Breakdown of Huenda wikendi ijayo tukafanya matembezi marefu kando ya mto.
Questions & Answers about Huenda wikendi ijayo tukafanya matembezi marefu kando ya mto.
Huenda means “it may / it might / perhaps” and introduces something that is possible but not certain.
Compared to:
- labda – very common, more casual “maybe / perhaps.”
- pengine – literally “elsewhere / another place,” but used idiomatically as “maybe, possibly.”
Huenda tends to sound a bit more formal or “bookish” than labda, and it more strongly expects a verb to follow (often in subjunctive or with -ka-), as in Huenda tukafanya… = “We might (end up) doing…”.
Tukafanya uses the -ka- form (often called the consecutive / narrative tense), not the regular future -ta-.
- tutafanya = straightforward future: “we will do.”
- tukafanya = “and then we do / and we (end up) doing.”
After huenda, Swahili often uses subject + -ka- + verb to express a possible future outcome, something like:
Huenda… tukafanya… ≈ “It might happen that… we (will) end up doing…”.
So there is a future sense, but it’s wrapped into this “possible sequence of events” idea instead of the plain future -ta-.
tukafanya breaks down as:
- tu- = subject prefix “we”
- -ka- = consecutive / narrative marker
- fanya = verb “do”
So literally: tu-ka-fanya = “we-then-do / we-and-do”.
In pronunciation it flows as one word, but understanding the three parts helps: tu (we) + ka (and then) + fanya (do).
The “we” is inside the verb tukafanya.
Swahili usually marks the subject on the verb instead of using a separate pronoun, so:
- tukafanya = tu- (we) + -kafanya (then do)
- You could optionally add the pronoun sisi (“we”) for emphasis:
Huenda wikendi ijayo sisi tukafanya…, but it’s not necessary.
So the sentence already contains “we” purely through the verb morphology.
Literally, wikendi ijayo means “the weekend that is coming” → “next weekend.”
- wikendi = weekend (class 9 noun borrowed from English)
- ijayo comes from:
- verb -ja- = “to come”
- relative ending -yo
- class 9 subject prefix i-
So i- + -ja- + -yo → ijayo = “which is coming.”
The whole phrase wikendi ijayo is “the weekend which is coming,” i.e. next weekend.
You will see both wikiendi and wikendi in use.
- wikendi is common in modern Kenyan and Tanzanian usage and in many course materials.
- wikiendi also exists, influenced by the word wiki (“week”).
Neither is “wrong”; they’re variants of the same foreign loan. In practice, stick to wikendi unless your teacher or textbook uses wikiendi consistently.
Matembezi is the plural of tembezi, derived from the verb -tembea (“to walk, stroll, go on a trip”).
Literally:
- (ma)tembezi = “walks / outings / trips.”
Even when you mean “a walk / an outing”, matembezi is very often used in the plural to refer to a single recreational walk or trip.
So kufanya matembezi is a natural idiom meaning “to go for a walk / outing / hike,” not “to do many walks” in a strict English sense.
Swahili adjectives must agree with the noun class of the noun they describe.
- matembezi is class 6 (ma- class).
- The base adjective is -refu = “long, tall.”
- In class 6, -refu takes the prefix ma- → marefu.
So:
matembezi marefu = “long walk(s) / long outing(s).”
Other examples with class 6:- majibu marefu – long answers
- majengo marefu – tall buildings
No, kutembea mrefu is not idiomatic in Swahili.
To express “a long walk” or “a long hike,” the natural pattern is:
- kufanya matembezi marefu – to go for a long walk/hike
- or kutembea kwa muda mrefu – to walk for a long time
Swahili likes either a noun for the activity plus an adjective (matembezi marefu) or a verb plus an adverbial phrase (kutembea kwa muda mrefu), rather than “walk long” as a direct verb + adjective combination.
Literally:
- kando = “edge, side, bank”
- kando ya mto = “the edge/side/bank of the river”
So kando ya mto naturally means “along the river / by the riverbank.”
karibu na mto means “near the river” (close by, but not necessarily along its length or at the edge).
If you picture it:
- kando ya mto – you’re right by the river’s edge, probably following it.
- karibu na mto – you’re somewhere near it, but not necessarily on the bank itself.
Yes, that alternative is correct:
- Huenda wikendi ijayo tukafanya matembezi marefu kando ya mto.
- Huenda tukafanya matembezi marefu kando ya mto wikendi ijayo.
Both are natural.
Swahili is fairly flexible with adverbial time phrases like wikendi ijayo. Placing it near the beginning often sets the time frame first; putting it at the end is also normal and doesn’t change the basic meaning.
The future sense is conveyed through a combination of elements rather than the -ta- marker:
- wikendi ijayo – “next weekend” (future time)
- huenda – introduces possibility
- tukafanya – consecutive form (“end up doing”) commonly used after huenda for a possible future event
So the sentence does not need tutafanya.
The pattern huenda + (subject)-ka- + verb is a standard Swahili way to talk about something that might happen later, especially in spoken language.
Huenda usually corresponds to English “maybe / might / may.”
It does not guarantee that the action will happen; it leaves it clearly as a possibility. If you wanted something stronger, like “we will probably go,” you might add something like:
- Huenda tukafanya… – we might do…
- Labda tutafanya… – maybe / perhaps we will do…
- Huenda tukafanya… inaonekana hivyo. – We might do it; it looks that way.
By itself, huenda is closer to “maybe / might” than to “probably.”
Yes:
- Labda wikendi ijayo tutafanya matembezi marefu kando ya mto.
- Pengine wikendi ijayo tutafanya matembezi marefu kando ya mto.
Two notes:
- With labda or pengine, it’s more common to use the plain future (tutafanya) rather than the -ka- form (tukafanya).
- huenda more naturally “pulls” the -ka- form:
Huenda… tukafanya…
whereas labda / pengine work very smoothly with tutafanya.
All three express possibility, but huenda has that slightly more formal flavor and typical pairing with -ka-.