker: ni-li-mo-vi-wek-a → “nilimoviweka.”
Object marking is optional here; you usually add it for topicalization/emphasis or when the object is pronominal. With an explicit noun (vitabu vyako), many speakers omit it.

Why is it vitabu vyako and not vitabu yako?

vitabu is noun class 8 (plural of class 7 kitabu).
The possessive agreement for class 8 is vy-, hence vyako (your, singular). For plural “your,” it would be vyenu.

Can I replace ndimo with humo?

Yes, but then you normally don’t use the cleft/relative form:
- Humo niliweka vitabu vyako jana usiku.
- Niliweka vitabu vyako humo jana usiku.
You may also see emphatic combinations like Humo ndimo …, which strongly highlights the location, but that’s more rhetorical.

Can I move jana usiku? Are there other ways to say “last night”?

You can place it at the start or end:
- Jana usiku ndimo nilimoweka vitabu vyako.
- Ndimo nilimoweka vitabu vyako jana usiku.
Variants: jana usiku (very common) or usiku wa jana (“the night of yesterday,” a bit more formal). Avoid usiku jana.

Does this sentence sound formal or emphatic? What’s a more neutral spoken version?

The ndimo … nilimoweka cleft is fairly emphatic and somewhat formal/bookish.
A neutral conversational version is: Niliweka vitabu vyako humo jana usiku.

How would I say it with a specific place like “in the cupboard”?

How do I negate the idea without the cleft?

Simple, natural negation: Sikuviweka humo jana usiku. (“I didn’t put them in there last night.”)
If you kept the cleft, the negation becomes more complex and is less common in everyday speech, so most speakers switch to the simpler structure above.