Learn Hardcore Swahili: Asubuhi kulikuwa na ukungu karibu na mto, kwa hiyo hatukuona machweo vizuri jana. - In the morning there was fog near the river, so we didn’t see the sunset well yesterday.

Asubuhi kulikuwa na ukungu karibu na mto, kwa hiyo hatukuona machweo vizuri jana.

In the morning there was fog near the river, so we didn’t see the sunset well yesterday.

Breakdown of Asubuhi kulikuwa na ukungu karibu na mto, kwa hiyo hatukuona machweo vizuri jana.

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Questions & Answers about Asubuhi kulikuwa na ukungu karibu na mto, kwa hiyo hatukuona machweo vizuri jana.

Why can Asubuhi stand alone at the beginning? Why not kwa asubuhi or in the morning literally?

Time expressions in Swahili are often just bare nouns placed either at the beginning or end of the sentence, with no preposition.

Asubuhi = in the morning / this morning / at morning (time)
No extra word like kwa, katika, or muda wa is needed in normal speech.

So:

Asubuhi kulikuwa na ukungu… = In the morning there was fog…
Jana nilifanya kazi sana. = Yesterday I worked a lot.

If you add a preposition, it becomes more marked or specific:

Katika asubuhi ya leo – in this morning / during this morning (more formal, specific)

In everyday Swahili, just Asubuhi at the front is the normal way to say In the morning.

What exactly does kulikuwa mean, and how is it formed?

Kulikuwa is the Swahili way of saying there was / there were in the past.

Morphologically:

ku- – impersonal / locative-like subject marker (think: there / somewhere)
-li- – past tense marker
kuwa – verb to be

So ku-li-kuwa → kulikuwa = there was / there were.

In sentences:

Kulikuwa na ukungu. – There was fog.
Kulikuwa na watu wengi. – There were many people.

It does not mean “to be able” (that is kuweza); it genuinely is the verb kuwa (to be) plus the existential subject ku-.

Why do we say kulikuwa na ukungu to mean there was fog? What is the function of na here?

The pattern kulikuwa na + noun is a very common way to express existence:

kulikuwa na ukungu – there was fog
literally: there was with fog

Here na literally means with, but the whole phrase acts like the English there was / were construction. More examples:

Kulikuwa na matatizo. – There were problems.
Kulikuwa na kelele nyingi. – There was a lot of noise.

You could, in theory, say Ukungu ulikuwa (upo) – The fog existed / The fog was there, but the standard, most natural way to introduce that something existed in a situation is Kulikuwa na X.

Why is it karibu na mto and not karibu ya mto or just karibu mto?

Karibu na is the normal way to say near / close to in Standard Swahili.

karibu – near
karibu na mto – near the river

You’ll most often see:

karibu na nyumbani – near home
karibu na soko – near the market
karibu na barabara – near the road

Using ya would be unusual here (karibu ya mto sounds wrong or very dialectal).
Leaving out the na also sounds incomplete in Standard Swahili: karibu mto is not how proximity is usually expressed.

Alternative ways:

kando ya mto – at the edge/side of the river
mtoni – at the river (locative form of mto)

But for near the river, karibu na mto is the standard phrasing.

What does kwa hiyo literally mean, and how does it end up meaning so / therefore?

Literally:

kwa – by, with, because of
hiyo – that (demonstrative, class 9/10)

So kwa hiyo originally means something like because of that / for that reason. From that literal sense, it developed the discourse use:

kwa hiyo = so, therefore, as a result

In practice:

Kulikuwa na ukungu, kwa hiyo hatukuona machweo vizuri.
– There was fog, so we didn’t see the sunset well.

Similar connectors:

kwa hivyo – very similar, also so / therefore
basi – so / then / well, a bit more conversational

In this sentence, kwa hiyo is perfectly natural and neutral.

How is hatukuona formed, and why is ku used for the past tense in the negative?

Hatukuona = we did not see.

