Learn Hardcore Swahili: Wazee na vijana wamekuwa wakifanya mazoezi ya kwaya kila wikendi. - Elders and youths have been doing choir practice every weekend.

So Wazee na vijana wamekuwa wakifanya mazoezi ya kwaya kila wikendi =
“The elders and the youth have been doing choir practice every weekend.”

Why are there two parts, wamekuwa and wakifanya? How are they built?

Both are verb forms with their own subject marker:

wamekuwa
- wa- = they (subject marker for people, plural)
- -me- = perfect aspect (“have”)
- -kuwa = to be
  → “they have been / they have become”
wakifanya
- wa- = they (subject marker again)
- -ki- = “while / in the process of / as (they)”
- -fanya = do
  → “while (they are) doing / (they) doing”

Together: wamekuwa wakifanya = “they have been (in a state of) doing …”.

The wa- is repeated because in Swahili each verb or verb-like form normally carries its own subject marker.

Could I just say Wazee na vijana wanafanya mazoezi ya kwaya kila wikendi instead? What’s the difference?

You can say that, but the nuance changes:

wanafanya = “they do / they are doing” (simple present / present continuous).
- Wana... is more neutral or habitual:
  - “The elders and the youth do choir practice every weekend.”
  - This describes a routine, but doesn’t highlight how long it has been going on.
wamekuwa wakifanya = “they have been doing”.
- Emphasizes that this is an activity that has been happening over a period of time up to now.
- Sounds a bit more like you are reporting on an ongoing pattern, possibly recently established or newly relevant.

So:

wanafanya → simple habit or current action.
wamekuwa wakifanya → ongoing / repeated activity from past up to now.

What does mazoezi mean, and why is it plural?

Mazoezi means exercises, practice, training, drills.

Singular: zoezi (exercise).
Plural: mazoezi (exercises).

In practice, for things like physical training, choir practice, military drills, etc., Swahili usually uses the plural form mazoezi even if English would often say “practice” in the singular.

Examples:

mazoezi ya nyimbo – singing practice
mazoezi ya viungo – physical exercises

Why is it mazoezi ya kwaya, not mazoezi za kwaya or something else?

Because the connective ya must agree with the noun mazoezi, not with kwaya.

mazoezi belongs to noun class 6 (the ma- class, plural).
The “of” connector for class 6 is ya.

So:

mazoezi ya kwaya = “choir exercises / choir practice”.

If the head noun were from a different class, the connector would change, for example:

nyimbo za kwaya – choir songs (here nyimbo is class 10 → za)

What is the difference between kwaya by itself and mazoezi ya kwaya?

kwaya = choir (the group) or choir music.
- e.g. Kwaya imeimba vizuri. – “The choir has sung well.”
mazoezi ya kwaya = choir practice (the activity of rehearsing).
- Literally, “exercises of choir.”

So in the sentence, it’s clear we are talking about choir practice / rehearsal, not just “the choir” itself.

What are the singular forms of wazee, vijana, and mazoezi?

wazee (elders, old people)
- Singular: mzee (elder, old person)
vijana (young people, youths)
- Singular: kijana (a young person, youth)
mazoezi (exercises, practice)
- Singular: zoezi (an exercise)

Note:

mzee / wazee and kijana / vijana are in the human class (1/2) and take m-/wa- agreement, which is why the subject marker on the verb is wa-.
zoezi / mazoezi is class 5/6 with ∅-/ma-.

Does wazee mean “old people” in a negative way, or “elders” in a respectful way?

Wazee can mean either, depending on context and tone:

Neutral/respectful: “elders,” people who are older and respected in the community or family.
- e.g. Wazee wa kijiji – village elders.
More literal/age-focused: “old people,” just referring to older individuals without a particular role.

In this sentence, wazee na vijana often feels like a respectful pairing: “elders and youth,” suggesting different generations participating together.

What role does na play in wazee na vijana? Could it also mean “with”?

Here na clearly means “and”:

wazee na vijana = “elders and youth”.

In general:

When na joins two nouns like X na Y, it usually means and.
When na comes after a verb, it often means with or “having”:
- Anatembea na kijana wake. – “He is walking with his son.”
- Ana nyumba na gari. – “He has a house and a car.”

So, in this sentence, because na is directly between two nouns acting as a compound subject, it is “and.”

Why is the verb subject marker wa- (in wamekuwa, wakifanya) when the subject is wazee na vijana?

Both wazee and vijana are human nouns in noun class 2 (the wa- plural class), even though they look different:

mzee (sg.) → wazee (pl.)
kijana (sg.) → vijana (pl.)

But in terms of agreement (verb prefixes, adjectives, etc.), both belong to the same wa- class in the plural.

When you join them with na, you still have a plural human subject, so you use the class-2 subject marker wa-:

Wazee na vijana wamekuwa wakifanya...

Why is it kila wikendi and not something like a plural form of “weekends”?

In Swahili, kila (“every”) is normally followed by a singular noun:

kila siku – every day
kila wiki – every week
kila mwaka – every year

So you say:

kila wikendi – every weekend

Even though in English we might say “every weekend” (with a plural idea), Swahili keeps the noun singular after kila. Also, wikendi is a borrowed noun from English “weekend,” and it’s commonly used in the singular in this expression.

Can the position of kila wikendi move in the sentence?

Yes. Swahili word order is fairly flexible for adverbials like time expressions. You could say, for example:

Kila wikendi, wazee na vijana wamekuwa wakifanya mazoezi ya kwaya.
Wazee na vijana kila wikendi wamekuwa wakifanya mazoezi ya kwaya. (less common, but understandable)

Putting kila wikendi at the end, as in the original, is very natural:
Wazee na vijana wamekuwa wakifanya mazoezi ya kwaya kila wikendi.

How would I say this sentence in the negative: “The elders and the youth have not been doing choir practice every weekend”?

You negate the perfect -me- with -ja-, and also negate kuwa:

Wazee na vijana hawajakuwa wakifanya mazoezi ya kwaya kila wikendi.

Breakdown of hawajakuwa:

ha- = negative
-wa- = they (subject marker)
-ja- = negative perfect (“have not”)
-kuwa = been

So the whole sentence means:
“The elders and the youth have not been doing choir practice every weekend.”