Log inSign up

Mimi ninapenda kusoma habari za siasa jioni.

Mimi ninapenda kusoma habari za siasa jioni.
I like to read news about politics in the evening.
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Swahili grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning Swahili now

Questions & Answers about Mimi ninapenda kusoma habari za siasa jioni.

Why does the sentence use both mimi and the ni- in ninapenda? Aren’t they both “I”?

Yes, both mimi and ni- mean “I,” but they play slightly different roles:

  • mimi = the independent pronoun “I / me”
  • ni- in ninapenda = the subject prefix for “I” on the verb

In normal Swahili, you must mark the subject on the verb (here: ni-), but the independent pronoun (mimi) is optional and is used for:

  • Emphasis / contrast:
    • Mimi ninapenda kusoma… = I like to read… (implying maybe others don’t)
  • Clarity in a new conversation or when introducing yourself.

So:

  • Natural, neutral: Ninapenda kusoma habari za siasa jioni.
  • Emphatic: Mimi ninapenda kusoma habari za siasa jioni.
Could I just say Napenda kusoma habari za siasa jioni instead of Ninapenda? What’s the difference between ninapenda and napenda?

Both ninapenda and napenda are used in practice; many speakers drop the -na- in casual speech.

Formally:

  • ninapenda = ni- (I) + -na- (present tense) + -penda (like/love)
  • napenda = spoken/colloquial shortening of ninapenda

Meaning:

  • Both essentially mean “I like / I love” in the present.
  • ninapenda is more standard/clear, especially in writing or formal speech.
  • napenda is very common in conversation.

So your sentence is correct as either:

  • Ninapenda kusoma habari za siasa jioni. (more formal/clear)
  • Napenda kusoma habari za siasa jioni. (very natural in everyday speech)
What does the ku- in kusoma mean? Is it like the English “to” in “to read”?

Yes, ku- here is the infinitive marker for verbs.

  • soma = read
  • kusoma = “to read / reading” (verb as a noun-like form)

Swahili often uses the ku- + verb form after verbs of liking, wanting, starting, etc.:

  • ninapenda kusoma = I like to read / reading
  • nataka kula = I want to eat
  • alianza kuimba = he/she started singing

So in this sentence, kusoma functions a bit like “to read” or “reading” in English.

Why do we say habari za siasa and not something like habari ya siasa?

Habari is a noun in the N/N class, and it is treated as plural in meaning here: “news” (many pieces of information).

To say “news of politics / political news,” Swahili uses the associative (like “of”) which must agree with the noun class and number of the first noun:

  • For N/N plural (like habari), the associative is za.
    • habari za… = news of…

Compare:

  • habari za siasa = news of politics / political news
  • habari za michezo = sports news
  • habari za biashara = business news

Ya is used with singular N/N nouns (and with some other classes). For example:

  • chai ya asubuhi = morning tea
    But here, habari = “news” in a plural-like sense, so we use za, not ya.
What exactly does habari mean here? I thought habari was “hello / how are you?”

Habari has several related uses:

  1. Literal meaning: “news, information, reports”

    • habari za siasa = political news
    • habari za dunia = world news

  2. Greeting formula:
    In everyday speech, people say Habari? or Habari za…? as a greeting, literally asking “What news (do you have about)…?” but functionally meaning “How are you?”:

    • Habari? = How are you? / What’s up?
    • Habari za asubuhi? = How are you this morning?

In your sentence it has the “news, information” meaning, not the greeting meaning. Context makes this clear.

Is siasa singular or plural? Does it change form?

Siasa is a borrowed noun (from Arabic via other languages) and in Swahili it usually:

  • Keeps the same form siasa for both singular and plural ideas.
  • Belongs to the N/N noun class.

Examples:

  • siasa = politics / political affairs
  • habari za siasa = political news
  • anajishughulisha na siasa = he/she is involved in politics

You don’t normally see a different plural form; siasa stays siasa.

Why is there no word for “in” before jioni? Why not katika jioni or something like that?

Words for time of day (asubuhi, mchana, jioni, usiku) often act like time adverbs in Swahili and usually don’t need a preposition:

  • jioni = in the evening
  • asubuhi = in the morning
  • usiku = at night

So:

  • Ninapenda kusoma … jioni. = I like to read … in the evening.

You can sometimes see jioni with a preposition in other kinds of structures (e.g. kwa jioni hii – for this evening), but for a simple time expression like this, jioni on its own is standard and natural.

Could the word order change? For example, can I say Jioni ninapenda kusoma habari za siasa?

Yes, you can move jioni to the beginning:

  • Jioni ninapenda kusoma habari za siasa.

This is still correct and natural. The change is in emphasis / focus:

  • Mimi ninapenda kusoma habari za siasa jioni.
    Neutral: I like to read political news in the evening.

  • Jioni ninapenda kusoma habari za siasa.
    Emphasizes “In the evening…”; more like:
    “In the evening, I like to read political news.”

So, word order in Swahili is relatively flexible for elements like time and place, but the verb complex usually stays near the start of the clause.

Is Mimi actually necessary here, or can I just say Ninapenda kusoma habari za siasa jioni?

You can absolutely drop mimi:

  • Ninapenda kusoma habari za siasa jioni.

This is perfectly correct and is often what people say in normal conversation and writing.

Use mimi when:

  • You want to emphasize “I (as opposed to others)”:
    • Mimi ninapenda…, lakini yeye hapendi.
      I like it, but he/she doesn’t.
  • You’re doing introductions or need extra clarity at the beginning of a conversation:
    • Mimi ni mwalimu. = I am a teacher.

So: pronoun optional, verb subject marker required.

Could I say Ninapenda kusoma siasa jioni without habari za?

You could say Ninapenda kusoma siasa jioni, but the meaning shifts slightly:

  • kusoma siasa often suggests “to study politics” (as a subject, e.g. at school or university).
  • kusoma habari za siasa clearly means “to read political news” (news articles, reports).

So:

  • Ninapenda kusoma siasa jioni.
    → I like to study politics in the evening.

  • Ninapenda kusoma habari za siasa jioni.
    → I like to read political news in the evening.

The original sentence is about news, not academic study.

What’s the difference between habari za siasa and habari za kisiasa?

Both can be translated as “political news”, but the structure is slightly different:

  • siasa = politics (noun)
  • -siya / -siasa as an adjective → kisiasa = political

So:

  • habari za siasa = literally “news of politics”
  • habari za kisiasa = literally “news (that are) political”

In practice:

  • Both are understandable as political news.
  • habari za siasa is more common and straightforward.
  • habari za kisiasa can sound a bit more formal or descriptive (“news of a political nature”).

For most learner contexts, habari za siasa is the simplest and most typical.

How would this sentence change with different subjects, like “you” or “he/she”?

The verb -penda changes its subject prefix, but the rest of the sentence stays the same:

  • Mimi ninapenda kusoma habari za siasa jioni.
    I like to read political news in the evening.

  • Wewe unapenda kusoma habari za siasa jioni.
    You (sing.) like to read political news in the evening.

  • Yeye anapenda kusoma habari za siasa jioni.
    He/She likes to read political news in the evening.

  • Sisi tunapenda kusoma habari za siasa jioni.
    We like to read political news in the evening.

  • Ninyi mnapenda kusoma habari za siasa jioni.
    You (pl.) like to read political news in the evening.

  • Wao wanapenda kusoma habari za siasa jioni.
    They like to read political news in the evening.

Pattern: [subject prefix] + -na- + penda.