Breakdown of Leo mama ametuambia tuketi kimya kwa dakika tano ili tuweze kutulia.
Questions & Answers about Leo mama ametuambia tuketi kimya kwa dakika tano ili tuweze kutulia.
ametuambia breaks down like this:
- a- = subject prefix for he/she (here: she, referring to mama).
- -me- = perfect tense marker (roughly “has” in “has told”).
- -tu- = object prefix for us.
- -ambia = verb root ambia = “tell (someone).”
So a-me-tu-ambia literally = “she-has-us-told” → “she has told us.”
Both are grammatically correct but have different aspect/nuance:
- ametuambia (perfect: -me-) – “has told us (already, just now, today).”
- Often used when the action is recent or still feels connected to the present moment.
- alituambia (past: -li-) – “told us.”
- Used for a completed action in the past, often more detached from “now.”
Since the sentence starts with Leo (“today”), using ametuambia fits well: “Today Mum has told us…” (it’s something she just did or has done earlier today and is still relevant now).
The normal order in Swahili is [subject noun] + [verb] + [rest]:
- mama ametuambia = “Mum has told us.”
Putting mama after the verb, like Leo ametuambia mama…, is not natural here. It sounds incomplete or as if mama were being introduced as an object or afterthought.
Correct options include:
- Leo mama ametuambia… (as in the sentence)
- Mama ametuambia leo… (also fine; slightly different emphasis: you’re focusing more on Mum first)
But the subject noun normally comes before the verb.
Both are grammatical and mean essentially the same thing, but the focus is a bit different:
Leo mama ametuambia…
- Fronts Leo (“today”), so it highlights when this happened.
- Natural if you’re talking about what happened today in contrast to other days.
Mama ametuambia leo…
- Starts with Mama, so it foregrounds who told you.
- The leo at the end still indicates time, but it’s less strongly emphasized than at the very beginning.
In everyday speech, both word orders are common, and context usually determines which one sounds better.
tuketi is the subjunctive form of the verb kuketi (“to sit”).
- tuketi = “let us sit,” “that we sit,” “we should sit.”
- tunaketi = “we are sitting / we sit (habitually).”
In Swahili, the subjunctive is used in several situations:
After verbs of saying/ordering, like kuambia (“to tell”), for indirect commands:
- mama ametuambia tuketi = “Mum has told us (that) we should sit.”
For polite suggestions or soft commands:
- Tuketi = “Let’s sit.”
Using tunaketi here would lose that sense of “telling us to do something” and would sound like a simple statement: “Mum has told us we are sitting quietly,” which is not the intended meaning.
On its own, tuketi can mean “let’s sit” (a suggestion or invitation).
In this sentence, because it follows ametuambia (“has told us”), it functions more like “that we should sit” or “to sit”:
- ame tuambia tuketi = “has told us to sit.”
So the strength comes from the verb kuambia (“tell/order”), not from tuketi itself. Without ametuambia, tuketi would sound more like a friendly “let’s sit.”
kimya is primarily a noun meaning “silence,” but it also functions adverbially in practice:
- kukwa kimya = “to be silent.”
- kukaa kimya = “to keep quiet, stay silent.”
- In your sentence: tuketi kimya = “let’s sit quiet / quietly.”
Swahili often uses nouns to express what English would treat as adverbs or adjectives. So kimya here behaves like “in silence / quietly,” even though grammatically it’s a noun.
tuketi kimya
- Very common and natural.
- Means “let’s sit quietly / in silence.”
tuketi kwa kimya
- Grammatically possible, but sounds a bit unusual or overly literal.
- kwa is often used to form adverb-like phrases, but with kimya it isn’t typically needed.
tuketi kimya kimya
- Also possible, and quite natural.
- kimya kimya is an idiomatic expression meaning “in complete silence / extremely quietly / secretly.”
- Has a slightly stronger or more vivid sense than just kimya.
So tuketi kimya is the normal, straightforward way to say “let’s sit quietly.”
Both are used, but there’s a nuance:
kwa dakika tano
- Literally “for five minutes.”
- Makes the duration explicit and is very natural when giving instructions or rules:
- Kaa kimya kwa dakika tano = “Stay quiet for five minutes.”
dakika tano (without kwa)
- Often just “five minutes” as a time span.
- Can still work as “for five minutes” from context, especially in casual speech.
- Example: Tulingoja dakika tano = “We waited (for) five minutes.”
In your sentence, kwa dakika tano fits nicely because it clearly marks the period you must sit quietly.
ili introduces a purpose clause: “so that / in order that.”
- ili tuweze kutulia = “so that we can calm down.”
After ili, Swahili typically uses the subjunctive form of the verb:
- tuweze (from kuweza) is in the subjunctive (final -e instead of -a), meaning “that we can/may be able to.”
So the pattern is:
- [main clause] + ili + [subjunctive clause]
Example:
- Ninafanya kazi ili nipate pesa. = “I work so that I may get money.”
Both are possible, but they have slightly different emphases:
ili tutulie
- Literally “so that we may calm down.”
- Uses the verb kutulia directly in the subjunctive.
ili tuweze kutulia
- Literally “so that we may be able to calm down.”
- Adds uwezo (“ability”) via kuweza (“to be able to”).
- Often sounds a bit softer or more natural in speech, similar to English “so that we can calm down” instead of the bare “so that we calm down.”
In everyday language, ili tuweze kutulia is very common and feels more natural, especially when talking about creating the conditions needed to calm down.
They are related but not the same:
kutulia
- Intransitive: to calm down, settle down, become quiet.
- The subject calms itself:
- Mtoto ametulia. = “The child has calmed down / settled.”
kutuliza
- Transitive: to calm something/someone, to soothe.
- You calm someone else:
- Mama alimtuliza mtoto. = “Mum calmed the child.”
In your sentence, kutulia is correct because we are the ones calming ourselves: “so that we can calm down.”
They refer to different roles in the sentence:
- In ametuambia:
- Subject: mama → a- (she).
- Object: tu (us) → -tu-.
Mum is the one doing the telling, we are the ones being told.
- In tuketi:
- Subject: tu- (we) → we are the ones who are supposed to sit.
So:
- ametuambia = “she has told us.”
- tuketi = “that we sit.”
Swahili uses the object prefix (-tu-) on the first verb and the subject prefix (tu-) on the following verb because the roles are different in each clause.
You could say:
- Leo mama ametwambia sisi tuketi kimya…
but it sounds a bit heavy or redundant if you also keep -tu-.
More natural options:
Keep the object prefix only (most common):
- Leo mama ametuambia tuketi kimya…
Use sisi for emphasis and drop -tu-:
- Leo mama ameambia sisi tuketi kimya…
In everyday Swahili, native speakers very often prefer the object prefix (option 1).
Using sisi is usually for emphasis (“Mum has told us (as opposed to others) to sit quietly…”).