Learn Hardcore Swahili: Kabla hatujatoka nyumbani, mama huangalia kama friji limefungwa vizuri. - Before we leave the house, mother checks whether the fridge is properly closed.

kabla + clause with a verb in the negative perfect (-ja-)
- Kabla hatujatoka nyumbani…
  Literally: Before we have left the house… (= before we leave).
kabla ya + infinitive (ku-verb)
- Kabla ya kutoka nyumbani…
  Literally: Before leaving the house…

So:

kabla tunatoka nyumbani – not natural Swahili.
kabla ya hatujatoka nyumbani – wrong, because ya is used before a noun/infinitive, not before a full finite clause like hatujatoka.

Use kabla directly before a finite verb clause (like hatujatoka), and kabla ya before a noun or ku- infinitive (like kutoka).

What exactly does -ja- in hatujatoka mean?

Hatujatoka is made of:

ha- – negative marker
-tu- – “we” (1st person plural subject)
-ja- – “not yet / have not (done)” (negative perfect)
toka – “leave / go out”

So hatujatoka literally means “we have not (yet) gone out / left.”

After kabla, this “not yet” idea is used to express “before we leave”:

Kabla hatujatoka nyumbani…
= Before we have left the house (i.e. before we leave the house).

If you said hatutoki, that would mean “we are not leaving / we don’t leave”, which is different. -ja- is important here for the “not yet happened at that time” meaning.

Could I also say Kabla ya kutoka nyumbani… instead of Kabla hatujatoka nyumbani…? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say both, and both are correct:

Kabla hatujatoka nyumbani, mama huangalia…
Kabla ya kutoka nyumbani, mama huangalia…

They are very close in meaning. Nuance:

Kabla hatujatoka…
Emphasises a full clause and a “not yet happened” sense:
“Before we have left…”
Kabla ya kutoka…
Uses a verbal noun/infinitive (kutoka) and feels a bit more general / neutral:
“Before leaving…”

In everyday speech you’ll hear both. For many contexts they are interchangeable.

How is “we” expressed in hatujatoka when sisi does not appear in the sentence?

In Swahili, the subject is usually built into the verb as a subject prefix. In hatujatoka:

-tu- = “we” (1st person plural subject)

So:

hatoka – (not correct as a full form, just to show the pieces)
hatutoki – we do not leave / we are not leaving
hatujatoka – we have not (yet) left

You can add sisi for emphasis:

Kabla sisi hatujatoka nyumbani… – “Before we (ourselves) leave the house…”

but it is not required, because -tu- already contains “we.”

What is the role of hu- in mama huangalia? Why not mama anaangalia?

Here hu- is the habitual marker. It tells you that this is something that usually / generally / habitually happens.

mama huangalia
= “Mom (always / usually) checks / Mom tends to check”

If you said:

mama anaangalia kama friji limefungwa vizuri

that would normally be understood as:

“Mom is checking if the fridge is closed properly” (right now),
or a more neutral present “Mom checks,” without strongly highlighting that it’s a routine.

So:

huangalia → general habit, repeated action.
anaangalia → action happening now (or present in a looser sense), not specifically habitual.

That is why huangalia is perfect here: it expresses a regular routine before leaving the house.

Can hu- be used with other subjects, like mimi, watoto, etc.?

Yes. The pattern for habitual with hu- is:

[Subject (noun or pronoun)] + hu- + verb stem

Examples:

Mimi huamka mapema.
I usually wake up early.
Watoto hucheza nje.
The children usually play outside.
Juma hukunywa kahawa kila asubuhi.
Juma usually drinks coffee every morning.

Notice:

There is no subject prefix (like ni-, u-, a-) on the verb when you use this simple habitual hu-.
The subject is expressed by the noun or pronoun before the verb (mama, mimi, watoto, Juma, etc.).

Why is it friji limefungwa and not friji imefungwa?

This is about noun class agreement.

Many speakers put friji (fridge) in noun class 5/6 (ji-/ma-), whose singular subject prefix in the perfect tense is li-:

Class 5 singular:
- friji limefungwa – the fridge has been closed / is closed.

Some other speakers treat friji as class 9/10, whose subject prefix in the perfect is i-:

Class 9 singular:
- friji imefungwa

Both patterns are heard in real life with many loanwords. The key rule is:
Whatever class you choose for a noun, keep agreement consistent.

In this sentence, the writer has chosen class 5, so we get limefungwa.

What does limefungwa tell us exactly? Is it “is closed” or “has been closed”?

Limefungwa is made of:

li- – subject prefix for class 5 singular (matching friji)
-me- – perfect aspect (“has done / is in the state of having done”)
fungwa – passive of funga (“to close” → “to be closed / to be shut”)

So limefungwa can mean both:

“has been closed” – action completed,
“is closed” – focusing on the resulting state.

Swahili -me- often covers both the completed action and the current result, so:

friji limefungwa vizuri
= “the fridge has been closed properly”
= “the fridge is properly closed”

Both translations are acceptable depending on context.

What does kama mean in mama huangalia kama friji limefungwa vizuri? Is it “if”, “whether”, or “like”?

Here kama means “if / whether”:

mama huangalia kama friji limefungwa vizuri
= “Mom checks if / whether the fridge is properly closed.”

So the structure is:

kuangalia kama + clause → “to check if / to see whether…”

Elsewhere, kama can also mean “like / as”:

Anaimba kama ndege. – He/she sings like a bird.
Ni kama filamu. – It’s like a movie.

For a somewhat more formal “if/whether,” Swahili also has:

ikiwa, iwapo, kama kwamba, etc.

But kama is by far the most common everyday choice here.

What does nyumbani literally mean, and why is there no separate word for “from” in toka nyumbani?

Nyumbani comes from:

nyumba – house, home
-ni – locative suffix (“in/at/to”)

So nyumbani literally means “at the house / at home / home.”

The verb toka already contains the idea “to come from / to leave (a place)”, so you don’t need an extra preposition like “from”:

toka nyumbani – leave (from) home / from the house
toka shuleni – leave (from) school
toka sokoni – leave (from) the market

Therefore:

kabla hatujatoka nyumbani
= before we leave home / before we go out of the house.

How does vizuri work here? Is it an adverb meaning “well”?

Yes. Vizuri means “well / nicely / properly.”

It comes from the adjective -zuri (“good, beautiful”). The vi- form (vizuri) is often used adverbially:

Anaandika vizuri. – He/she writes well.
Umekula vizuri? – Have you eaten well?
Friji limefungwa vizuri. – The fridge is closed properly.

So in the sentence:

limefungwa vizuri
= “has been closed well/properly.”