Breakdown of Dada yangu hupenda kukagua daftari la mazoezi langu ili kuona maendeleo yangu.
Questions & Answers about Dada yangu hupenda kukagua daftari la mazoezi langu ili kuona maendeleo yangu.
hu- in hupenda is the habitual marker. It expresses something that usually/regularly happens or a general characteristic, like:
- Dada yangu hupenda… = My sister likes / my sister tends to like… (in general, as a habit)
If you said:
- Dada yangu anapenda kukagua…
that would sound more like My sister likes to check… in the present (still okay), but it can feel a bit more like a current, ongoing preference rather than a timeless habit.
So:
- hupenda = more like generally likes, habitually likes
- anapenda = likes (now / these days / at this time)
kagua is the verb root “to inspect / to check”.
When you put ku- in front, you get the infinitive:
- kukagua = to inspect / to check
In Swahili, after verbs like kupenda (to like), kujaribu (to try), kweza (to be able), you typically use the infinitive:
- hupenda kukagua = she likes to check
- anajaribu kuandika = he’s trying to write
In Swahili, possessives (words like my, your, his) come after the noun, not before it:
- dada yangu = sister my → my sister
- rafiki yako = friend your → your friend
- nyumba yetu = house our → our house
So the normal order is:
[noun] + [possessive]
dada yangu, not yangu dada
The connecting word la / ya / cha / wa, etc., must agree with the class of the first noun (the “head” noun).
- daftari (exercise book) is in noun class 5 (ji-/Ø).
- The possessive/connector for class 5 in singular is la.
So:
- daftari la mazoezi = exercise book (literally “book of exercises”)
If the head noun were class 9/10, you’d use ya:
- kitabu cha mazoezi (class 7) → cha
- vitabu vya mazoezi (class 8) → vya
- daftari la mazoezi (class 5) → la
Here, daftari is the head, so we use la, even though mazoezi itself is class 6.
The phrase has this structure:
- daftari (notebook) – head noun
- la mazoezi (of exercises) – what kind of notebook
- langu (my) – whose notebook
So:
daftari la mazoezi langu = my exercise book
literally: notebook of exercises my
You normally keep the “of…” phrase together with the noun before adding the possessor:
- kitabu cha Kiingereza changu = my English book
- magari ya wazazi wetu = our parents’ cars
Swahili allows some variation, but the given order is very natural and clear.
The -angu part is the “my” meaning. The first letter changes to agree with the noun class of the noun it’s describing:
- dada yangu
- dada is class 9 → possessive = yangu
- daftari langu
- daftari is class 5 → possessive = langu
- maendeleo yangu
- maendeleo is class 6 → possessive = yangu
Pattern (for “my”):
- Class 5: langu (daftari langu)
- Class 6: yangu (maendeleo yangu)
- Class 9/10: yangu (dada yangu, nyumba yangu)
So the change is due to noun class agreement.
mazoezi is plural in form (class 6, with ma-), but it is often used as a mass / uncountable noun in meaning, similar to English “exercise” (in the sense of training, practice).
- zoezi = one exercise (an individual task)
- mazoezi = exercises / exercise (in general, practice)
In daftari la mazoezi, it’s understood as book of (written) exercises, not necessarily counted one by one. Swahili often uses ma- nouns for abstract or mass ideas.
ili means “in order to / so as to / so that”.
In this sentence:
- ili kuona maendeleo yangu = in order to see my progress
So the structure is:
- hupenda kukagua… ili kuona…
= she likes to check… in order to see…
Both are possible, but they’re slightly different structures:
ili kuona maendeleo yangu
- kuona = infinitive “to see”
- Means in order to see my progress (general purpose, no explicit subject in that verb).
ili aone maendeleo yangu
- aone = subjunctive “so that she may see”
- This points more clearly to her as the subject of “see”: so that she sees my progress.
In your sentence, ili kuona is simpler and very natural; the subject (she) is understood from the context.
Swahili usually repeats possessives with each noun they describe, instead of using pronouns like “it/them” to avoid repetition.
So you get:
- daftari langu = my notebook
- maendeleo yangu = my progress
If you tried to avoid repeating yangu, it would often sound incomplete or unnatural. Repetition here is normal and clear.
You could say:
- kulikagua daftari langu = to check it, my notebook
But when the object follows directly as a full noun phrase, Swahili very often omits the object prefix, especially in simple, neutral sentences:
- hupenda kukagua daftari langu = perfectly natural
- hupenda kulikagua daftari langu = also grammatical, but can sound a bit heavier, or used for emphasis or in certain styles.
So here, kukagua daftari langu is the normal choice.
Both involve looking, but:
- kuangalia = to look at / to watch / to check (casually)
- kukagua = to inspect / to examine / to check carefully
In the sentence, kukagua daftari la mazoezi langu suggests a more careful, purposeful checking, as a teacher or parent might do, rather than just casually glancing at it.
dada by itself simply means “sister” (female sibling), without specifying older or younger.
If you want to specify:
- dada yangu mkubwa = my older sister
- dada yangu mdogo = my younger sister
In this sentence, dada yangu can mean either; context would decide whether she’s older or younger.