Learn Hardcore Swahili: Mwalimu alituambia tuheshimu kila mtu, bila kutazama umri, jinsia au hali yake. - The teacher told us to respect everyone, without looking at age, gender, or their status.

So alituambia literally means “he/she told us”.
Because the subject (Mwalimu, “the teacher”) is already said before the verb, we usually understand it as:

Mwalimu alituambia = The teacher told us.

Why is there tu inside alituambia and another tu at the beginning of tuheshimu? Are they the same thing?

They both refer to “we/us”, but they play different grammatical roles:

alituambia
- -tu- here is an object marker = us
- He/she told us.
tuheshimu
- tu- here is a subject marker = we
- That *we (should) respect…*

So:

alituambia = he/she told us
tuheshimu = that *we should respect*

Same basic meaning (“we/us”), but:

before the verb root = subject (we)
between tense marker and verb root = object (us)

Why do we say tuheshimu here and not tunaheshimu?

tuheshimu is in a kind of subjunctive / jussive form used after verbs like tell, ask, order, advise when you mean “that we should do X”.

tunaheshimu = we respect (are respecting / usually respect) → a normal statement.
tuheshimu = that we should respect / let us respect → used for instructions, wishes, or indirect commands.

Structure:

tu- = we (subject)
heshimu = respect

So Mwalimu alituambia tuheshimu kila mtu is like: > The teacher told us (that) we should respect everyone.

If you said Mwalimu alituambia tunaheshimu kila mtu, it would sound more like: > The teacher told us that we respect everyone (a report of a fact, not a command).

Could I say Mwalimu alituambia kuheshimu kila mtu instead? Would it mean the same thing?

You might hear alituambia kuheshimu…, but the most natural and standard way in Swahili for “told us to respect” is with the subjunctive clause:

✅ Mwalimu alituambia tuheshimu kila mtu.

Using the infinitive:

⚠️ Mwalimu alituambia kuheshimu kila mtu.

This is understandable, but it sounds less idiomatic. It’s closer to a literal “told us to respect…” in English, but Swahili normally prefers:

alituambia tuheshimu…
or with kwamba: alituambia kwamba tuheshimu…

So for good natural Swahili, keep tuheshimu here.

Why is it kila mtu and not kila watu?

In Swahili, kila (“every / each”) is always used with a singular noun, even though the meaning is “everyone / all”:

kila mtu = every person / everyone
(not kila watu)
kila mtoto = every child
(not kila watoto)

So kila mtu covers the idea of “everyone” in this sentence.

What does bila kutazama literally mean, and why is kutazama in that form?

Literally:

bila = without
kutazama = to look / looking (infinitive)

So bila kutazama literally means “without looking (at)”.

After bila, Swahili typically uses the infinitive (ku- + verb):

bila kusema = without speaking
bila kufikiri = without thinking
bila kuchukua = without taking

Here:

bila kutazama umri, jinsia au hali yake
= without looking at / considering age, gender, or status

Does bila kutazama umri, jinsia au hali yake mean literally without looking at their age, gender or status, or more like regardless of age, gender or status?

In meaning, it’s “regardless of”:

bila kutazama umri, jinsia au hali yake
≈ regardless of age, gender, or status

Literally it’s “without looking at / without considering”, but it’s not about physically using your eyes; it’s an idiomatic way to say “without taking X into account”.

You could also see or say:

bila kujali umri, jinsia au hali yake
(“without caring about / regardless of age, gender or status”)

Both bila kutazama and bila kujali are used to mean “regardless of …” in contexts like this.

What does hali yake mean here, and why is it yake and not wake?

hali yake:

hali = condition, situation, status (can be social, economic, health, etc.)
-yake = his/her/its (agreeing with hali)

So here hali yake means something like “their status / condition” (each person’s situation).

About yake vs wake:

Swahili possessives must agree with the noun class:

mtu (class 1, person) → mtu wake (his/her person)
mwalimu (class 1, teacher) → mwalimu wake (his/her teacher)
hali (class 9) → hali yake (his/her condition)

Class 9 uses y- in the possessive (yake, yako, yetu, yenu, yao), so:

hali yake is correct
hali wake would be ungrammatical

Who does yake in hali yake refer to? The teacher, us, or kila mtu?

yake here refers back to kila mtu — to each person being talked about.

So the meaning is:

respect every person, without considering that person’s age, gender, or status.

In English we usually say “their status” for this generic person, but in Swahili it stays singular:

mtu = person
hali yake = that person’s status/condition

In the list umri, jinsia au hali yake, why is au used instead of na?

au = or
na = and

In English, we also often say:

regardless of age, gender, or status

with “or” at the end of a list like this. Swahili does the same: umri, jinsia au hali yake.

It doesn’t mean “only one of these things”; it’s a set phrase type where “or” is used for items in a list that we want to say don’t matter individually or collectively.

Using na:

umri, jinsia na hali yake would sound more like a simple additive list “age, gender and status” (which is not wrong, but au is more idiomatic in this kind of “regardless of …” phrase).

Can I add kwamba and say Mwalimu alituambia kwamba tuheshimu kila mtu, bila kutazama umri, jinsia au hali yake? Is there any difference?

Yes, you can:

Mwalimu alituambia tuheshimu kila mtu…
Mwalimu alituambia kwamba tuheshimu kila mtu…

Both are correct.

kwamba corresponds to English “that”:

He told us (that) we should respect everyone…

Adding kwamba:

makes the structure clearer and slightly more formal,
doesn’t really change the meaning.