Learn Hardcore Swahili: Mimi ninapenda faragha nyumbani jioni.

In Swahili, the subject prefix on the verb is obligatory, but the independent pronoun (mimi, wewe, yeye, sisi, ninyi, wao) is optional and usually added for:

Emphasis:
Mimi ninapenda faragha… = I like privacy (maybe others don’t).
Contrast:
Wao wanapenda sherehe, lakini mimi ninapenda faragha.
They like parties, but I like privacy.

A perfectly natural, neutral version would be:

Ninapenda faragha nyumbani jioni. – I like privacy at home in the evening.

So: you must keep ni- in ninapenda; you can drop Mimi unless you want emphasis.

Could I just say Napenda faragha nyumbani jioni instead of Ninapenda? Is that still correct?

You will hear and see napenda a lot, but it’s good to understand the nuance:

Textbook/standard form: ni-na-penda → ninapenda
Colloquial/spoken form: napenda (the ni- is dropped in many dialects)

Native speakers often say:

Ninaenda → Naenda
Ninapenda → Napenda

So:

Ninapenda faragha nyumbani jioni. – more standard/neutral.
Napenda faragha nyumbani jioni. – very common in speech, informal writing, SMS, etc.

For exams and formal writing, prefer ninapenda.
In everyday conversation, napenda is absolutely normal.

What exactly does ninapenda mean in terms of tense? Is it “I like” or “I am liking”?

Ninapenda is built from:

ni- = I (subject prefix)
-na- = present tense marker
-penda = like / love

In practice, ninapenda usually covers what English expresses as:

I like (general preference / habit)
sometimes I love (depending on context and object)

So:

Ninapenda faragha nyumbani jioni.
≈ I like (or I enjoy having) privacy at home in the evening.

It is not used like English “I am liking” (which is unusual anyway).
Think of ninapenda as the normal present/habitual: I like, I (generally) love, I enjoy.

What part of speech is faragha? Can it be plural or used like “privacies”?

Faragha is a noun in Swahili, borrowed from Arabic. It generally means:

privacy, secrecy, in private

Key points:

It is usually treated like a mass/abstract noun in English:
- Ninapenda faragha. – I like privacy.
- Anahitaji faragha. – He/She needs privacy.
You normally don’t make it plural; you don’t say faragha nyingi as “many privacies” in a normal sense.
To personalize it, you can add a possessive:
- faragha yangu – my privacy
- faragha yao – their privacy

Example:

Watoto wanahitaji faragha yao pia.
Children need their privacy too.

I’ve seen kwa faragha and faraghani. How are those different from plain faragha?

All three are related but used slightly differently:

faragha – the basic noun “privacy”
- Tunazungumza kwa faragha. – We are talking in privacy / privately.
kwa faragha – “in privacy / privately / in private”
- Adds a sense of manner: in a private way.
- Nataka kuzungumza nawe kwa faragha. – I want to talk with you in private.
faraghani – “in a private place / in private”
- The -ni suffix creates a locative: in/at privacy (a private setting).
- Walikutana faraghani. – They met in private (in a private place).

In your sentence faragha is used as a thing you like (privacy itself), not as an adverbial phrase, so faragha alone is natural:

Ninapenda faragha nyumbani jioni. – I like (having) privacy at home in the evening.

Why is it nyumbani and not just nyumba? What does the -ni at the end do?

Nyumba = house / home (noun)
Nyumbani = at home, in the house (locative form)

The -ni suffix often marks location:

shule – school → shuleni – at school
kanisa – church → kanisani – at church
nyumba – house → nyumbani – at home / in the house

So in your sentence:

nyumbani ≈ at home

Compare:

Niko nyumbani. – I am at home.
Niko kwenye nyumba. – I am in/at the house (more literal, often a specific building).

In everyday speech, nyumbani is the standard way to say at home.

Could I change the word order and say Mimi ninapenda faragha jioni nyumbani? Is that still correct?

