Learn Hardcore Swahili: Je, umewahi kusahau nenosiri lako, ukashindwa kuingia kwenye barua pepe? - Have you ever forgotten your password and failed to enter your email?

Placed at the beginning, it signals that what follows is a question:
- Je, umekula? – Have you eaten?
It’s especially common in written or more formal Swahili and in teaching materials.

You don’t have to use Je in every question. Often, people just use question intonation or another question word:

Umekula? – Have you eaten? (without Je, still correct)
Umefika wapi? – Where have you reached?

In your sentence, Je just makes it clear from the start that this is a yes/no question:
Je, umewahi kusahau…? – Have you ever forgotten…?

What exactly does umewahi mean, and how is it different from umesahau?

Umewahi is built from:

u- = you (2nd person singular subject prefix)
-me- = perfect aspect (similar to have done in English)
wahi = the verb kuwahi, which among other meanings can mean to ever do / to have done (at some point) in this pattern

So umewahi here means have you ever.

Je, umewahi kusahau nenosiri lako…?
= Have you ever forgotten your password…? (at any time in your life / in the past)

If you said:

Je, umesahau nenosiri lako?
that would mean Have you forgotten your password (this time / now)? – referring to a specific instance, not your life experience generally.

So:

umewahi + verb → have you ever + verb
umesahau → you have forgotten (this time)

Why is kusahau in the infinitive form after umewahi?

In Swahili, kuwahi is often followed by an infinitive (ku- + verb) to express “ever done X”.

Pattern:

(u) + -me- + wahi + infinitive
→ have (you) ever + verb

Examples:

Umewahi kusafiri nje ya nchi? – Have you ever traveled abroad?
Umewahi kula ugali? – Have you ever eaten ugali?

So in your sentence:

umewahi kusahau
= have you ever forgotten

Kusahau stays in its infinitive form because it’s the verb that completes the meaning of umewahi (to ever forget), not the main finite verb of the clause.

How is nenosiri lako formed, and why is it lako and not yako?

Nenosiri means password. It’s treated as a class 5 noun in Swahili.

The structure:

nenosiri – password (singular, noun class 5)
-angu / -ako / -ake / -etu / -enu / -ao – possessive endings
The class 5 possessive prefix is l-, so you get:
- langu – my
- lako – your (singular)
- lake – his/her
- letu – our
- lenu – your (plural)
- lao – their

So:

nenosiri langu – my password
nenosiri lako – your password

If it were a different noun class, the possessive form would change. For example:

kitabu changu – my book (class 7 → ch-)
barua pepe yako – your email (class 9 → y-)

So you say nenosiri lako (class 5 → l-), not nenosiri yako.

What does the -ka- in ukashindwa do? Why not just say ukashindwa with another tense like umeshindwa?

Ukashindwa is built from:

u- = you (2nd person singular)
-ka- = consecutive tense marker
shindwa = to fail / be unable / be defeated

The -ka- marker links this verb to a previous action, showing a sequence:

You forgot your password (umewahi kusahau nenosiri lako)
And then, as a result/after that, you failed to get into your email (ukashindwa kuingia kwenye barua pepe)

So ukashindwa here means “and (then) you failed / and (then) you couldn’t”.

If you said:

umeshindwa kuingia kwenye barua pepe
that would mean “you have failed / you are unable to get into your email”, but it would not explicitly show the sequence after the first action in the same way. The -ka- nicely ties it narratively to what came before.

Could I use na instead of -ka- to join the two parts, like …nenosiri lako na ukashindwa…?

You normally would not use na in that exact place.

There are two different ways to connect clauses:

With the conjunction na – “and”
- Works between similar items or full clauses:
  - Nilisahau nenosiri, na nikashindwa kuingia.
    I forgot the password, and I then failed to log in.
With the consecutive marker -ka- on the verb:
- The subject is the same, and the sequence is emphasized:
  - Nikasahau nenosiri, nikashindwa kuingia.
    I (then) forgot the password, (then) failed to log in.

In your sentence, the structure is:

…umewahi kusahau nenosiri lako, ukashindwa kuingia…

The comma then ukashindwa (with -ka-) is a smooth, natural way to express “and (then) you failed…”.

You could rewrite the whole thing with na and a separate subject marker:

Je, umewahi kusahau nenosiri lako na ukashindwa kuingia kwenye barua pepe?

This is understandable and not wrong, but the -ka- form is more compact and more typical in connected narratives.

What does shindwa actually mean? Does it always mean “to fail”?

Kushindwa has several related meanings depending on context:

To fail / be unsuccessful
- Nimejaribu mara tatu, nikashindwa.
  I tried three times and failed.
To be unable to do something / not manage
- Nimeshindwa kuja leo.
  I wasn’t able to come today / I couldn’t make it.
To be defeated (in a competition or fight)
- Timu yetu ilishindwa jana.
  Our team was defeated yesterday.

In your sentence:

ukashindwa kuingia kwenye barua pepe
means “and then you were unable to log into your email / you failed to get in”.

So yes, it often corresponds to fail / be unable / be defeated, with nuance coming from context and the object that follows.

Why is kuingia (to enter) used to mean “log in”? Are there better verbs for this idea?

In Swahili, kuingia literally means “to enter / to go in”, but it’s also widely used in the digital context, much like English uses “enter” or “go in” metaphorically.

Common patterns:

kuingia kwenye barua pepe – to log into email
kuingia kwenye akaunti – to log into an account
kuingia kwenye tovuti – to go into / access a website

Other relevant verbs:

kufungua akaunti – to open an account (often more like create an account or open (a session) depending on context)
kujisajili – to register / sign up
kuingia mitandaoni – to go online

But for “log in / sign in”, kuingia + a preposition (often kwenye) is very common and natural:

Nimeshindwa kuingia kwenye akaunti yangu.
I haven’t been able to log into my account.

What role does kwenye play in kuingia kwenye barua pepe, and could I use katika or ndani ya instead?

Kwenye is a very common preposition meaning roughly “in/at/on/into” depending on context. It’s quite flexible and widely used in modern, especially spoken, Swahili.

In kuingia kwenye barua pepe, it functions like “into / in”:

kuingia kwenye barua pepe
= to enter into email / to log into email

Alternatives:

katika – more formal, often “in/within”
- kuingia katika barua pepe – grammatically correct, sounds a bit more formal or bookish.
ndani ya – literally “inside of”
- kuingia ndani ya akaunti – enter inside the account; understandable but less usual for “log in” than kwenye.

For everyday usage:

kwenye is the most natural and common choice here:
- kuingia kwenye barua pepe
- kuingia kwenye akaunti
- kuingia kwenye tovuti

Is barua pepe one word or two, and are there other ways to say “email” in Swahili?

You will see both:

barua pepe (two words) – common and widely accepted
baruapepe (one word) – also used; some style guides prefer making compounds into one word

Both refer to email and are understood everywhere.

Other expressions you might encounter:

barua pepe ya kielektroniki – electronic mail (more formal/descriptive)
imeili – a Swahilized form of email (informal, more colloquial/urban)

In neutral modern Swahili, barua pepe is a very standard and safe choice.

So your phrase kuingia kwenye barua pepe = to log into email is idiomatic and natural.