Learn Hardcore Swahili: Kesho kocha atasimamia mechi uwanjani, kabla hajaenda kazini kwake. - Tomorrow the coach will supervise the match on the field, before he goes to his job.

Kesho – tomorrow (time word/adverb)
kocha – coach (a noun, borrowed from English)
a-ta-simamia – he/she will supervise / oversee
- a- – 3rd person singular subject marker (he/she)
- -ta- – future tense marker (will)
- -simamia – verb stem meaning to supervise / oversee / be in charge of
mechi – match / game (loanword, often for sports)
uwanja-ni – on/at the field / in the stadium
- uwanja – field, pitch, ground, stadium
- -ni – locative suffix meaning in/at/on
kabla – before
ha-ja-enda – he/she has not (yet) gone
- ha- – negative prefix (not)
- -ja- – “not yet” / negative perfect marker
- -enda – verb root go
kazi-ni – to/at work / at his job
- kazi – work / job
- -ni – locative suffix (at/in)
kwake – his/her place / his/her (literally at him/her, often used for “his/her own” place or thing)

Putting it very literally:
Tomorrow coach will-supervise match at-field, before he-not-yet-has-gone to-work at-his-place.

In the English translation we say “the coach … before he goes”. Where are “the” and “he” in the Swahili sentence?

Two different issues here: articles and pronouns.

No “the / a / an” in Swahili
- Swahili does not have separate words for “the” or “a/an”.
- kocha by itself can mean “a coach” or “the coach”, depending on context.
- Similarly mechi can be “a match” or “the match”.
- Context (what both speakers already know) determines which English article you choose in translation.
“he” is built into the verb
- Swahili normally does not use a separate subject pronoun like “he” or “she” in front of the verb.
- Instead, it uses subject markers attached to the verb:
  - a-ta-simamia – a- = he/she, -ta- = will, simamia = supervise
    → “he/she will supervise”
  - ha-ja-enda – ha- (not) + -ja- (“not yet” perfect) + enda (go) → “he/she has not yet gone”
- If you really want to say “he” explicitly, you can say:
  - Yeye, kesho atasimamia mechi… – He, tomorrow will supervise the match…
    but in normal Swahili you just use the verb with the a- marker.

How is the verb atasimamia formed, and what is the difference between simama and simamia?

Form of “atasimamia”
- Base dictionary verb: kusimamia – to supervise / oversee / be in charge of
- Conjugation: a‑ta‑simamia
  - a- – he/she (3rd person singular)
  - -ta- – future tense (will)
  - simamia – verb stem
- So atasimamia literally = he/she will supervise.
“simama” vs “simamia”
- kusimama
  - Means to stand, to stand up, to stop moving.
  - Example: Treni imesimama. – The train has stopped.
- kusimamia
  - A different verb, derived from simama, but with the sense of:
    - to supervise, to oversee, to be in charge of, to manage (an event, process, job).
  - Example: Mwalimu anasimamia mtihani. – The teacher is supervising the exam.
In the sentence:
- kocha atasimamia mechi = the coach will supervise / be in charge of the match,
  not “will stand on the match”.

How do uwanjani and kazini express “on the field” and “at work” without extra words like “in/at/on”?

Swahili often uses the suffix -ni on a noun to express location, instead of a separate preposition like “in/at/on”.

uwanjani
- uwanja – field, pitch, ground
- -ni – locative suffix
- uwanjani = on the field / at the field / on the pitch
  You don’t need another word for “on/at”.
kazini
- kazi – work, job
- -ni – locative suffix
- kazini = at work / at (his/her) job
General pattern
- darasa → darasani – in the classroom
- nyumba → nyumbani – at home
- shule → shuleni – at school

So mechi uwanjani literally means “the match (which is) at the field”, and hajaenda kazini means “he/she has not yet gone to work.”

Why does the sentence say kabla hajaenda kazini kwake and not something like kabla ataenda kazini kwake?

After kabla (before), Swahili often uses a negative perfect form with ha- -ja- to mean “before (someone) has gone / has done X”, which in English is usually translated with a simple future or present (“before he goes”).

Form and literal meaning
- hajaenda
  - ha- – not
  - -ja- – “not yet” perfect marker
  - enda – go
  - Literal sense: “he/she has not yet gone”.
- kabla hajaenda kazini kwake
  - Literally: “before he/she has not yet gone to his/her work”
    → Idiomatically: “before he/she goes to work.”
Why not kabla ataenda?
- ataenda is just a normal future tense “will go”.
- After kabla, Swahili prefers:
  - kabla hajaenda (neg. perfect)
  - or kabla ya kwenda (using the infinitive “to go”)
- kabla ataenda sounds unnatural or ungrammatical to most native speakers.
Common patterns with kabla
- Kabla sijaondoka… – Before I leave / have left…
- Kabla hatujaanza… – Before we start / have started…
- Kabla hajaenda kazini… – Before he/she goes to work…

So kabla hajaenda is a standard idiomatic structure for “before (he) goes / has gone.”

Could I also say kabla ya kwenda kazini kwake? If so, what is the difference from kabla hajaenda kazini kwake?

