Mara nyingi wanafunzi wamekuwa wakisahau kujiandaa kabla ya mihadhara.

Often students have been forgetting to prepare themselves before the lectures.

Breakdown of Mara nyingi wanafunzi wamekuwa wakisahau kujiandaa kabla ya mihadhara.

• mwanafunzi: the student
• kuwa: to be
• kabla ya: before
• kusahau: to forget
• mara nyingi: often
• kujiandaa: to prepare
• mhadhara: the lecture

Questions & Answers about Mara nyingi wanafunzi wamekuwa wakisahau kujiandaa kabla ya mihadhara.

What does mara nyingi literally mean, and how is it functioning in this sentence?

Literally, mara nyingi means “many times” (mara = time/occurrence, nyingi = many).

In this sentence it works like the English adverb “often” or “frequently”:

Mara nyingi wanafunzi… = Often, the students…

So it is a frequency expression telling you how regularly the action happens.

Can mara nyingi appear in a different position in the sentence?

Yes. It is most natural at the beginning or just after the subject, but other positions are possible:

• Mara nyingi wanafunzi wamekuwa wakisahau kujiandaa kabla ya mihadhara.
  (Often, students have been forgetting…)

• Wanafunzi mara nyingi wamekuwa wakisahau kujiandaa kabla ya mihadhara.
  (Students often have been forgetting…)

Putting mara nyingi later, e.g.
Wanafunzi wamekuwa mara nyingi wakisahau… is possible but sounds less smooth in everyday Swahili. Native speakers usually keep mara nyingi near the start of the clause.

How is wanafunzi wamekuwa wakisahau built up? What does each part mean?

Breakdown:

• wanafunzi – students (noun, class 2: people in plural)
• wa- – subject prefix for “they” / class 2
• -me- – perfect aspect marker (“have”)
• -kuwa – verb “to be”
• waki- – wa- (they) + -ki- (progressive/continuous marker)
• -sahau – verb “to forget”

So:

• wamekuwa = they have been / they have become
• wakisahau = (while) forgetting, continually forgetting

Together wamekuwa wakisahau is best understood as “have been forgetting” (a continuing or repeated situation over a period of time).

Why wamekuwa wakisahau and not just wamesahau?

• wamesahau = “they have forgotten” (completed action; result now)
• wamekuwa wakisahau = “they have been forgetting” (repeated or ongoing pattern over some time)

So wamekuwa wakisahau emphasizes:

• continuity: this has been happening over a period
• repetition: it keeps happening, not just once

English makes the same distinction: have forgotten vs have been forgetting.

What exactly does the -ki- in wakisahau do?

The -ki- marker usually shows:

• continuous/progressive action – something ongoing
• or a kind of “while …ing” sense in some contexts

In wakisahau:

• wa- (they) + -ki- (progressive) + -sahau (forget)
  = “(while) they are forgetting / they keep forgetting”

Combined with wamekuwa, it gives a perfect progressive sense: “they have been forgetting”.

Why is the subject marker wa- repeated in both wamekuwa and wakisahau?

In Swahili, every finite verb normally carries its own subject prefix, even when verbs appear together:

• wa-me-kuwa wa-ki-sahau
  they-have-been they-PROG-forget

You cannot normally drop the wa- on the second verb the way English can drop “they” in “they have been forgetting” (we don’t say “They have been forgetting are forgetting” in English, but Swahili verb structure is different).

So wamekuwa wakisahau is really two verb forms, both agreeing with the subject wanafunzi via the wa- prefix.

What is the difference between wamekuwa wakisahau, wanasahau, and husahau?

All three can describe repeated behavior, but the nuances differ:

1. wamekuwa wakisahau

   • aspect: perfect + progressive
   • sense: “have been forgetting”
   • suggests a pattern over a recent or relevant period up to now.

2. wanasahau

   • aspect: present (can be continuous or habitual)
   • sense: “they forget / they are forgetting”
   • describes a current, general habit or something happening now.

3. husahau

   • hu- = habitual/general truth marker
   • sense: “they (generally) forget / they tend to forget”
   • often used for regular habits, tendencies, or general truths, less tied to a specific time frame.

Your sentence chooses wamekuwa wakisahau to highlight a recently established or ongoing pattern, not just a timeless habit.

In kujiandaa, what does -ji- mean, and how is kujiandaa different from kuandaa?

-ji- is a reflexive marker, often meaning “oneself”.

• kuandaa = to prepare (something/someone)
• kujiandaa = to prepare oneself (get oneself ready)

In the sentence:

• kujiandaa kabla ya mihadhara
  = “to prepare themselves before lectures”

If you used kuandaa, you would need an object:
kuandaa mihadhara = to prepare the lectures (e.g., the teacher preparing material), which is a different meaning.

Can kujiandaa take an object, like kujiandaa mihadhara?

Normally, kujiandaa is intransitive (no direct object) because it already contains a reflexive meaning: prepare oneself.

You can combine it with prepositional phrases:

• kujiandaa kwa mtihani – to prepare oneself for an exam
• kujiandaa kwa safari – to get ready for a trip

But kujiandaa mihadhara (with a direct object right after it) is not standard; you would say:

• kujiandaa kwa mihadhara – prepare themselves for the lectures
  instead of using the lectures as a direct object of kujiandaa.

How does kabla ya work here, and why do we say kabla ya mihadhara?

kabla = before
ya = “of” / connector agreeing with a noun in class 4 (mi- nouns)

In this pattern:

• kabla ya + noun = “before [the] noun”

So:

• kabla ya mihadhara = before lectures

Other examples:

• kabla ya chakula – before the meal
• kabla ya kazi – before work

If you follow kabla ya with a verb, you use the infinitive:

• kabla ya kwenda – before going
• kabla ya kuanza mihadhara – before starting lectures

What noun class is mihadhara, and what is its singular form?

mihadhara is in noun class 4 (mi- class). The singular is:

• mhadhara – a lecture
• mihadhara – lectures

Class 4 nouns:

• usually have m-/mw- in singular, mi- in plural
• take the ya connector in phrases like kabla ya mihadhara

Other examples:

• mti / miti – tree/trees
• mkutano / mikutano – meeting/meetings

Could I say kabla ya mhadhara instead of kabla ya mihadhara?

Yes, but it changes the meaning:

• kabla ya mhadhara – before the lecture (a single lecture)
• kabla ya mihadhara – before lectures (lectures in general, or more than one lecture)

The sentence as given uses mihadhara to talk about lectures in general or repeatedly, which fits well with mara nyingi (“often”).

Is there a simpler or more colloquial way to say the same idea?

Yes, you could simplify the tense and keep essentially the same meaning:

• Mara nyingi wanafunzi wanasahau kujiandaa kabla ya mihadhara.
  = Often, students forget / are forgetting to prepare before lectures.

or with the habitual marker:

• Mara nyingi wanafunzi husahau kujiandaa kabla ya mihadhara.
  = Often, students tend to forget to prepare before lectures.

The original wamekuwa wakisahau is a bit more precise in aspect (“have been forgetting”), but for many contexts wanasahau or husahau is perfectly natural.