Breakdown:

ha- – negative marker
-tu- – subject marker we
-ku- – past tense in the negative
-ona – verb stem see

So: ha-tu-ku-ona → hatukuona.

Compare with the affirmative past:

tuli-ona – we saw
- tu- (we) + -li- (past) + -ona (see)

Swahili uses -li- for the ordinary past, but switches to -ku- for the negative past.

More examples:

Sikula. – I did not eat. (si- + -ku- + -la)
Hakuenda. – He/she did not go. (ha- + -ku- + -enda)

So ku here is not the infinitive marker; it’s the special negative-past tense marker.

Where does the object marker for machweo go? Could we say hatukuyaona machweo vizuri jana?

The object marker for a class 6 noun (machweo is class 6, ma- class) is -ya-.

So, if you wanted to include an object marker referring back to machweo, you’d put it after the tense marker:

ha-tu-ku-ya-ona → hatukuyaona

Possible sentences:

Jana kulikuwa na ukungu, kwa hiyo hatukuyaona machweo vizuri.
– Yesterday there was fog, so we didn’t see them (the sunsets) well.

In your original sentence:

hatukuona machweo vizuri jana

there is no object marker. That’s perfectly fine; the direct object machweo is stated openly after the verb. An object marker is optional unless you’re topicalizing or the object is already strongly known in context.

What kind of noun is machweo? Is it singular or plural?

Machweo belongs to noun class 6 (ma-, usually paired with class 5).

Semantically:

It refers to sunset(s) or the act/time of the sun setting.
In many contexts, machweo can behave like a singular mass/abstract noun in meaning:
- Tulifurahia machweo. – We enjoyed the sunset.

Grammatically, though, it triggers class 6 agreement:

Machweo mazuri – beautiful sunset(s)
Machweo yalionekana vizuri. – The sunsets / the sunset appeared clearly.

Swahili often uses class 6 nouns in a collective / mass way (e.g. majani – grass, maji – water). Machweo can be thought of as sunset-time / sunset scene, which doesn’t need a separate singular form in everyday use.

You may also see machweo ya jua (sunset(s) of the sun), but machweo alone is very common.

Why is vizuri used here, and what part of speech is it?

Vizuri is an adverb meaning well, nicely, clearly.

It is derived from the adjective -zuri (good, beautiful), but with the class 8/10 adverbial form vi- it becomes an adverb:

Mzuri – good (person/thing)
Nzuri – good (class 9/10)
Vizuri – well, nicely (adverbial use)

In the sentence:

hatukuona machweo vizuri = we didn’t see the sunset well / clearly

Word order: adverbs like vizuri usually come after the verb and object:

Aliimba wimbo vizuri. – She sang the song well.

You could move it a bit:

Hatukuona vizuri machweo jana. – also possible, but less neutral; the original order sounds smoother and more typical.

Why is jana at the end? Could it also come at the beginning of the sentence?

Time expressions in Swahili are flexible in position. Both are correct:

Jana asubuhi kulikuwa na ukungu karibu na mto, kwa hiyo hatukuona machweo vizuri.
Asubuhi kulikuwa na ukungu karibu na mto, kwa hiyo hatukuona machweo vizuri jana.

Putting jana at the end often feels a bit like adding a clarifying detail: “…yesterday.”

Common positions:

At the very start: Jana nilienda sokoni.
Just after the subject: Nilikwenda jana sokoni.
At the end: Nilikwenda sokoni jana.

All are acceptable; the choice is about emphasis and style more than grammar.

Is it redundant or strange to have both Asubuhi and jana in the same sentence?

No, it’s natural and clear. They answer different questions:

Asubuhi – which part of the day? (in the morning)
Jana – which day? (yesterday)

Together they mean yesterday morning:

Asubuhi kulikuwa na ukungu… jana.
→ In the morning (of yesterday) there was fog…

You could also combine them explicitly:

Jana asubuhi kulikuwa na ukungu karibu na mto… – Yesterday morning there was fog near the river…

Both versions are acceptable. The original simply spreads the time information across the sentence instead of packing it into one phrase.