Yes, kabla ya kwenda kazini kwake is correct, and the meaning is very close, but the structure is slightly different.

kabla hajaenda kazini kwake
- Focuses on the subject (he/she) and a completed action that has not yet happened.
- Literally: before he/she has not yet gone to his/her work.
- Very common pattern in spoken and written Swahili.
kabla ya kwenda kazini kwake
- Structure:
  - kabla ya – before (doing …)
  - kwenda – infinitive to go
  - kazini kwake – to his/her work
- Literally: before going to his/her work.
- Slightly more neutral, not using the “not yet” ha- -ja- form.
Nuance
- In many contexts, the two are almost interchangeable:
  - Kesho kocha atasimamia mechi uwanjani, kabla hajaenda kazini kwake.
  - Kesho kocha atasimamia mechi uwanjani, kabla ya kwenda kazini kwake.
- The first one (hajaenda) keeps the subject clearly inside the verb and has a stronger sense of “hasn’t yet done X at that point”.
- The second (ya kwenda) sounds a bit more like general “before going…” without emphasizing the “not yet” idea.

For everyday use, both are natural; kabla hajaenda is especially common in conversation.

What exactly does kazini kwake mean, and how is it different from kazi yake or kwake kazini?

kazi vs kazini
- kazi – work, job
- kazi-ni – at work / to work (locative)
- So kazini is specifically about location: being at or going to the workplace.
kwake
- kwa – at/to (someone’s place)
- -ke – his/her
- kwake – at his/her place / his/her (in a locative/possessive sense)
- In combinations like kazini kwake, it often carries the sense of “his own”.
Putting it together
- kazini kwake – to his work / at his workplace / at his job (place)
  Emphasises that it is his place of work, not just any “work” generally.
Other similar possibilities
- kazi yake
  - Literally: his work / his job / his task (more about the thing he does, not necessarily the place).
  - Example: Anaipenda kazi yake. – He likes his job.
- kwake kazini
  - Word order change; could be used in some contexts, but kazini kwake is the more usual order when you mean “at his work(place)”.

So in your sentence, kazini kwake is best understood as “to his workplace / to his job.”

Why doesn’t Swahili use separate words like “in” or “at” before uwanjani and kazini, the way English does?

Swahili often prefers to mark location on the noun itself with the suffix -ni, instead of a separate preposition:

English: “in the field”, “at work”, “in the house”
Swahili:
- uwanja → uwanjani – (in/at/on) the field
- kazi → kazini – at work
- nyumba → nyumbani – at home
- stoo → stoo-ni – in the store room

You can use prepositions like katika (in), kwenye (in/at), kwa (at someone’s place), but they often appear with plain nouns:

katika uwanja – in the field
kwenye kazi – at work

In your sentence, uwanjani and kazini already include the location meaning, so extra words like in/at are not necessary.

Can the word order change, for example putting kesho or the kabla‑clause in a different position?

Yes, Swahili word order is fairly flexible, especially for time expressions and subordinate clauses. Some common variants:

Moving kesho:
- Kesho kocha atasimamia mechi uwanjani, kabla hajaenda kazini kwake.
- Kocha kesho atasimamia mechi uwanjani, kabla hajaenda kazini kwake.
- Kocha atasimamia mechi uwanjani kesho, kabla hajaenda kazini kwake. All are grammatically fine; starting with kesho is very common and emphasizes “tomorrow”.
Moving the kabla‑clause:
- Kesho kocha atasimamia mechi uwanjani, kabla hajaenda kazini kwake.
- Kabla hajaenda kazini kwake, kocha kesho atasimamia mechi uwanjani. Both are acceptable; placing kabla… first slightly emphasizes the condition/time frame before he goes to work.

The core structure (subject markers on the verb, object after the verb, etc.) remains the same, but time phrases and subordinate clauses can move for emphasis or style.

Does this sentence tell us that the coach is a man? How is gender shown (or not shown) here?

The sentence does not specify gender. Swahili generally does not mark gender in the way English does.

kocha – can refer to a male or female coach.
Verb markers:
- a- in atasimamia and hajaenda just means “he/she”, not specifically male or female.

To make gender explicit, you would need to add extra information:

kocha mwanaume – male coach
kocha mwanamke – female coach

But as written, Kesho kocha atasimamia mechi uwanjani, kabla hajaenda kazini kwake is neutral: the coach could be he or she.

Is the comma before kabla hajaenda kazini kwake necessary, and is this sentence natural Swahili?

Comma usage
- The comma before kabla… is optional.
- Many writers do put a comma before a time clause or conditional clause, similar to English:
  - …, kabla hajaenda kazini kwake.
- Others omit it:
  - Kesho kocha atasimamia mechi uwanjani kabla hajaenda kazini kwake. Both versions are accepted in normal writing.
Naturalness
- The sentence is grammatical and natural Swahili.
- Slight stylistic alternatives (all natural) include:
  - Kesho kocha atasimamia mechi uwanjani kabla hajaenda kazini.
  - Kesho kocha atasimamia mechi uwanjani kabla hajaenda kazini kwake.
  - Kesho kocha atasimamia mechi uwanjani kabla ya kwenda kazini kwake.

The version you have is perfectly fine and idiomatic.