Kile nilichosoma leo asubuhi kilikuwa kifupi.

What I read this morning was short.

Breakdown of Kile nilichosoma leo asubuhi kilikuwa kifupi.

• kuwa: to be
• leo: today
• asubuhi: the morning
• fupi: short
• kile: that
• nilichosoma: which I read

Questions & Answers about Kile nilichosoma leo asubuhi kilikuwa kifupi.

What is the literal, word‑by‑word breakdown of Kile nilichosoma leo asubuhi kilikuwa kifupi?

Here is a rough morpheme‑by‑morpheme breakdown:

• Kile – that (thing)

  • ki- = class 7 noun prefix
  • -le = “that (distant / previously mentioned)” demonstrative

• nilichosoma – which I read

  • ni- = I (subject prefix, 1st person singular)
  • -li- = past tense marker
  • -cho- = relative marker for class 7 (ki- class)
  • soma = read

  Altogether: nilichosoma = that which I read / what I read.

• leo asubuhi – this morning / today in the morning

  • leo = today
  • asubuhi = morning

• kilikuwa – was (it was)

  • ki- = subject marker for class 7 (referring back to kile / “that thing”)
  • -li- = past tense
  • -kuwa = to be

• kifupi – short (literally: short one of class 7)

  • ki- = agreement prefix for class 7
  • -fupi = root “short”

So a very literal gloss is:

That‑(thing) which‑I‑PAST‑REL:class7‑read today morning it‑PAST‑was short‑(class7).

Where is the word for “thing”? Why don’t we see kitu in the sentence?

The “thing” is implied by the pronoun kile.

• kile literally means “that (thing)” from noun class 7, where the generic noun is kitu (thing).
• In Swahili, demonstrative pronouns like hiki, hicho, kile can stand on their own without the noun, especially when the noun is obvious from context.

So:

• kitu kile nilichosoma leo asubuhi kilikuwa kifupi
  = that thing which I read this morning was short

is grammatically fine, but it’s natural to drop kitu and just say:

• Kile nilichosoma leo asubuhi kilikuwa kifupi
  = That which I read this morning was short.

English usually needs thing, but Swahili often doesn’t.

What exactly does kile mean, and how is it different from things like hiki, hicho, hicho kitu, etc.?

Kile is a demonstrative pronoun from noun class 7, and it usually refers to something:

• farther away in space, or
• already mentioned / known from context, often “that (one) we talked about earlier”.

For class 7 (ki-/vi-), the common demonstratives are:

• hiki – this (thing) (near the speaker)
• hicho – that (thing) (near the listener, or medium distance)
• kile – that (thing) (farther away, or conceptually distant / previously mentioned)

Examples:

• Hiki kitabu – this book (right here, near me)
• Hicho kitabu – that book (near you / not as near me)
• Kile kitabu – that book (over there / that one we mentioned before)

In your sentence, Kile nilichosoma… could be understood as:

• That (thing) which I read this morning…
  often, it implies “that specific one we are both already aware of”.

What is nilichosoma doing here? How is it different from just nilisoma?

nilichosoma is a relative verb form, not just a simple past.

• nilisoma

  • ni- (I) + -li- (past) + soma (read)
  • Means: I read.

• nilichosoma

  • ni- (I) + -li- (past) + -cho- (relative marker for class 7) + soma (read)
  • Means: which I read / that I read / what I read

The -cho- is crucial: it turns the verb into a relative clause linked to something in class 7 (here: kile, “that thing”).

Compare:

• Nilisoma kile. – I read that (thing).
• Kile nilichosoma… – That (thing) which I read… / That which I read…

In Swahili, when you say “the thing which I read”, you normally mark that “which” on the verb with a relative marker like -cho-, not with a separate word like English which/that.

So is -cho- a relative marker or an object marker? How is it different from -ki-?

In nilichosoma, -cho- is a relative marker, not an ordinary object marker.

• Relative marker (class 7): -cho-

  • Used to mean “which / that (thing)” when the antecedent is class 7 (ki- class).
  • Example: kitu nilichokiona – the thing which I saw.

• Object marker (class 7): -ki-

  • Refers to “it” (a class 7 object) as a plain object pronoun.
  • Example: Nilikisoma. – I read it (the thing/book).

You can see both together in relative clauses with an explicit class‑7 noun:

• kitu nilichokisoma
  
  • kitu – thing
  • ni- (I) + -li- (past) + -cho- (REL, class 7) + -ki- (object “it”, class 7) + soma (read)
  • Literally: the thing which I read it (Swahili allows this redundancy).

In your sentence, nilichosoma only has the relative marker -cho-, because the “thing” is already referred to by kile.

Why do kile, kilikuwa, and kifupi all start with ki-?

They all agree with the same noun class: class 7 (ki-/vi-).

Even though kitu “thing” is not written, the idea is:

• (Kitu) kile – that thing
• (kitu) kile … kilikuwa – that thing … it was
• (kitu) kile … kilikuwa kifupi – that thing … was short

Noun class 7 triggers:

• ki- on the demonstrative: kile
• ki- on the subject marker of the verb: kilikuwa
• ki- on the adjective: kifupi

Swahili makes adjectives, demonstratives, and verb subject markers agree with the noun class, similar to how Romance languages make them agree in gender/number.

