Mwenzangu anapenda kujifunza Kiswahili, na mimi ninamsaidia.

My colleague likes to learn Swahili, and I help him/her.

Breakdown of Mwenzangu anapenda kujifunza Kiswahili, na mimi ninamsaidia.

• mimi: I
• kupenda: to like
• kujifunza: to learn
• na: and
• kusaidia: to help
• Kiswahili: Swahili
• mwenzangu: my colleague

Questions & Answers about Mwenzangu anapenda kujifunza Kiswahili, na mimi ninamsaidia.

What does Mwenzangu mean exactly, and is it the same as my friend?

Mwenzangu roughly means my colleague / my companion / my fellow. It often refers to:

• a colleague at work,
• a classmate,
• a teammate,
• or generally, someone who shares some activity or situation with you.

It is a bit more general and neutral than rafiki yangu (my friend).

• rafiki yangu focuses on emotional friendship.
• mwenzangu focuses on being a fellow member of some group or activity.

Morphologically:

• mwenza = companion, fellow
• -angu = my

These have contracted in everyday usage and are normally written together as one word: mwenzangu.

Why is it Mwenzangu anapenda... and not Mwenzangu napenda...?

Because the verb’s subject prefix must match the grammatical person of the subject.

Common singular subject prefixes:

• ni- = I (1st person singular)
• u- = you (2nd person singular)
• a- = he / she (3rd person singular, for people and some other nouns)

In this sentence the subject is mwenzangu (my colleague), which is a 3rd person singular human noun, so the correct subject prefix on the verb is a-:

• Mwenzangu anapenda... = My colleague likes...
• Napenda... = I like...

So Mwenzangu napenda... would be mismatched and ungrammatical.

What does the -na- in anapenda mean? What tense is that?

The -na- is the present tense marker placed between the subject prefix and the verb stem.

Structure of anapenda:

• a- = subject prefix (he/she)
• -na- = present tense (often called present habitual/continuous)
• penda = verb stem (like, love)

So anapenda corresponds to English he/she likes (or he/she is liking / loves, depending on context).

For comparison:

• alipenda = he/she liked (past, -li-)
• atapenda = he/she will like (future, -ta-)
• amependa = he/she has liked / has come to like (recent/completed past, -me-)

Why do we say kujifunza instead of just jifunza?

Ku- is the infinitive marker in Swahili. To talk about an action in general (to eat, to read, to learn), you normally use ku- + verb stem:

• kula = to eat (from stem la)
• kusoma = to read / to study (from soma)
• kujifunza = to learn (from jifunza)

In anapenda kujifunza Kiswahili, the verb after anapenda is functioning like an English infinitive:

• anapenda kujifunza Kiswahili = he/she likes to learn Swahili.

Without ku- (anapenda jifunza Kiswahili), the form would be ungrammatical here.

What does the ji- in kujifunza do? Is it different from kufunza?

Yes. ji- is a reflexive marker. It usually means the subject is doing the action to themself.

Compare:

• kufunza = to train / to teach
• kujifunza = to learn (literally: to teach oneself)

Examples:

• Ninawafunza wanafunzi. = I teach the students.
• Ninajifunza Kiswahili. = I am learning Swahili.

In everyday usage, kujifunza is simply the normal way to say to learn, even if someone else is actually teaching you.

Why is the language called Kiswahili with Ki- at the beginning?

Ki- is a class 7 noun prefix. This class commonly marks:

• names of languages,
• ways or manners of doing something,
• some tools/instruments,
• various inanimate nouns.

For languages:

• Kiswahili = the Swahili language
• Kiingereza = English (language)
• Kifaransa = French
• Kichina = Chinese

Historically:

• Mswahili = a Swahili person
• Waswahili = Swahili people
• Kiswahili = the language/way of the Swahili people.

In Swahili texts, language names are often not capitalized, but many learning materials follow English practice and write Kiswahili with a capital K.

In na mimi ninamsaidia, why do we need mimi if ni- already means I? Isn’t that saying I twice?

The two elements have different roles:

• ni- is a bound subject prefix. It is part of the verb and is grammatically required for a normal finite verb.
• mimi is an independent pronoun. It is optional and used for emphasis or contrast.

