Learn Hardcore Swahili: Walimu wanapenda kufundisha haki darasani. - Teachers like to teach justice/rights in the classroom.

Walimu – teachers (plural of mwalimu, “teacher”)
wana-penda – they like / they love
- wa- = “they” (subject prefix for people, plural)
- -na- = present tense marker (“are / do / generally”)
- -penda = verb root “like / love”
kufundisha – to teach / teaching (infinitive/gerund form of “teach”)
haki – rights / justice
darasani – in the classroom (from darasa, “classroom”, plus -ni, a locative ending meaning “in/at”)

So the sentence means roughly: “Teachers like to teach rights in the classroom.”

Why is it walimu and not mwalimu?

In Swahili, many nouns for people follow this pattern:

m- (or mw-) for one person
wa- for more than one person

So:

mwalimu = teacher (singular)
walimu = teachers (plural)

Other examples:

mtoto (child) → watoto (children)
mfanyakazi (worker) → wafanyakazi (workers)

Because the sentence is talking about teachers in general (more than one), it uses walimu.

How is the verb wanapenda formed, and what tense is it?

Wanapenda is made of three parts:

wa- = subject prefix for they (class 2 plural, usually people)
-na- = present tense marker
-penda = verb root “like / love”

So wanapenda means “they like / they love” in the general present. It can mean:

“They like…” (a general fact or habit)
“They are liking…” (current situation, though English doesn’t usually say “are liking”)

In context here, it means “teachers like …” or “teachers enjoy …” as a general statement.

Why do we use kufundisha and not just fundisha?

Ku- in front of a verb root forms the infinitive / verbal noun:

fundisha = (bare root) “teach”
kufundisha = “to teach” / “teaching”

In this sentence, kufundisha is acting like the object of wanapenda:

wanapenda kufundisha
“they like to teach / teaching”

In Swahili, if one verb is the object of another (“like to teach”, “want to go”, “begin to read”), that second verb usually appears with ku-:

anataka kwenda – he/she wants to go
tunaanza kusoma – we’re starting to read

Does kufundisha mean “to teach” or “teaching”? Which is correct here?

Both are acceptable translations of the Swahili infinitive:

“to teach” (infinitive)
“teaching” (gerund/verbal noun)

Swahili doesn’t distinguish these forms as sharply as English does. Kufundisha here can be understood as:

“Teachers like to teach rights in the classroom.”
“Teachers like teaching rights in the classroom.”

Both reflect the same Swahili structure.

What exactly does haki mean here? Is it singular or plural?

Haki is a noun meaning:

right / a right (as in a legal or human right)
rights (general)
justice / fairness

It belongs to a noun class where the singular and plural often look the same, so the word haki itself doesn’t change between “right” and “rights”.

In this sentence, haki is best understood as “rights” (often human rights in common use):
“Teachers like to teach rights in the classroom.”

Why doesn’t haki have a plural ending if it means “rights”?

Swahili has noun classes where the form of the noun doesn’t change between singular and plural. Class 9/10 nouns often behave like this.

Examples:

ndizi – banana / bananas
simu – phone / phones
haki – right / rights

So you rely on context, or on verb and adjective agreement, to know if it’s singular or plural. In this sentence, we understand from context that haki refers to rights in general, not just a single right.

Could haki here mean “fairly,” like “to teach fairly in class”?

Not in this exact form.

haki by itself is a noun (“right(s) / justice”).
To express “fairly” (as an adverb), Swahili would normally use kwa haki (“in a just way”) or a different word like kwa uadilifu (“with integrity/fairness”).

So:

kufundisha haki – to teach rights / justice
kufundisha kwa haki – to teach fairly / justly

In the sentence you gave, haki is the object of “teach”, not a way of teaching.

What does the -ni at the end of darasani do?

The ending -ni is a locative marker. It usually means:

Darasa = classroom / class
Darasani = in the classroom

Other examples:

nyumba – house
nyumbani – at home
shule – school
shuleni – at school
mezani – on/at the table (from meza, table)

So darasani tells you the place where the action happens: in class / in the classroom.

Could I say katika darasa instead of darasani? Is there any difference?

Yes, you can say katika darasa, and it is correct.

darasani = “in the classroom”, using the -ni locative ending
katika darasa = “in the classroom”, using the preposition katika (“in”) plus the bare noun

They mean essentially the same thing. Darasani is shorter and very common in everyday Swahili. Katika darasa can sound a bit more formal or explicit, but both are fine.

Does the verb need to agree with haki as an object, the way it agrees with walimu as the subject?

No. In Swahili, the verb must agree with the subject, but it doesn’t have to agree with the object.

Subject agreement:
walimu wanapenda...
wa- in wanapenda matches walimu (class 2, they).
Object agreement is only marked if you use an object prefix, which you don’t need here. For example:
- wanai-fundisha – “they teach it” (with -i- as “it”)
- But in your sentence, we just have kufundisha haki – “to teach rights”.

So wanapenda only agrees with walimu, not with haki.

Is the word order [subject] [verb] [infinitive] [object] [place] fixed in Swahili, like in this sentence?

Swahili has a fairly regular word order:

Subject (often explicit noun): Walimu
Verb (with subject prefix, tense marker): wanapenda
Verb in infinitive, if it’s the object: kufundisha
Object noun: haki
Locative / place: darasani

So your sentence follows a very natural pattern:
Walimu wanapenda kufundisha haki darasani.

You normally don’t move the place or object to the front unless you’re emphasizing it or using a special construction. In everyday speech, this order is standard and sounds natural.