Binafsi, mimi hupenda kusoma shajara za zamani ili kuona nilivyokua nikibadilika.

Binafsi means personally / in my personal capacity.

So:

• Binafsi = personally
• mimi = I / me

Putting them together (Binafsi, mimi…) is a natural way to put strong emphasis on the speaker’s personal viewpoint, similar to:

• Personally, I like…
• Me personally, I like…

It’s not a literal repetition; binafsi adds the nuance “this is my personal opinion/experience, not a general statement about everyone.”

Yes, both can be omitted, with small changes in emphasis:

1. Mimi hupenda kusoma…
   – Emphasis on I as opposed to others: I like to read…, maybe others don’t.

2. Binafsi hupenda kusoma…
   – Emphasis on the fact that this is a personal preference/opinion.

3. Hupenda kusoma…
   – Still means I like to read…, but without any special emphasis. The subject “I” is understood from the context and the earlier binafsi if it remains.

All are grammatically fine; the original just sounds more emphatic and conversational.

Hupenda uses the hu- tense, which expresses a general, habitual truth or regular tendency.

• Mimi hupenda kusoma…
  = I generally / usually / as a rule like to read…

By contrast:

• Ninapenda / napenda kusoma…
  = I like to read… (present, but less strongly “habitual”; can be more situation-based)

Using hu- here highlights that reading old diaries is a regular habit or characteristic, not just a current preference.

In this special hu- tense, you do not use a subject prefix:

• I generally like: hupenda
• You generally like: hupenda
• He/she generally likes: hupenda

The subject is understood from context (a noun or an independent pronoun like mimi, wewe, Juma, etc.):

• Mimi hupenda… – I generally like…
• Juma hupenda… – Juma generally likes…

So hu- is a special tense that replaces the usual combination of subject prefix + tense marker, rather than adding to it.

Ku- is the infinitive marker, turning the verb soma (read) into an infinitive / verbal noun:

• kusoma = to read / reading

In the sentence, kusoma shajara za zamani is the thing that is liked:

• Mimi hupenda [kusoma shajara za zamani]
  = I like to read old diaries / I like reading old diaries.

So kusoma is functioning like an English -ing form or “to + verb” infinitive.

Shajara means diary / journal.

It belongs to noun class 9/10, where singular and plural often look the same:

• singular: shajara (a diary)
• plural: shajara (diaries)

In the phrase shajara za zamani, the possessive marker za (class‑10) shows that it is plural:

• za = “of” for class‑10 plural
• So shajara za zamani = old diaries (plural), literally “diaries of old times.”

Breakdown:

• zamani = old times, long ago, earlier times, the past
• za = “of” (possessive/concord for plural class‑10 nouns)

So:

• shajara za zamani = diaries of past times / old diaries

The za links shajara (diaries) to zamani (old times), making a possessive phrase “diaries of old times,” which we naturally translate as “old diaries.”

Yes:

• shajara zangu za zamani = my old diaries

Difference:

• shajara za zamani – old diaries in general; they might be the speaker’s, or might be someone else’s, depending on context.
• shajara zangu za zamani – clearly the speaker’s own old diaries.

So if the intended meaning is “to see how I was changing,” zangu would be natural, but not strictly required; context often makes it clear.

Ili introduces a purpose clause; it means in order to / so that.

• …hupenda kusoma shajara za zamani ili kuona…
  = …I like to read old diaries in order to see…

You can think of:

• ili + verb = “in order to + verb”

Alternatives:

• kusoma shajara za zamani kuona… – possible in casual speech but less clear/standard.
• kwa ajili ya kuona… – also “for the purpose of seeing,” a bit heavier and more formal.

Ili is the most straightforward, natural purpose connector here.

Nilivyokua is a relative verb form. Breakdown:

• ni- = I (1st person singular subject)
• -li- = past tense
• -vyo- = relative marker (“how / the way that”)
• -kua = verb root (from kuwa / kua – to be / to grow, see next question)

So nilivyokua literally means:

• “how I was / how I used to be / how I grew” (depending on how you interpret -kua here).

In the sentence, it introduces a “how I was…” kind of clause:

• ili kuona nilivyokua…
  = in order to see how I was / how I used to be…

Swahili has two related verbs:

• kuwa – to be / to become
• kua – to grow (often literally, but sometimes also figuratively, like “to grow up”)

Standard grammar would expect:

• nilivyokuwa = how I was / how I used to be

The form nilivyokua (with kua) can be interpreted as:

• how I grew up / was growing, especially if you think of personal development.

In practice:

• Many speakers use kuwa and kua somewhat interchangeably in this kind of context, and sound patterns can make nilivyokuwa come out as nilivyokua in fast speech.
• In careful written standard Swahili, nilivyokuwa is more straightforward if you mean “how I was”.
• Nilivyokua can be defended as focusing on growth (how I grew), but some teachers would correct it to nilivyokuwa for clarity.

Since the sentence is clearly about personal change over time, both can make sense, but nilivyokuwa is the textbook form for “how I was.”

Nikibadilika is another verb form:

• ni- = I
• -ki- = “when / while / as” (and also used for continuous/progressive aspect)
• badilika = to change

So nikibadilika = while I was changing / as I was changing.

Putting nilivyokua and nikibadilika together:

• nilivyokua nikibadilika
  ≈ how I was as I was changing, i.e. what I was like during the process of change.

The -ki- marker often shows an action happening at the same time as another past event or gives a progressive sense:

• Nilikuwa nikibadilika – I was (in the state of) changing.
• Here, that idea is folded into the relative clause nilivyokua nikibadilika.

Yes, but the nuance changes:

• nilivyobadilika
  – from badilika (to change) with a relative: how I changed / the way I changed / how I have changed.
  – Focus on the result of the change.

• nilivyokua nikibadilika
  – literally “how I was while I was changing.”
  – Focus on the process/state over time, not just the end result.

So:

• kuona nilivyobadilika – to see how I have changed (who I am now compared to before).
• kuona nilivyokua nikibadilika – to see how I was in the middle of changing (my evolving self over time).

Both are natural; the original phrasing emphasizes the journey, not just the outcome.

The comma is punctuation choice, not a grammatical requirement. It marks a slight pause:

• Binafsi, mimi hupenda… – Personally, I like…

In speech you would usually pause there, so the comma makes sense, but you might also see:

• Binafsi mimi hupenda… (no comma)

Word order is mostly fixed in the sense that:

• binafsi (an adverbial) naturally comes first as a sentence-level comment,
• mimi (subject pronoun) comes before the verb,
• the verb phrase hupenda kusoma shajara za zamani follows,
• then the purpose clause ili kuona… comes at the end.

You could drop mimi or binafsi, but reordering major pieces (like putting ili kuona… at the beginning) would sound unnatural in ordinary Swahili.