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Kaka yangu anapenda kuogelea kwenye bwawa dogo karibu na mto.

Kaka yangu anapenda kuogelea kwenye bwawa dogo karibu na mto.
My brother likes to swim in a small pool near the river.

Breakdown of Kaka yangu anapenda kuogelea kwenye bwawa dogo karibu na mto.

kupenda
to like
yangu
my
karibu na
near
kuogelea
to swim
kaka
the brother
kwenye
in
mto
the river
dogo
small
bwawa
the pool
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Questions & Answers about Kaka yangu anapenda kuogelea kwenye bwawa dogo karibu na mto.

What does kaka yangu literally mean, and can kaka mean both “older brother” and “younger brother”?

Kaka yangu literally means my brother.

  • kaka = brother (a male sibling)
  • yangu = my (possessive for singular people/animals, noun class 1)

In standard Swahili, kaka does not itself specify older vs younger; it is just brother.

If you need to be specific, you can say:

  • kaka yangu mkubwa = my older brother
  • kaka yangu mdogo = my younger brother
Why is yangu placed after kaka instead of before it, like in English (“my brother”)?

In Swahili, possessive adjectives normally follow the noun:

  • kaka yangu = my brother
  • rafiki yangu = my friend
  • kitabu changu = my book

So the pattern is:
[noun] + [possessive], not [possessive] + [noun] as in English.

Also, yangu is the form of “my” that agrees with noun class 1 (people in the singular), which includes kaka.

What exactly does anapenda mean? Is it “likes” or “is liking”?

anapenda is made of:

  • a- = subject prefix “he/she” (for kaka)
  • -na- = present tense marker (often habitual/continuous)
  • -penda = like, love

So anapenda usually translates as he likes / he loves in this kind of sentence.

Swahili doesn’t distinguish “likes” vs “is liking” the way English does; anapenda can cover both ongoing and general/habitual liking. Here, context makes it clearly habitual: “My brother likes to swim…”.

Why do we say anapenda kuogelea? What is kuogelea exactly?

kuogelea is the infinitive / verbal noun form of the verb -ogelea (to swim).

  • ku- = infinitive marker (“to …”)
  • -ogelea = swim

When one verb is followed by another in Swahili, the second one is usually put into this ku- form, similar to English “like to swim”:

  • anapenda kuogelea = he likes to swim
  • anataka kula = he wants to eat
  • anajaribu kusoma = he is trying to read
Is there a difference between kuogelea and kuogea? They look similar.

Yes, they are related but different verbs:

  • kuogelea = to swim (moving your body through water, like in a pool or sea)
  • kuogea = to bathe / wash yourself (for cleanliness, usually at home or in a bathroom)

So:

  • anapenda kuogelea = he likes to swim
  • anapenda kuogea = he likes to bathe / take a bath
What does kwenye mean, and could I replace it with something else like katika or ndani ya?

kwenye is a very common preposition that can mean in / at / on / to, depending on context.

In this sentence:

  • kuogelea kwenye bwawa dogo = to swim in a small pool

Possible replacements (with slight differences in feel):

  • katika bwawa dogo – also “in a small pool”, a bit more formal or neutral
  • ndani ya bwawa dogo – “inside the small pool”, emphasizes being inside

kwenye is very widely used in everyday speech and works perfectly here.

What exactly is bwawa? Does it only mean “swimming pool”?

bwawa is a noun that usually means:

  • a pool of water
  • a dam or artificial water reservoir
  • in many contexts, it’s used for swimming pool as well

So bwawa dogo here is naturally understood as a small pool. If you want to be very clear that it is a modern swimming pool (with tiles, etc.), people sometimes say bwawa la kuogelea (literally “pool for swimming”).

Why is the adjective dogo after bwawa? Why not before, like “small pool” in English?

In Swahili, descriptive adjectives normally follow the noun:

  • bwawa dogo = small pool
  • mto mkubwa = big river
  • mtoto mzuri = good / beautiful child

So the structure is: [noun] + [adjective], not [adjective] + [noun].

Also, for a class-5 noun like bwawa, the adjective -dogo appears simply as dogo in the singular: bwawa dogo, plural mabwawa madogo.

What does karibu na mto mean exactly, and why do we need na?

karibu na mto literally means near the river or close to the river.

  • karibu = near, close, nearby
  • na = with / to (here functioning like “near to”)
  • mto = river

So karibu na X is a common pattern for “near X”:

  • karibu na shule = near the school
  • karibu na barabara = near the road

Sometimes you may also hear karibu mto, but karibu na mto is more standard and clearer.

Does mto always mean “river”? I’ve also seen it used for “pillow”.

mto can mean river or pillow, depending on context. They are two different nouns with the same form.

  • mto (river) – class 3/4, plural mito (rivers)
  • mto (pillow) – also class 3/4, plural mito (pillows)

In this sentence, because of bwawa dogo karibu na mto (a small pool near the river), the meaning river is obvious; a “pool near the pillow” would not make sense. Context decides.

What is the overall word order in this sentence, and can I move the parts around?

The sentence is:

Kaka yangu anapenda kuogelea kwenye bwawa dogo karibu na mto.

Basic order:

  1. Subject – Kaka yangu (my brother)
  2. Verb – anapenda (likes)
  3. Verb in infinitive – kuogelea (to swim)
  4. Location phrase – kwenye bwawa dogo karibu na mto (in a small pool near the river)

Swahili’s basic word order is S–V–O, and location/time phrases usually come after the verb (and its object/infinitive).

You generally cannot freely scramble the parts like in some languages. For example, forms like:

  • ✗ Anapenda kaka yangu kuogelea… (changes the focus and can be confusing)
    are not natural here.

The given order is the normal, clear way to say it.