If there is no noun like kitu, what exactly is agreeing in this sentence?

The agreement is with an understood noun from context, not an overt one.

Conceptually, you have:

• (Kitu) kile nilichosoma leo asubuhi kilikuwa kifupi.

Once kitu has been established (even if only in the speaker’s mind), Swahili can:

1. Drop the noun, and
2. Let everything else—demonstrative, verb, adjective—keep class‑7 agreement.

So:

• Kile (that one – class 7)
• kilikuwa (it was – class 7 subject)
• kifupi (short – class 7 adjective form)

All of them “point back” to the same understood class‑7 referent, essentially “the thing we’re talking about.”

Why is the adjective kifupi, not just fupi?

Swahili adjectives take agreement prefixes matching the noun class when used attributively or predicatively.

The base adjective root is -fupi (short). For common classes:

• Class 1 (mtu): mfupi – a short person
• Class 5 (tunda): fupi – a short/brief fruit/thing (no extra prefix)
• Class 7 (kitu): kifupi – a short thing
• Class 8 (vitu): vifupi – short things

In your sentence, the understood noun is class 7 (“thing”), so:

• kitu kifupi – a short thing
• (Kitu) kile … kilikuwa kifupi – that thing … was short.

So ki- on kifupi is not part of the meaning of “short”; it’s just agreement with class 7.

Could I say Nilisoma kitu kifupi leo asubuhi instead? Does it mean the same thing?

Nilisoma kitu kifupi leo asubuhi is grammatical and understandable, but the nuance is a bit different.

• Kile nilichosoma leo asubuhi kilikuwa kifupi.

  • Focuses on that particular thing which I read this morning, and then tells you something about it (that it was short).
  • It has a feeling of “That thing I read this morning was short.” (maybe something we both know about).

• Nilisoma kitu kifupi leo asubuhi.

  • Means: I read a short thing this morning.
  • You mention an indefinite thing (kitu kifupi), not a specific known one.

So yes, the core idea “I read something short this morning” is shared, but:

• kile … nilichosoma … = definite, specific, often previously known
• kitu kifupi = indefinite, “some short thing”

Is leo asubuhi normal Swahili, or should it be asubuhi ya leo or just asubuhi?

All of these are used, with slightly different nuances and levels of formality:

• leo asubuhi – very common, conversational: today morning / this morning
• asubuhi ya leo – a bit more explicit or formal: the morning of today
• asubuhi – just in the morning, with the “today” often inferred from context

So your sentence:

• Kile nilichosoma leo asubuhi kilikuwa kifupi.

is perfectly natural: That which I read *this morning was short.*

Could I drop kile and just say Nilichosoma leo asubuhi kilikuwa kifupi?

Yes, that is possible and natural, with a slightly different structure.

1. Kile nilichosoma leo asubuhi kilikuwa kifupi.

   • Subject = kile nilichosoma leo asubuhi (“that which I read this morning”)
   • You have an explicit demonstrative kile, adding a sense of “that specific one”.

2. Nilichosoma leo asubuhi kilikuwa kifupi.

   • Here the relative clause itself (“what I read this morning”) is the subject.
   • Roughly: What I read this morning was short.

Native speakers do say things like:

• Ninachokipenda ni rahisi. – What I like is easy.
• Nilichokisoma jana kilinichosha. – What I read yesterday tired me out.

So your version without kile is fine; including kile makes the reference a bit more pointed or contrastive: that particular thing I read.

How would this sentence change if the thing I read were plural, e.g. “Those things I read this morning were short”?

Then you would switch from class 7 (ki-) to class 8 (vi-) for plural:

• Vile nilivyosoma leo asubuhi vilikuwa vifupi.

Breakdown:

• Vile – those (things), class 8 demonstrative
• nilivyosoma – ni- (I) + -li- (past) + -vyo- (relative marker for class 8) + soma (read)
• vilikuwa – vi- (they, class 8) + -li- (past) + -kuwa (to be)
• vifupi – short (plural, class 8 agreement)

Literal: Those which I read this morning were short.

How would I say “The story I read this morning was short” using an actual noun like hadithi instead of an implied “thing”?

hadithi (story) is usually class 9 (and its plural hadithi is class 10). For a singular story:

• Hadithi niliyoisoma leo asubuhi ilikuwa fupi.

Breakdown:

• Hadithi – story (class 9)
• niliyoisoma – ni- (I) + -li- (past) + -yo- (relative marker for class 9/10) + -i- (object marker for class 9) + soma (read)
  
  • which I read (it)
• ilikuwa – i- (it, class 9 subject) + -li- (past) + kuwa (be)
• fupi – short (class 9 adjective form has no extra prefix)

So:

• Hadithi niliyoisoma leo asubuhi ilikuwa fupi.
  = The story I read this morning was short.