Learn Hardcore Swahili: Mwalimu mweupe anafundisha darasani. - The white teacher is teaching in the classroom.

So the basic pattern is: noun + adjective.
Putting the adjective before the noun (e.g. mweupe mwalimu) is not normal in standard Swahili and would sound incorrect.

How do we know whether mwalimu mweupe anafundisha darasani means “The white teacher” or “A white teacher”? There’s no the or a in the sentence.

Swahili doesn’t have articles like a/an or the. The noun mwalimu can be understood as a teacher or the teacher depending on context:

Without context, it can be translated either way.
If the teacher has already been mentioned or is known to both speakers, English would usually use the.
If it’s new, indefinite information, English would often use a.

So mwalimu mweupe anafundisha darasani could be translated as either:

The white teacher is teaching in the classroom, or
A white teacher is teaching in the classroom

depending on the situation.

What exactly does mweupe mean? Is it “white-skinned/white (race)” or just the color white?

The adjective -eupe means white (in color). With the class 1/2 agreement prefix it becomes mweupe, so:

mwalimu mweupe literally = white teacher (white-colored teacher)

In many contexts, if you say mwalimu mweupe about a person, listeners may understand it as a light-skinned/white (race) teacher, but in principle it is just describing color.

If you specifically want to say a white person (European/Western), the common noun is mzungu:

mwalimu mzungu = a white/European teacher

Cultural and contextual factors decide how mweupe is interpreted.

Why is it mweupe and not something like mkupe or mueupe? How is this form built?

Swahili adjectives change form depending on the noun class of the noun they describe. The base adjective is -eupe (“white”).

For a class 1 noun like mwalimu (teacher), the agreement prefix is m- / mw- and the adjective takes a specific pattern:

Class 1 adjective form of -eupe → mweupe

So:

mwalimu mweupe (class 1)
walimu weupe (class 2 plural – no m-, just weupe)

Other classes use different prefixes:

gari jeupe (white car – class 5)
magari meupe (white cars – class 6)

The shape mweupe is fixed by these noun-class agreement rules, not by spelling intuition.

How is anafundisha built, and what tense/aspect does it express?

Anafundisha can be broken down like this:

a- = subject marker for he/she/it (for class 1 nouns and 3rd-person singular)
-na- = present tense marker (often “is/are doing” or “does”)
fundish- = verb root meaning teach
-a = final vowel (infinitive is kufundisha)

So anafundisha means he/she is teaching or he/she teaches.

Swahili’s -na- present can cover both English simple present and present continuous, so context determines whether we translate it as “is teaching” or “teaches”.

Where is the word for “he” or “she”? The sentence just has mwalimu mweupe anafundisha darasani—I don’t see a separate pronoun.

Swahili normally does not use separate subject pronouns (I, you, he, she, etc.) in neutral statements. The subject is expressed through:

The noun: mwalimu mweupe (white teacher)
The subject marker on the verb: a- in anafundisha

So anafundisha already means he/she is teaching or the teacher is teaching.
You could add an explicit pronoun like yeye (“he/she”) for emphasis:

Yeye anafundisha darasani = He/She is the one teaching in the classroom.

But normally the subject pronoun is omitted because it’s redundant.

Does anafundisha mean “is teaching” (right now) or “usually teaches” (habit)?

The Swahili -na- tense can express both:

Present progressive (right now):
- Mwalimu mweupe anafundisha darasani.
  → The white teacher is teaching in the classroom (right now).
Present habitual/general truth:
- Mwalimu mweupe anafundisha darasani kila siku.
  → The white teacher teaches in the classroom every day.

Without extra time words (like sasa “now”, kila siku “every day”), anafundisha is ambiguous and can be translated either way, depending on context.

What is the exact role of darasani? Why is there an -ni at the end instead of just darasa?

Darasa means classroom/class. The ending -ni is a locative suffix, roughly like in/at/on in English.

darasa = class / classroom
darasani = in the classroom / in class

So darasani literally means “at the classroom” or “in the classroom”.

You could also say:

katika darasa = in the classroom
But darasani is more compact and very natural.

Could I say Mwalimu mweupe anafundisha katika darasa instead of darasani?

Yes, that is grammatically correct:

Mwalimu mweupe anafundisha katika darasa.

However, darasani is more idiomatic and more common in everyday speech. The difference is mostly stylistic:

darasani = short, natural, built-in locative form
katika darasa = explicitly “in the classroom,” slightly more formal or explicit

Both mean in the classroom.

How would I say “The white teachers are teaching in the classroom” in Swahili?

You need to pluralize the noun and adjust the verb and adjective to agree with the plural noun class (class 2 for people):

mwalimu (singular) → walimu (plural)
mweupe (class 1) → weupe (class 2)
anafundisha (he/she teaches) → wanafundisha (they teach)

Full sentence:

Walimu weupe wanafundisha darasani.
= The white teachers are teaching in the classroom.

Could the adjective come before the noun, like mweupe mwalimu, for emphasis?

In standard Swahili, descriptive adjectives do not normally come before the noun, even for emphasis. The natural order remains:

noun + adjective

Emphasis is expressed by context, stress, or additional words, not by switching the order. So mweupe mwalimu would sound ungrammatical or very strange.

What noun class is mwalimu, and how does that affect the form of the verb anafundisha?

Mwalimu (teacher) belongs to the m-/wa- noun class (class 1/2), typically used for people:

Singular: mwalimu (teacher) – class 1
Plural: walimu (teachers) – class 2

This class uses specific agreement markers:

Subject marker singular (class 1): a-
Subject marker plural (class 2): wa-

So:

Mwalimu mweupe anafundisha.
- a- in anafundisha agrees with mwalimu (he/she).
Walimu weupe wanafundisha.
- wa- in wanafundisha agrees with walimu (they).

The noun class determines the subject prefix on the verb.

Is there any difference between saying darasani and darasani humo? Both seem to mean “in the classroom.”

Yes, there is a nuance:

darasani = in the classroom (neutral)
darasani humo = in that classroom there / inside that classroom

Humo adds a sense of “inside that specific place (previously mentioned or obvious)”. It’s a bit more specific or emphatic about the location.

Example:

Mwalimu mweupe anafundisha darasani.
→ The white teacher is teaching in the classroom.
Mwalimu mweupe anafundisha darasani humo.
→ The white teacher is teaching in that (particular) classroom (in there).

Could darasani ever mean “during class” rather than just “in the classroom”?

Yes. Darasani can mean both:

Physical location:
- Mwalimu mweupe anafundisha darasani.
  → The white teacher is teaching in the classroom.
Situation/time (“during class”), depending on context:
- Usiongee darasani.
  → Don’t talk in class / during the lesson.

The underlying idea is “in the setting of the class/classroom”. Context decides whether you translate it as in the classroom or in class/during class.