Learn Hardcore Swahili: Mimi ninasoma shajara yangu jioni.

Mimi – I / me
ni-na-soma – I (ni-)
- present tense marker (-na-)
  - read/study (soma)
    → ninasoma = I read / I am reading
shajara – diary / journal
yangu – my (agrees with shajara)
jioni – in the evening

So a very literal gloss is: I I-present-read diary my evening.

Why do we have both Mimi and ni- in ninasoma? Isn’t that redundant?

Yes, it is redundant in terms of meaning, but it’s normal in Swahili.

Mimi is the independent pronoun: I.
ni- is the subject prefix on the verb that also means I.

Swahili verbs almost always carry a subject prefix, so ni- is required.
Mimi is optional and is used mainly for:

Emphasis: Mimi ninasoma… = I am reading… (not someone else)
Contrast: Mimi ninasoma, yeye analala. = I am reading, he/she is sleeping.

In neutral sentences, you can drop Mimi and just say Ninasoma shajara yangu jioni.

Can I just say Ninasoma shajara yangu jioni without Mimi?

Yes.

Ninasoma shajara yangu jioni is perfectly correct and is what you’d hear most often in normal conversation.

Including Mimi:

Mimi ninasoma shajara yangu jioni feels more emphatic: I read my diary in the evening (implying maybe others don’t, or you’re contrasting yourself with someone else).

Does ninasoma mean “I read” or “I am reading”?

It can mean both. The -na- tense in Swahili usually covers:

Present continuous: I am reading (right now)
Present habitual: I read (regularly / usually)

Context decides which one is meant:

Sasa hivi ninasoma shajara yangu. – Right now I am reading my diary.
Kila siku jioni ninasoma shajara yangu. – Every day in the evening I read my diary.

Your sentence Mimi ninasoma shajara yangu jioni could mean:

I read my diary in the evening (as a routine) or
I am reading my diary this evening, depending on context.

How is ninasoma formed? Why ni-na-soma and not just na-soma or soma?

Swahili verb structure is:

[subject prefix] [tense/aspect marker] [object marker] [verb root]

For ninasoma:

ni- = subject prefix for I
-na- = present tense marker
soma = verb root meaning read / study

So:

ninasoma = I (present) read / am reading
nasoma is not standard in careful Swahili because it lacks the subject prefix ni-.
soma alone is usually used as a command: Soma! = Read!

So you need ni- in normal sentences with “I” as the subject.

What exactly does shajara mean? Is it only “diary”?

Shajara usually means a diary or journal – a book where you record events, thoughts, or appointments.

Notes:

It’s often used like “personal diary” or “journal.”
Depending on context, it can also be like a planner or logbook.
Grammatically, it belongs to the N-class (9/10), so singular and plural often look the same:
- singular: shajara
- plural: shajara (the context tells you if it’s one or more)

In your sentence, shajara yangu clearly means my diary (one diary).

Why is it yangu and not wangu or something else for “my diary”?

In Swahili, possessive words like my, your, his/her change form depending on the noun class of the noun they describe.

shajara is an N-class (9/10) noun.
The possessive for my with N-class nouns is yangu.

Some examples:

rafiki yangu – my friend (rafiki is N-class)
nyumba yangu – my house
shajara yangu – my diary

Compare with other classes:

mtoto wangu – my child (class 1)
mti wangu – my tree (class 3)
kitabu changu – my book (class 7)

So shajara yangu is correct; shajara wangu would be wrong.

Why does yangu come after shajara? In English we say “my diary,” not “diary my.”

Swahili usually places possessives after the noun:

shajara yangu – my diary
nyumba yako – your house
gari lake – his/her car
vitabu vyetu – our books

So the pattern is generally:

[noun] + [possessive]

English uses my diary; Swahili uses diary my → shajara yangu.

What does jioni mean exactly? Is it “evening” or “afternoon”?

Jioni roughly means evening, but the exact time range is flexible and can start in the late afternoon.

Very roughly:

mchana – midday / early–mid afternoon
alasiri – late afternoon / early evening (less used in some areas)
jioni – evening (late afternoon into early night)
usiku – night

In everyday speech, jioni often covers what English speakers call “early evening” or even “late afternoon/early evening.”

Where should jioni go in the sentence? Can I move it?

Yes, you can move jioni around without changing the basic meaning. All of these are possible:

Ninasoma shajara yangu jioni.
Jioni ninasoma shajara yangu.
Mimi ninasoma shajara yangu jioni.
Jioni mimi ninasoma shajara yangu. (more emphatic)

In Swahili, time words like leo, kesho, jioni, asubuhi often appear:

At the end of the sentence, or
At the beginning for emphasis or clarity.

Why isn’t there a word for “in” before jioni, like “in the evening”?

Swahili often doesn’t use a preposition for time expressions where English would say in/on/at.

So:

jioni – in the evening
asubuhi – in the morning
kesho – tomorrow
leo – today

You just put the time word in the sentence:

Ninasoma shajara yangu jioni. – I read my diary in the evening.
Ninaamka asubuhi. – I wake up in the morning.

No extra word like in is needed.

How would I change “my diary” to “your diary” or “his diary” in this sentence?

You only need to change the possessive word, keeping agreement with shajara (N-class):

shajara yangu – my diary
shajara yako – your diary (singular “you”)
shajara yenu – your diary (plural “you”)
shajara yake – his/her diary
shajara yetu – our diary

So, for example:

Ninasoma shajara yako jioni. – I read your diary in the evening.
Mimi ninasoma shajara yake jioni. – I read his/her diary in the evening.

How would I say this in the past or future tense instead of the present?

You change the tense marker in the verb:

Present: ni-na-soma – I read / I am reading
Past: ni-li-soma – I read / I read (past)
Future: ni-ta-soma – I will read

Applied to your sentence:

Nilisoma shajara yangu jioni. – I read my diary in the evening (past).
Nitasoma shajara yangu jioni. – I will read my diary in the evening.

Any quick pronunciation tips for Mimi ninasoma shajara yangu jioni?

A few basics:

Each vowel is pronounced clearly and separately: mi-mi ni-na-so-ma sha-ja-ra ya-ngu ji-o-ni.
Stress usually falls on the second-to-last syllable:
- MI-mi, ni-na-SO-ma, sha-JA-ra, YA-ngu, ji-O-ni.
Consonants are generally pronounced as in many European languages:
- j as in English jam.
- ng in yangu like singer, not finger.

Spoken naturally, it flows smoothly: Mimi ninasoma shajara yangu jioni.