Kila mwanafunzi atasoma nusu ya kifungu cha kwanza na kueleza robo yake kwa sauti.

Each student will read half of the first paragraph and explain a quarter of it aloud.

Breakdown of Kila mwanafunzi atasoma nusu ya kifungu cha kwanza na kueleza robo yake kwa sauti.

• mwanafunzi: the student
• kusoma: to read
• kila: every
• na: and
• ya: of
• kwanza: first
• yake: its
• cha: of
• kwa sauti: aloud
• kueleza: to explain
• nusu: the half
• kifungu: the paragraph
• robo: the quarter

Questions & Answers about Kila mwanafunzi atasoma nusu ya kifungu cha kwanza na kueleza robo yake kwa sauti.

Why is mwanafunzi singular when we’re talking about “each student”? Why not a plural like wanafunzi?

In Swahili, kila (“each/every”) is always followed by a singular noun, and the verb also stays singular.

• kila mwanafunzi atasoma...
  = each student will read...

Even though in English we often think of “each student” as referring to many people, grammatically it behaves as singular in both languages:

• English: Each student reads (not read).
• Swahili: kila mwanafunzi atasoma (not watasoma).

If you actually want to talk about the group as a whole, you drop kila and use the plural noun and verb:

• Wanafunzi watasoma nusu ya kifungu cha kwanza...
  = The students will read half of the first passage... (as a group).

What tense is atasoma, and how is it formed?

Atasoma is in the simple future tense.

Breakdown:

• a- = subject prefix for he/she (3rd person singular, class 1: like mwanafunzi)
• -ta- = future tense marker
• -soma = verb root “read/study”

So:

• atasoma = he/she will read
• watasoma = they will read (wa- + ta + soma)

Other useful forms:

• anasoma = he/she is reading / reads (present)
• alisoma = he/she read (past)

How does nusu ya kifungu literally work?

Literally, nusu ya kifungu means “half of the passage”.

• nusu = half (noun; class 9)
• ya = “of” agreeing with nusu (class 9 → connector ya)
• kifungu = passage/section (class 7 noun)

Swahili often expresses “of” relationships using a connector that agrees with the first noun:

• nusu ya kifungu
  half (of) passage

Compare with other examples:

• sehemu ya kitabu = a part of the book
• nusu ya mkate = half of the bread

Why is it kifungu cha kwanza, and what does cha kwanza mean?

Cha kwanza is how you say “the first one” for a class 7 noun like kifungu.

• kifungu is class 7 (ki-/vi-).
• The “of”/ordinal connector for class 7 is cha.
• kwanza literally means “first”.

So:

• kifungu cha kwanza = “the first passage/section”

Ordinals in Swahili agree with the noun class:

• sura ya kwanza = the first chapter (sura is class 9 → ya kwanza)
• ukurasa wa kwanza = the first page (ukurasa is class 11/14 → wa kwanza)
• kitabu cha kwanza = the first book (kitabu is class 7 → cha kwanza)

Using kifungu ya kwanza would be ungrammatical because ya is not the connector for class 7.

What exactly does kueleza mean, and how is it different from kusema or kuelezea?

• kueleza = to explain, to make something clear, to set out the meaning
• kusema = to say, to speak (just uttering words; not necessarily explaining)
• kuelezea = to explain/describe more fully or in detail (often feels a bit more elaborate than kueleza)

In this sentence:

• kueleza robo yake kwa sauti = to explain a quarter of it aloud

You could contrast them like this:

• Alisema sentensi. = He/She said the sentence.
• Alieleza sentensi. = He/She explained the sentence (gave its meaning).
• Alielezea sentensi. = He/She explained/described the sentence in more detail (possibly longer explanation).

In robo yake, what does yake refer to, and how does it work grammatically?

Robo yake literally means “its quarter” / “a quarter of it”.

• robo = quarter (noun; usually class 9)
• yake = “its” (possessive agreeing with a class that uses ya-, like class 9/10)

The -ake part is “his/her/its”, and the initial y- in yake shows agreement with the possessed noun’s class (the thing that owns the quarter).

In very careful grammar, yake should agree with the noun being referred back to. In this sentence, contextually it’s often understood as “a quarter of the passage (or of the part assigned)”:

• robo yake ≈ “a quarter of it”

To make the reference very explicit and unambiguous, speakers often repeat the noun:

• robo ya kifungu cha kwanza = a quarter of the first passage
• robo ya sehemu yake = a quarter of his/her part

So yake is a possessive meaning “its” / “his/her”, whose exact referent you get from the context.

If I want to say very clearly “a quarter of the passage”, how can I say that?

You can make it explicit by repeating kifungu:

• ...kueleza robo ya kifungu cha kwanza kwa sauti.
  = ...to explain a quarter of the first passage aloud.

If the passage was already mentioned and you want “that passage”:

• robo ya kifungu hicho kwa sauti
  = a quarter of that passage, aloud.

Why do we say kwa sauti to mean “aloud”? What does kwa do here?

Kwa sauti literally means “with (a) voice” or “by voice”, and in practice it means “aloud / out loud”.

• kwa is a preposition used for means/manner (how something is done):
  • kuandika kwa kalamu = to write with a pen
  • kuimba kwa sauti ya juu = to sing in a loud voice
  • kuongea kwa upole = to speak gently

So:

• kueleza ... kwa sauti
  = explain ... using your voice → explain it aloud

Can sauti be plural (“voices”), or is it only singular?

Sauti belongs to a noun class where the singular and plural often look the same (class 9/10).

• sauti = a voice / the voice
• sauti = voices

The number is usually understood from context or by adding words like:

• sauti nyingi = many voices
• sauti moja = one voice

Why is na used between atasoma and kueleza? Could I leave it out?

Na here is simply “and”, linking two actions done by the same subject:

• kila mwanafunzi atasoma ... na kueleza ...
  = each student will read ... and explain ...

This is the standard way to coordinate two infinitive-like verb phrases (atasoma and kueleza) under the same subject.

If you remove na, the sentence becomes ungrammatical or at least very odd in standard Swahili. You can change the structure, though, for example:

• Kila mwanafunzi atasoma nusu ya kifungu cha kwanza, kisha aeleze robo yake kwa sauti.
  = ...then (he/she should) explain a quarter of it aloud.

But in the original structure, you need na to join the two actions.

Could I change the order of the two actions, like “explain a quarter and read half”?

Grammatically, yes—you can swap them:

• Kila mwanafunzi ataeleza robo yake kwa sauti na kusoma nusu ya kifungu cha kwanza.

However, the meaning/order of actions changes: now it sounds like the explaining comes before the reading, which probably doesn’t match the intended instructions.

So word order here reflects the logical sequence of actions, just as in English.

Is there another way to say “each of the students will...” in Swahili?

Yes. Two common options:

1. The one in your sentence (very natural):

   • Kila mwanafunzi atasoma...
     = Each student will read...

2. Another common structure:

   • Kila mmoja wa wanafunzi atasoma...
     = Each one of the students will read...

Both mean “each (of the) students”, but:

• kila mwanafunzi is shorter and very common.
• kila mmoja wa wanafunzi slightly emphasizes “each individual one of the students.”