Swahili word order is somewhat flexible with time and place expressions, but there are common, more natural patterns.

Your original:

Mimi ninapenda faragha nyumbani jioni.
→ [Subject] [Verb] [Object] [Place] [Time]

This is very typical: place before time, with time often coming near the end.

You can say:

Mimi ninapenda faragha jioni nyumbani.

It is grammatically acceptable, but it may sound a bit less natural in neutral speech.
More common patterns would be:

Mimi ninapenda faragha nyumbani jioni. (place then time)
Jioni ninapenda faragha nyumbani. (time fronted for emphasis: In the evening, I like…)

So yes, word order is flexible, but [… nyumbani jioni] feels more idiomatic than [… jioni nyumbani] in this case.

Do I need a preposition for jioni like “in the evening,” or is jioni alone always fine?

You do not need a preposition. Jioni by itself functions adverbially and already means in the evening.

Similarly:

asubuhi – in the morning
mchana – in the afternoon / daytime
usiku – at night

Examples:

Ninafanya kazi mchana. – I work in the afternoon/daytime.
Nasoma usiku. – I study at night.
Ninapenda faragha nyumbani jioni. – I like privacy at home in the evening.

You can add prepositions in other structures (e.g. katika jioni hii – in this evening, more literary), but in ordinary sentences bare jioni is completely natural and standard.

If I want to say “I like to be alone at home in the evening,” is faragha still the best word?

Faragha focuses on privacy / being unobserved / having personal space.
If you specifically mean “alone” (without other people), you’ll often hear:

kuwa peke yangu – to be by myself / to be alone

So some options:

Keep the idea of privacy (your original style):
- Ninapenda faragha nyumbani jioni.
  I like privacy at home in the evening.
Emphasize being alone:
- Ninapenda kuwa peke yangu nyumbani jioni.
  I like to be by myself at home in the evening.
Combine the nuance:
- Ninapenda kuwa peke yangu na kuwa na faragha nyumbani jioni.
  I like to be alone and have privacy at home in the evening.

All are correct; faragha is natural if your focus is on privacy rather than simply not having company.

How do you pronounce faragha? What sound is that gh supposed to represent?

Faragha is usually pronounced in three syllables:

fa-ra-gha

The gh represents a sound borrowed from Arabic غ:

In careful pronunciation, it’s a voiced velar/uvular fricative, similar to a French r in rue or the Arabic gh in ghurfa.
Many native speakers, especially those not used to Arabic sounds, pronounce it closer to a hard g or soften it so it sounds like fara-ga or fara-ga/h.

For communication purposes, if you say fa-RA-ga, with a hard g, people will understand you. The key thing is the three syllables, stress usually on the second: fa-RA-gha.

Why is Mimi capitalized? Is mimi always capitalized like English “I”?

No. Unlike English I, the Swahili pronoun mimi is not always capitalized.

It follows normal capitalization rules:

Mimi is capitalized only because it is the first word in the sentence.
In the middle of a sentence, you’d write mimi (lowercase):
- Wao wanapenda sherehe, lakini mimi ninapenda faragha.
  They like parties, but I like privacy.

So:

Start of sentence: Mimi ninapenda…
Middle of sentence: … lakini mimi ninapenda…

How would I turn this into a yes–no question, like “Do you like privacy at home in the evening?”

To ask a yes–no question in Swahili, you mainly change the subject and intonation, not the word order.

From your sentence (1st person):

Mimi ninapenda faragha nyumbani jioni. – I like privacy at home in the evening.

Change to 2nd person singular:

Wewe unapenda faragha nyumbani jioni. – You like privacy at home in the evening.

Now to make it a question, you have options:

Simply use rising intonation in speech:
- Unapenda faragha nyumbani jioni? – Do you like privacy at home in the evening?
Add je at the beginning (more clearly marked as a question):
- Je, unapenda faragha nyumbani jioni?

Both are correct. Written Swahili often uses Je, … ? to signal a question clearly.