Breakdown of Jana dada alinunua mkoba wa mgongoni mzuri kwa ajili ya vitabu vyake.
Questions & Answers about Jana dada alinunua mkoba wa mgongoni mzuri kwa ajili ya vitabu vyake.
Time expressions like Jana (yesterday) very often come at the beginning of a Swahili sentence to set the time frame:
- Jana dada alinunua mkoba…
You can also put Jana after the subject or even at the end:
- Dada alinunua mkoba jana.
- Dada jana alinunua mkoba.
All of these are grammatically correct. Starting with Jana just emphasizes the time a bit more, similar to English “Yesterday, my sister bought…”
On its own, dada simply means sister (usually older sister in many contexts, but often just “sister” in everyday use). It does not automatically mean “my sister”.
To be precise, you add a possessive:
- dada yangu – my sister
- dada yako – your sister
- dada yake – his/her sister
- dada yetu – our sister
In everyday conversation, context often makes it clear that dada refers to “my sister”, but grammatically it is just sister. In careful or written Swahili, dada yangu is clearer if you mean “my sister”.
Alinunua breaks down like this:
- a- – subject prefix for he/she (3rd person singular)
- -li- – past tense marker (completed past)
- nunu – verb root “buy” (from kununua = to buy)
- -a – final vowel (marks the verb form)
So alinunua means he/she bought.
Other examples with the same pattern:
- nilienda – I went (ni- I, -li- past, -enda go)
- walikula – they ate (wa- they, -li-, -kula eat)
Both -li- and -me- can talk about the past, but they have different nuances:
-li- = simple/completed past, like a neutral “did”:
- Jana alinunua mkoba. – Yesterday she bought a bag. (neutral past event)
-me- = present perfect / result in the present:
- Amenunua mkoba. – She has bought a bag. (the result is relevant now; the bag is now bought/available)
In your sentence, Jana … alinunua is appropriate because it refers to a finished action located clearly in the past (yesterday).
You are reading it correctly; it is quite literal:
- mkoba – bag (often a handbag, satchel, or schoolbag)
- mgongo – back (part of the body)
- mgongoni – on the back / at the back (mgongo + locative -ni)
- wa – genitive connector meaning of for this noun class
So mkoba wa mgongoni is literally bag of (the) back/on-the-back, i.e. a bag that is worn on the back → a backpack.
You may also see:
- begi la mgongoni – backpack (using the loanword begi for “bag”)
The connector (genitive) agrees with the head noun, here mkoba.
- mkoba is class 3 (m-/mi-):
- singular: mkoba
- plural: mikoba
For class 3, the “of” connector is:
- singular: wa
- plural: ya
So:
- mkoba wa mgongoni – backpack (one)
- mikoba ya mgongoni – backpacks
Other noun classes use different connectors:
- class 5/6 (tunda / matunda) → tunda la… / matunda ya…
- class 7/8 (kitabu / vitabu) → kitabu cha… / vitabu vya…
- mgongo = back (the body part)
- mgongoni = on the back / at the back
mgongoni is formed by adding the locative suffix -ni to mgongo:
- mgongo (back) → mgongoni (on the back)
The -ni suffix often makes location meanings:
- meza – table → mezani – on/at the table
- shule – school → shuleni – at school
- nyuma – behind → nyuma or nyumani – at the back/behind
So mkoba wa mgongoni is literally a “bag that is for the location ‘on the back’”.
In Swahili, adjectives normally come after the noun they describe, and if there is a whole noun phrase, they usually come after the entire phrase.
Here:
- mkoba wa mgongoni mzuri
- head noun: mkoba
- descriptive genitive: wa mgongoni
- adjective: mzuri (good / nice)
So we get: [bag] [of-the-back] [nice].
You could also say:
- mkoba mzuri wa mgongoni
Both are grammatical; many speakers prefer putting the adjective at the end of the whole phrase, but both word orders occur. The important thing is that mzuri agrees with mkoba (class 3), hence mzuri, not zuri alone.
Kwa ajili ya is a common multi‑word preposition meaning for the sake of / for the purpose of.
- kwa – by/with/for (very general preposition)
- ajili – sake/purpose/reason
- ya – “of” (agreeing with ajili, which is a class 9 noun)
So kwa ajili ya vitabu vyake literally: for the purpose of her books → for her books.
Yes, in many contexts you can shorten:
- kwa vitabu vyake – for her books
This sounds a bit more like for (use with) her books, while kwa ajili ya vitabu vyake slightly highlights the purpose or reason. Both are common and natural.
Vitabu is class 8 (ki-/vi- class plural):
- singular: kitabu – book
- plural: vitabu – books
The possessive pronoun must agree with the noun class, so:
- class 8 “his/her” is vyake (vi- agreement)
- not yake, which you’d use with class 9/10 nouns or sometimes class 5.
So:
- kitabu chake – his/her book (class 7, cha-)
- vitabu vyake – his/her books (class 8, vya-)
Breakdown of vyake:
- vy- – agreement for class 8
- -ake – root for “his/her”
That tells you both who owns it (3rd person: his/her) and what class/number the noun is (class 8 plural).
On its own, vyake can mean:
- his books
- her books
- sometimes their books (if context allows a singular or collective owner)
Swahili third person pronouns do not mark gender (no grammatical difference between “he” and “she”), and number is often resolved by context.
To be more explicit, you might say:
- vitabu vya dada yangu – my sister’s books
- vitabu vya kaka yake – his/her brother’s books
- vitabu vyao – their books (here -ao is clearly plural “their”)
In your sentence, vyake is best translated by looking at who dada refers to (usually her books if the subject is female, but grammatically it could be “his” too).
Swahili usually does not use separate subject pronouns (mimi, wewe, yeye, sisi, ninyi, wao) unless you want to emphasize them.
The subject is normally built into the verb:
- alinunua – a- (he/she) + -linunua (bought)
So alinunua already means he/she bought. Adding yeye is optional and adds emphasis:
- Yeye alinunua mkoba… – SHE bought the bag (not someone else)
In your sentence, dada alinunua… already shows the subject is “sister”, so another pronoun is unnecessary.