Learn Hardcore Swahili: Mwalimu alitembea kwenye korido polepole akitazama madarasa yote. - The teacher walked slowly in the corridor while looking at all the classrooms.

anatembea = a- (he/she) + -na- (present/progressive) + tembea ⇒ “he/she is walking / walks”
atatembea = a- + -ta- (future) + tembea ⇒ “he/she will walk”

What exactly does kwenye mean in kwenye korido? Is it “in,” “on,” or “along”?

Kwenye is a very flexible preposition that often corresponds to “in / on / at / to / along”, depending on context. It basically marks location or position.

kwenye korido literally: “at/on/in the corridor,” but natural English will often be “in the corridor” or “along the corridor.”

Other examples:

kwenye meza – on the table
kwenye shule – at school
kwenye barabara – on the road

So don’t try to force a single English preposition; think of kwenye as a general locative marker.

Is korido a Swahili word or a loanword? How is it used?

Korido is a loanword from English “corridor.” It’s fully integrated into Swahili and follows normal Swahili patterns:

It’s usually treated as a noun of noun class 9/10 (like barabara, soko in many dialects).
You’ll see it in phrases like:
- kwenye korido ya shule – in the school corridor
- korido ndefu – a long corridor

In everyday speech, korido is the standard word for a hallway/corridor.

What does polepole mean, and can it be moved around in the sentence?

Polepole is an adverb meaning “slowly.” It’s a reduplication of pole (gentle/slow/soft), and is very common.

In this sentence it appears after kwenye korido:

alitembea kwenye korido polepole…

You can move it around somewhat without changing the basic meaning:

Mwalimu alitembea polepole kwenye korido akitazama madarasa yote.
Mwalimu alitembea kwenye korido, akitazama madarasa yote polepole. (this can slightly emphasize the “slowness” of the looking)

Most naturally:

alitembea polepole (he/she walked slowly)

So yes, polepole is flexible in position, though putting it right after the verb is very common: alitembea polepole.

What does akitazama mean literally, and what is the role of -ki- here?

Akitazama is built from:

a- = he/she (same subject as mwalimu)
-ki- = “while / as / when (doing)” marker (a kind of simultaneous/continuous participle)
-tazama = to look at

So akitazama literally means “while (he/she was) looking (at)”.

In sentences like this, -ki- expresses an action happening at the same time as the main verb:

Alitembea … akitazama …
→ He/she walked … while looking …

Compare:

Alitembea na kutazama madarasa yote.
Grammatically ok, but feels more like “walked and (then) looked at…,” not as clearly simultaneous.
Alitembea wakati anatazama madarasa yote.
Also possible, using wakati = “while/when,” but -ki- is more compact and natural.

So -ki- gives you the idea of “doing X while doing Y.”

Why is it akitazama and not akatizama or akatazama?

Here we need -ki- (simultaneous “while”) rather than -ka-.

-ki- = marks an action that happens at the same time as another action
- alitembea … akitazama… = he walked while looking…
-ka- = often used in narrative sequences to mean “and then,” one action after another
- alitembea … akatazama… = he walked, then he looked…

So akitazama (with -ki-) correctly shows simultaneity: walking and looking happen at the same time.

There is no correct Swahili form akatizama; the root is -tazama, not -tiza-.

Why is it madarasa yote and not madarasa zote? How does agreement work here?

Darasa (classroom) has the plural madarasa, which belongs to noun class 6 (ma- class).

Adjectives and quantifiers agree with the noun class. For class 6:

“all” = yote, not zote.

So:

darasa lote – the whole classroom (class 5 “li-/ji-”)
madarasa yote – all the classrooms (class 6 “ma-”)

Zote is used with some other plural classes, like class 10 (N/N):

nyumba zote – all the houses
siku zote – all the days / always

Here, madarasa is ma-class, so yote is the correct agreement.

Can the sentence work without yote? What changes in meaning?

Yes, you can say:

Mwalimu alitembea kwenye korido polepole akitazama madarasa.

This would mean “…looking at the classrooms” in a more general way. It does not automatically mean “all”.

Adding yote makes it explicit that every classroom is included:

madarasa yote = all the classrooms

So yote adds the idea of completeness (“every one of them”), which is part of the intended meaning here.

Why is there no object marker in akitazama madarasa yote? Could we add one?

In akitazama madarasa yote, the classrooms are expressed as a full noun phrase after the verb, so an object marker is not required. This is normal and very common:

anacheza mpira – he/she is playing (the) ball
anaona watoto – he/she sees the children

You could add an object marker for emphasis or if the object has already been mentioned and is topical:

aki
- ya
  - tazama → akiyatazama madarasa yote
    (a-ki-ya-tazama)

Here -ya- is the object marker for class 6 (ma- nouns like madarasa).

However, in a simple descriptive sentence like yours, the bare akitazama madarasa yote is more natural and perfectly clear.

How does the subject of akitazama relate to mwalimu? Why is mwalimu not repeated?

Swahili verbs carry the subject information in the subject prefix on the verb. We already have:

Mwalimu alitembea…

Then we get:

akitazama… (a-ki-tazama)

The a- in akitazama refers back to the same subject, mwalimu. Swahili does not need to repeat the noun mwalimu:

You do not say: Mwalimu alitembea… mwalimu akitazama…

This chain of verbs with the same subject is very common; the subject is understood from the verb prefix.

Is mwalimu gender‑specific, or can it mean both “male teacher” and “female teacher”?

Mwalimu is gender‑neutral in Swahili. On its own, it simply means “teacher” with no gender specified.

If you want to be explicit:

mwalimu mwanaume – male teacher
mwalimu mwanamke – female teacher

But in normal usage, mwalimu can refer to either a man or a woman, and context usually makes it clear if that matters.

Could we replace polepole with another word like taratibu? Would the meaning change?

Yes, you can say:

Mwalimu alitembea kwenye korido taratibu akitazama madarasa yote.

Taratibu also means “gently, carefully, slowly,” and often overlaps with polepole. The nuance:

polepole – focuses more on speed (slowly)
taratibu – can imply carefulness, delicacy, orderliness as well as slowness

In this sentence, both are natural; polepole highlights that the walking itself is slow, while taratibu can make it sound a bit more careful and deliberate.