Breakdown of Kaka yangu amekuwa akijifunza kuandika barua pepe rasmi kwa mhariri wa gazeti.
Questions & Answers about Kaka yangu amekuwa akijifunza kuandika barua pepe rasmi kwa mhariri wa gazeti.
Kaka yangu literally means “my brother” and normally refers to an older brother (same as “kaka” alone).
- If you want to be very explicit:
- kaka yangu mkubwa = my older/elder brother
- kaka yangu mdogo = my younger brother
- For a younger brother you can also say ndugu yangu mdogo (“my younger sibling”), but kaka itself typically implies an older brother in many contexts.
Swahili possessive adjectives (-angu, -ako, -ake, etc.) change form depending on the noun class of the noun they follow.
- Kaka belongs to the N-class (9/10) in standard grammar, and with that class, “my” is yangu.
- So we get:
- kaka yangu = my brother
- baba yangu = my father
- mama yangu = my mother
By contrast, with a typical class 1 noun like mtoto (“child”), the form is wangu:
- mtoto wangu = my child
So yangu is correct here because of the noun class of kaka.
Amekuwa akijifunza is a compound tense that corresponds very closely to English “has been learning”.
- amekuwa = a- (he/she) + -me- (perfect) + -kuwa (to be)
→ “he/she has been / has become” - akijifunza = a- (he/she) + -ki- (continuous/progressive) + -jifunza (to learn for oneself)
When you put them together:
- amekuwa akijifunza = has been in a state of continuously learning
This expresses an ongoing activity over a period up to now, very similar to English present perfect progressive.
These three choices give different time/aspect nuances:
- anajifunza
- Simple present/progressive: is learning / learns
- Focuses on now or a general habit.
- amejifunza
- Present perfect: has learned
- Suggests the learning is more completed or that the result is in focus.
- amekuwa akijifunza
- Present perfect progressive: has been learning
- Emphasizes a continuous process over time, not necessarily finished.
So the original sentence highlights that your brother has been in an ongoing process of learning how to write formal emails.
Akijifunza can be broken down as:
- a- = subject prefix for he/she (3rd person singular)
- -ki- = continuous/progressive marker (roughly “while/when doing”)
- -ji- inside jifunza = reflexive (“oneself”)
- -funza = base verb “to teach/train”
So jifunza literally means “to teach oneself” → “to learn”.
akijifunza therefore means “while he/she is learning / as he/she learns”, and in this construction with amekuwa, it contributes the ongoing sense (“has been learning”).
Kuandika is the infinitive form: ku- + andika (“to write”).
In Swahili, verbs that follow another verb (especially verbs of wanting, starting, learning, being able, etc.) are usually in the infinitive:
- anajifunza kuandika = he/she is learning to write
- ameanza kusoma = he/she has started to read
- anapenda kuimba = he/she likes to sing
You normally cannot drop the ku- in this kind of construction.
So akijifunza kuandika is the natural way to say “learning to write.”
Yes. Barua pepe literally combines:
- barua = letter
- pepe = electric/electronic
So barua pepe = “electronic letter” → email. Usage:
- Singular:
- barua pepe = an email
- Example: Nimepokea barua pepe. = I have received an email.
- Plural:
- Often the same form is used for plural in practice: barua pepe nyingi = many emails.
- In more careful grammar you might see barua pepe (sg) / barua pepe (pl) with plural indicated only by adjectives or context.
You may also see it written as baruapepe, but barua pepe (two words) is very common.
Rasmi means “official” or “formal”.
In Swahili, descriptive adjectives usually come after the noun they describe:
- barua rasmi = a formal/official letter
- barua pepe rasmi = a formal email
- mkutano rasmi = an official meeting
So the order barua pepe rasmi follows the usual pattern: [noun] + [adjective].
Kwa is a very flexible preposition. In this sentence, it mostly corresponds to “to” (and also “for” in the sense of intended recipient):
- kuandika … kwa mhariri wa gazeti
= to write … to the editor of the newspaper
Common roles of kwa:
- Recipient / target:
- andika barua kwa rafiki yako = write a letter to your friend
- “At” or “at the place of”:
- niko kwa rafiki yangu = I’m at my friend’s place
- “By means of / using”:
- lipa kwa pesa taslimu = pay in cash
So here it signals the person you’re addressing.
Wa is a genitive/possessive linking word meaning “of”, which agrees with the noun class of mhariri (editor).
- mhariri wa gazeti
- mhariri = editor
- wa = of (for class 1 nouns like mhariri)
- gazeti = newspaper
So mhariri wa gazeti → “editor of (the) newspaper” or simply “newspaper editor.”
In general, [noun] + wa + [noun] often gives “X of Y”:
- rafiki wa mtoto = friend of the child
- mwandishi wa barua = writer of the letter
You’d pluralize both “editor” and “newspaper”:
- mhariri (sg) → wahariri (pl)
- gazeti (sg) → magazeti (pl)
So:
- kwa wahariri wa magazeti = to the editors of newspapers
The wa in the middle stays wa because it agrees with wahariri (class 2), and class 1 singular / class 2 plural both take wa as the genitive marker.
Most of it is fairly fixed:
- kuandika barua pepe rasmi kwa mhariri wa gazeti
= to write [what?] barua pepe rasmi [to whom?] kwa mhariri wa gazeti
The natural order is:
- Verb (infinitive): kuandika
- Direct object (what is written): barua pepe rasmi
- Prepositional phrase (to whom): kwa mhariri wa gazeti
You could sometimes move the kwa… phrase earlier for emphasis, but something like:
- kuandika barua pepe rasmi kwa mhariri wa gazeti
is the neutral, most idiomatic order. Radical reorderings (e.g. splitting barua pepe rasmi) would sound awkward or ungrammatical.