Learn Hardcore Swahili: Asubuhi, mimi ninapenda kunyoosha mgongo na mikono. - In the morning, I like to stretch my back and arms.

Time words like asubuhi (morning), jioni (evening), leo (today), jana (yesterday) are usually used without a preposition when they act as time expressions.

So:

Asubuhi, mimi ninapenda…
= In the morning, I like…

You could say asubuhi ya leo (this morning) or katika asubuhi ya leo in a very specific or formal context, but for the general idea of “in the morning / in the mornings,” asubuhi on its own is normal and natural.

Does asubuhi here mean “this morning”, “in the morning”, or “every morning”?

On its own, asubuhi is a bit flexible and context-dependent. In a sentence like:

Asubuhi, mimi ninapenda kunyoosha mgongo na mikono.

listeners will normally understand it as a general habit, close to English “In the morning / In the mornings, I like…”.

If you want to make “every morning” very explicit, you can say:

Kila asubuhi, ninapenda kunyoosha mgongo na mikono.
= Every morning, I like to stretch my back and arms.

If you specifically mean “this morning”, you’d normally say:

Asubuhi hii / Asubuhi ya leo, nilinyosha mgongo na mikono.
= This morning, I stretched my back and arms. (note the past tense nilinyosha)

Why do we have both mimi and ni- in mimi ninapenda? Aren’t they both “I”?

Yes, both mimi and ni- refer to “I”, but they have different roles:

mimi = the independent pronoun “I / me”
ni- = the subject prefix “I” that must appear on the verb

In ninapenda:

ni- = I
-na- = present tense marker
-penda = like / love

So ninapenda already means “I like”. Adding mimi gives emphasis, similar to:

Mimi ninapenda… = I (personally) like…

You can also say simply:

Asubuhi, ninapenda kunyoosha mgongo na mikono.

That’s perfectly correct and probably the most common everyday version.

Could I drop mimi and even shorten ninapenda to napenda?

Yes:

Asubuhi, ninapenda kunyoosha mgongo na mikono.
Asubuhi, mimi ninapenda kunyoosha mgongo na mikono. (more emphasis)
Asubuhi, napenda kunyoosha mgongo na mikono. (very common colloquial speech)

In careful grammar, the “full” form is ninapenda, but in everyday spoken Swahili many people say napenda, nataka, naenda instead of ninapenda, ninataka, ninaenda.

All of these would be easily understood as “In the morning, I like to stretch my back and arms.”

What exactly does ninapenda mean in terms of tense? Is it “I like” or “I am liking”?

Ninapenda covers both simple present (“I like / I love”) and present continuous (“I am liking / I am loving”), depending on context.

Morphologically:

ni- = I
-na- = present tense / “ongoing” marker
-penda = like / love

In practice:

Ninapenda kahawa. = I like coffee.
Sasa ninapenda kufanya mazoezi. = These days I like / I’m enjoying doing exercises.

If you want a very habitual sense (“I usually / always do X”), another option is hu-:

Asubuhi hujinyosha mgongo na mikono.
= In the morning I (usually) stretch my back and arms.

But ninapenda kunyoosha… is very natural to express “I like to stretch…” with a habitual feel.

What is the function of ku- in kunyoosha?

Ku- is the infinitive marker, similar to English “to” in “to stretch”.

Verb root: -nyoosha = to stretch / straighten
Infinitive: kunyoosha = to stretch

So:

Ninapenda kunyoosha mgongo na mikono.
= I like to stretch my back and arms.

If you conjugate the verb instead of using the infinitive, you’d get:

Ninanyoosha mgongo na mikono.
= I am stretching / I stretch my back and arms.

So kunyoosha (with ku-) behaves like a noun-like verb, used after ninapenda just like English “to stretch”.

Is kunyoosha (with “oo”) the normal verb here? I’ve also seen kunyosha.

For the meaning “to stretch / straighten”, the standard form is kunyoosha, with a long oo sound:

kunyoosha mgongo = to stretch/straighten (one’s) back
kunyoosha mikono = to stretch arms / hands

Kunyosha may appear as a spelling variant or in some dialectal usage, but if you are talking about stretching your body, you should learn and use kunyoosha.

Why does the sentence say mgongo na mikono and not mgongo wangu na mikono yangu for “my back and my arms”?

In Swahili, when talking about your own body parts in a clear context, the possessive pronoun is often left out. Listeners assume it’s your back and your arms.

So all of these are possible:

Ninapenda kunyoosha mgongo na mikono.
= I like to stretch (my) back and (my) arms.
Ninapenda kunyoosha mgongo wangu na mikono yangu.
= I like to stretch my back and my arms. (more explicit, a bit more formal or emphatic)

The shorter version without -wangu / -yangu is very natural in everyday speech when it’s obvious whose body part is being talked about.

What exactly does mikono mean? Is it “arms” or “hands”?

Mkono (singular) and mikono (plural) can mean arm, hand, or arm + hand as one unit, depending on context.

mkono = arm/hand
mikono = arms/hands

So:

kunyoosha mikono can be understood as “stretch the arms” or “stretch the arms and hands”.

If you need to be very specific, you can add context:

mikono yote = both arms
mikono na vidole = arms/hands and fingers

But usually mikono is enough.

What is the na between mgongo and mikono doing? Is it “and” or “with”?

Here na is simply “and” joining two nouns:

mgongo na mikono = the back and (the) arms

So the structure is:

kunyoosha [mgongo] na [mikono]
= to stretch [the back] and [the arms]

Note that Swahili na can mean “and” or “with” in different contexts, but in a list like X na Y, it’s read as “and”.

Can I move asubuhi to a different place in the sentence, or does it have to come first?

You can move asubuhi quite freely; it’s an adverbial (a time expression). Common options include:

Asubuhi, mimi ninapenda kunyoosha mgongo na mikono.
Mimi ninapenda kunyoosha mgongo na mikono asubuhi.
Ninapenda kunyoosha mgongo na mikono asubuhi.

All are grammatical and natural.

Putting asubuhi at the beginning (with a comma in writing) just highlights the time: “As for the morning, that’s when I like to stretch my back and arms.”