Compare:

• ninamsaidia = I help him/her. (neutral statement)
• mimi ninamsaidia = I am the one who helps him/her. (emphasis or contrast)

So in Mwenzangu anapenda kujifunza Kiswahili, na mimi ninamsaidia, the mimi highlights the contrast:

• My colleague likes learning Swahili, and I help him/her.

Can na also mean with in Swahili? How do I know that here it means and?

Na has several main uses:

1. Conjunction: “and”

   • Juma na Asha = Juma and Asha
   • That is the function in ..., na mimi ninamsaidia.

2. Preposition: “with” / “having”

   • Ninakula na marafiki zangu. = I am eating with my friends.
   • Mtu na kisu. = A man with a knife.

3. As part of the verb: -na- for present tense

   • anapenda, ninamsaidia, etc.

In the sentence Mwenzangu anapenda kujifunza Kiswahili, na mimi ninamsaidia:

• na starts the second clause,
• is followed by mimi (a pronoun),

so it clearly functions as the conjunction and, linking the two clauses.

How is ninamsaidia built up from smaller pieces?

Ninamsaidia breaks down as:

• ni- = I (1st person singular subject prefix)
• -na- = present tense marker
• -m- = him/her (3rd person singular object marker for a person)
• said = verb root related to help
• -i- (together with the final -a often analyzed as -ia) = verbal extension that gives the meaning to help / assist
• -a = final vowel

So: ni-na-m-said-ia → ninamsaidia = I (am) help(ing) him/her.

What exactly does the object marker m- in ninamsaidia refer to? Could I also say ninamsaidia mwenzangu?

The object marker m- refers to a singular human object, in this context mwenzangu.

So:

• Mwenzangu ... ninamsaidia.
  = My colleague..., I help him/her.

You can also explicitly repeat the noun:

• Mwenzangu anapenda kujifunza Kiswahili, na mimi ninamsaidia mwenzangu.

Here both m- and mwenzangu refer to the same person (this is object agreement).

In standard Swahili:

• When the object has already been mentioned and is clear, the object marker is very common and often optional in simple affirmative clauses.
• You normally do not use only the object marker to introduce a completely new object that hasn’t been identified in the discourse.

Can I shorten ninamsaidia to namsaidia? If so, is there any difference?

Yes. In everyday speech Swahili often drops the i of ni- in the present tense when the verb has -na-:

• ninamsaidia → namsaidia
• ninapenda → napenda
• ninakula → nakula

There is no change in meaning:

• ninamsaidia = namsaidia = I help / I am helping him/her.

The full form is more careful or formal; the shorter form is very common in spoken and informal language.

Could I change the word order of the two clauses, or say this another way, without changing the basic meaning?

Yes. You can reorder the clauses or add a connector like kwa sababu (because), as long as each clause itself is grammatical. For example:

• Ninamsaidia mwenzangu kwa sababu anapenda kujifunza Kiswahili.
  = I help my colleague because he/she likes learning Swahili.

Meaning:

• The original: first focuses on the colleague’s liking for learning, then on your helping.
• The version with kwa sababu: first states that you help, then gives the reason.

However, you should not change the internal word order of the verb phrases in ways that break the grammar. Forms like:

• Mwenzangu napenda kujifunza Kiswahili. (wrong subject prefix for mwenzangu)
• Mwenzangu anapenda Kiswahili kujifunza. (odd/ungrammatical ordering)

are incorrect.

If I wanted to emphasize the colleague even more, could I add yeye? For example, Mwenzangu yeye anapenda kujifunza Kiswahili?

Yes. Adding yeye after the noun is a common way to add emphasis or contrast:

• Mwenzangu yeye anapenda kujifunza Kiswahili, na mimi ninamsaidia.

This sounds like:

• My colleague, he/she is the one who likes learning Swahili, and I help him/her.

Notes:

• yeye is an independent pronoun (he/she) used for emphasis.
• The verb still keeps the correct subject prefix a- (anapenda).
• Grammatically the sentence works both with and without yeye; adding it just makes the subject more emphatic.