Learn Hardcore Swahili: Jana usiku, niliota ndoto ambayo bado sijaielewa vizuri. - Last night, I dreamed a dream that I still haven’t understood well.

Both are fine. The comma simply marks a pause after the time expression, similar to English “Last night, I dreamed …”. Many Swahili texts (especially informal ones) will omit it.

How is the verb niliota formed, and what tense is it?

niliota comes from the infinitive kuota (to dream / to sprout). It’s made up of:

ni- = subject prefix for “I”
-li- = simple past tense marker
-ota = verb stem ota (dream)
final -a = normal final vowel for most Swahili verbs

So niliota literally means “I dreamed” or “I dreamt” (simple past).

Be aware: kuota can also mean “to sprout/germinate” (for plants), so context or an object like ndoto clarifies the meaning.

Why do we say niliota ndoto? Isn’t niliota already enough to mean “I dreamed”?

In practice, niliota ndoto is the most natural, common way to say “I had a dream / I dreamed a dream.”

Reasons:

Disambiguation
- kuota alone can mean to sprout (plants) or to dream.
- kuota ndoto clearly means “to dream (a dream)”, removing ambiguity.
Fixed collocation
- Swahili often uses verb + noun combinations that feel a bit redundant from an English perspective, similar to “have a look”, “give a shout”, etc.
- kuota ndoto is a standard collocation: “to dream (a dream)”.

You can sometimes see niliota used alone when the context is crystal clear, but niliota ndoto is more typical and sounds very natural.

What is the role of ambayo in this sentence?

ambayo is a relative pronoun meaning “which / that” and it refers back to ndoto (dream).

The structure is:

ndoto – the noun (dream)
ambayo – which / that
bado sijaielewa vizuri – I still haven’t understood (it) well

So ndoto ambayo bado sijaielewa vizuri means:
“a dream which I still haven’t understood well.”

Grammatically, ambayo introduces a relative clause that describes or qualifies the noun ndoto.

Why is it ambayo and not ambacho or ambalo?

Because ndoto belongs to noun class 9 (the N-class), and the relative pronoun has to agree with the noun class.

Very simplified:

Class 7 (kitu, kijiji) → often ambacho
- kitu ambacho… – a thing which…
Class 5 (jambo, tunda) → often ambalo
- jambo ambalo… – a matter which…
Class 9 (ndoto, meza, safari) → ambayo
- ndoto ambayo… – a dream which…

So we use ambayo because:

ndoto is class 9
class 9 takes ambayo as its relative pronoun form.

Can you break down sijaielewa and explain exactly what it means?

Yes. sijaielewa is a single verb form meaning “I have not understood it (yet).”

Breakdown:

si- = negative prefix for “I” (1st person singular)
-ja- = negative perfect marker, often carrying a “not yet” sense
-i- = object marker “it” for class 9 nouns (here, ndoto)
-elewa = verb root elewa (to understand)
final -a = normal final vowel

Put together: si–ja–i–elew–a → sijaielewa

Literal meaning:

“I have not-yet-it-understood.”
Natural English:
“I haven’t understood it yet.”

So in the sentence, sijaielewa refers back to the dream (ndoto).

What does bado add to the meaning? Could we leave it out?

bado means “still / yet”.

bado sijaielewa vizuri ≈ “I still haven’t understood it well / I haven’t understood it well yet.”

Nuance:

-ja- in sijaielewa already suggests “not yet (up to now)”,
but bado makes that explicit and stronger, focusing on the ongoing nature of the situation.

Compare:

sijaielewa vizuri – I haven’t understood it well.
- Could be heard as “up to now I haven’t understood it,” but without stressing still.
bado sijaielewa vizuri – I still haven’t understood it well.
- Emphasizes that the lack of understanding continues at the present moment.

You can grammatically drop bado, but you slightly weaken the “still / yet” emphasis. In everyday speech, people very often use both bado and -ja- together.

Why is niliota in the simple past, but sijaielewa in the present perfect? Could I just use the same tense for both verbs?

The difference reflects two different time frames:

niliota – simple past
- The dreaming happened at a specific time in the past (last night) and is finished.
sijaielewa – negative present perfect (not yet up to now)
- The state of not understanding started then and continues into the present.

So the sentence really says:

Last night I had a dream (finished event),
which I have still not understood up to now (ongoing state).

If you used the same past tense for the understanding, you would change the meaning:

Jana usiku, niliota ndoto ambayo sikuielewa vizuri.
- sikuielewa = “I didn’t understand it (then).”
- This focuses on your past reaction at that time. It doesn’t clearly say whether you understand it now or not.

The original sijaielewa is chosen precisely to show that even now, you still haven’t figured it out.

What is the difference between bado sijaielewa vizuri and bado siielewi vizuri?

Both involve “still not understanding”, but the nuance and tense are slightly different.

bado sijaielewa vizuri
- si- (I, negative) + -ja- (not-yet perfect) + -i- (it) + elewa
- “I still haven’t understood it well (up to this point).”
- Emphasizes the whole period from the past until now: you have tried (or at least had time) but up to this moment you haven’t reached understanding.
bado siielewi vizuri
- si- (I, negative) + -i- (it) + elew
  - -i (negative present)
- “I still don’t understand it well.”
- Focuses more on your current state of not understanding, without necessarily implying attempts or a time span.

In many everyday contexts, the difference is subtle, and both might be translated as:

“I still don’t understand it well.”

However:

sijaielewa leans toward “I haven’t managed to understand it yet.”
siielewi is more simply “I don’t understand it (right now).”

Can I move parts of the sentence around, for example: Niliota ndoto jana usiku ambayo bado sijaielewa vizuri? Does the word order change the meaning?

You have some flexibility, but there are rules:

The relative clause (starting with ambayo) should stay immediately after the noun it describes (ndoto).
- Good: Niliota ndoto ambayo bado sijaielewa vizuri jana usiku.
- Good: Jana usiku, niliota ndoto ambayo bado sijaielewa vizuri.
- Less natural / confusing: Niliota ndoto jana usiku ambayo bado sijaielewa vizuri.
  - Here, jana usiku sits between ndoto and ambayo, which weakens the tight link between ndoto and its relative clause.
Time expressions like jana usiku are quite flexible:
- Jana usiku, niliota ndoto ambayo bado sijaielewa vizuri.
- Niliota ndoto ambayo bado sijaielewa vizuri jana usiku.
  Both are acceptable; the first one highlights the time more at the beginning.

So you can move jana usiku around, but keep ndoto ambayo … together to sound clear and natural.