Learn Hardcore Swahili: Juma anapika chakula mwenyewe nyumbani.

So a + na + pika → anapika = “he/she cooks / is cooking.”
In Swahili, tense and subject are built into the verb, so there’s no separate word for “is.”

Does anapika mean “Juma is cooking” (right now) or “Juma cooks” (in general)?

Anapika can mean both:

Right now / currently:
- Juma anapika chakula mwenyewe nyumbani.
  = “Juma is cooking food himself at home (right now).”
Habit / routine:
- Juma anapika chakula mwenyewe nyumbani.
  = “Juma cooks food himself at home (as a general habit).”

Swahili uses the same form -na- for present progressive and present habitual; context decides which is meant.

Why isn’t there a separate word for “is” like in English (“Juma is cooking”)?

In Swahili, the verb form itself carries the meaning of “is/are/am + verb”:

a- = he/she
-na- = present tense
pika = cook

So anapika already contains the idea of “he is cooking” or “he cooks.”
Swahili doesn’t normally use a separate verb equivalent to English “to be” before another verb in this way.

What is the difference between chakula and the verb kula?

kula = to eat (verb)
chakula = food (noun)

Chakula is a noun derived from the verb kula.
Grammatically, chakula belongs to noun class 7, which often uses ch-/ki- in the singular. Its plural is vyakula (class 8).

So in the sentence:

anapika = is cooking
chakula = food

→ “is cooking food.”

What does mwenyewe mean, and what does it add to the sentence?

Mwenyewe means roughly “himself / herself / oneself”, often with the sense of “by himself / on his own / without help” or “personally.”

In Juma anapika chakula mwenyewe nyumbani:

Without mwenyewe: “Juma cooks food at home.”
With mwenyewe: “Juma cooks food himself at home.”

It emphasizes that Juma is the one doing it, not someone else, and not with someone else’s help.

Some nuances of mwenyewe in other contexts:

Nafanya kazi hii mwenyewe. = “I’m doing this work myself.”
Wewe mwenyewe ulisema. = “You yourself said (so).” (strong emphasis)

Does mwenyewe change form to agree with the subject (like “himself / herself / myself”)?

In this kind of sentence, mwenyewe usually stays the same for all persons:

Mimi mwenyewe = I myself
Wewe mwenyewe = you yourself
Yeye mwenyewe = he/she himself/herself
Sisi wenyewe = we ourselves
Ninyi wenyewe = you (pl.) yourselves
Wao wenyewe = they themselves

You may notice wenyewe for plural subjects (sisi, ninyi, wao), but in practice learners usually treat mwenyewe / mwenyewe as a fixed word meaning “(by) oneself / themselves”. In our sentence, mwenyewe refers back to Juma.

What is the difference between nyumba and nyumbani?

nyumba = house / home (noun)
nyumbani = “at home / in the house”

The -ni ending is a locative suffix, often meaning “in / at / on” the place. So:

nyumba = house
nyumbani = at home, in the house

In the sentence nyumbani already contains the idea of “at”, so you do not say “kwa nyumbani” or “katika nyumbani” here.

Can nyumbani mean “at his home” specifically, since we’re talking about Juma?

Nyumbani by itself means “at home / at the house,” generally.

If you want to be explicit that it is Juma’s home, you typically say:

nyumbani kwake Juma = at Juma’s home
nyumbani kwa Juma = at Juma’s home

But in context, if we already know we are talking about Juma, nyumbani in this sentence will normally be understood as “at his home.”

Can the word order change? For example, could I say Juma anapika mwenyewe chakula nyumbani?

Swahili word order is fairly flexible, but there are more natural patterns.

The most natural order here is:

Juma anapika chakula mwenyewe nyumbani.
Subject – verb – object – emphasis word – place.

Variations:

Juma anapika chakula nyumbani mwenyewe.
Still understandable; the emphasis on mwenyewe is slightly weaker or feels tacked on.
Nyumbani, Juma anapika chakula mwenyewe.
Fronting nyumbani for topical emphasis: “At home, Juma cooks his food himself.”

Juma anapika mwenyewe chakula nyumbani is not impossible, but it sounds less natural; mwenyewe normally comes after the object that belongs to the action (chakula mwenyewe, kazi yake mwenyewe, etc.) or directly after the verb when there is no explicit object.

Would the sentence still be correct if I drop chakula and just say Juma anapika mwenyewe nyumbani?

Yes, it is grammatically correct:

Juma anapika mwenyewe nyumbani.
= “Juma cooks by himself at home.”

Here what he cooks is left unsaid, but understood from context (usually food).

However, anapika mwenyewe does not mean “he cooks himself” in the English reflexive sense. Pika in Swahili does not turn into “cook oneself” just by dropping the object. It simply becomes “cook (something)” with the object omitted.

How would I say “Juma cooks it himself at home” if “it” refers to chakula?

You would add an object prefix to the verb that agrees with chakula (class 7):

Juma anakipika chakula mwenyewe nyumbani.

Breakdown:

a- = he
-na- = present
-ki- = object prefix for class 7 (chakula)
pika = cook

→ anakipika = “he cooks it.”

Including both anakipika and chakula emphasizes the object:

Literally: “Juma cooks it, the food, himself at home.”
Natural English: “Juma cooks the food himself at home.”

Why is the subject prefix a- in anapika and not something like yu- for “he”?

Swahili doesn’t use a separate pronoun inside the verb; it uses subject prefixes that agree with noun class and person. For people:

ni- = I
u- = you (singular)
a- = he / she
tu- = we
m- = you (plural)
wa- = they

So for Juma, who is a human singular, the verb takes a-, giving anapika.
Yeye is the independent pronoun meaning “he / she,” but inside the verb the prefix is a-, not yu-.

How would I say “Juma does not cook food himself at home”?

You need the negative present tense, which changes both the prefix and the verb form. For class 1 (he/she):

Affirmative: anapika = he/she cooks
Negative: hapiki = he/she does not cook

So the sentence becomes:

Juma hapiki chakula mwenyewe nyumbani.
= “Juma does not cook food himself at home.”

Pattern for class 1 present negative:

ha- (negative for he/she) + verb stem (without -na-)
→ hapiki (“does not cook”).