Learn Hardcore Swahili: Usiku tunafunga pazia jepesi na pazia zito pamoja ili tuwe na faragha zaidi. - At night we close the light curtain and the heavy curtain together so that we have more privacy.

Words like usiku (night), asubuhi (morning), mchana (daytime), jioni (evening), leo (today), jana (yesterday), etc. can stand alone and function like adverbs of time.

So:

Usiku tunafunga…
= At night we close…

Adding a preposition like kwa usiku or katika usiku here would sound unnatural in everyday Swahili. The bare noun usiku already carries the “at night / during the night” meaning.

What tense is tunafunga, and does it mean “we close” or “we are closing”?

Tunafunga is in the present tense with the -na- marker, which usually covers:

present progressive: we are closing (right now)
present/habitual: we close (in general, as a routine)

So Usiku tunafunga… is naturally understood as a habitual action:

Usiku tunafunga pazia…
= At night we (always / usually) close the curtains…

If you wanted a very general habitual (often used in proverbs or fixed routines), you might also see:

Usiku hufunga pazia… – At night one closes / you (generally) close the curtains…

What does the verb kufunga mean here? I thought it meant “to tie” or “to fast”.

Kufunga is a very polysemous verb in Swahili; it has several related meanings depending on context:

to close / shut
- kufunga mlango – to close/shut the door
- kufunga dirisha – to close the window
to fasten / tie / lock
- kufunga kamba – to tie a rope
- kufunga kufuli – to lock a padlock
to fast (religiously)
- Kufunga Ramadhani – to fast in Ramadan

In tunafunga pazia, the meaning is “to close (the curtains)”, just like “close/shut the curtains” in English.

Why is it pazia and not mapazia, even though there seem to be two curtains?

Pazia is singular and mapazia is plural:

pazia – one curtain
mapazia – curtains (more than one)

In the sentence:

pazia jepesi na pazia zito
literally: a light curtain and a heavy curtain

The speaker is thinking of two specific single curtains: one light, one heavy (for example, a sheer inner curtain and a thick outer curtain on the same window).

If you wanted to talk about curtains in general, or several of each type, you could say:

Usiku tunafunga mapazia mepesi na mazito pamoja…
At night we close the light and heavy curtains together… (curtains in plural)

Why is it pazia jepesi and not pazia nyepesi? How does adjective agreement work here?

In Swahili, adjectives agree with the noun class of the noun they describe.

Pazia belongs to the JI/MA noun class (class 5/6):

singular: pazia
plural: mapazia

For the adjective -epesi (light in weight), the class 5/6 forms are:

jepesi – singular (for JI-class nouns)
mepesi – plural (for MA-class nouns)

So we get:

pazia jepesi – a light curtain
mapazia mepesi – light curtains

The form nyepesi is used with N-class nouns (like sauti “voice”, nguo “clothes”):

sauti nyepesi – a light/soft voice
nguo nyepesi – light clothes

So pazia nyepesi would be grammatically wrong; it must match the JI/MA class: pazia jepesi.

Similarly, why is it pazia zito and not pazia nzito?

Same principle: adjective agreement with noun classes.

The root meaning “heavy” is -zito. It takes different prefixes with different noun classes. For the JI/MA class:

singular (JI): zito
plural (MA): mazito

So:

pazia zito – a heavy curtain
mapazia mazito – heavy curtains

The form nzito is used with N-class nouns:

sauti nzito – a deep / heavy voice
nguo nzito – heavy clothes

Since pazia is JI-class, it correctly takes zito, not nzito.

What exactly does pamoja do in this sentence, and where can it go?

Pamoja means “together” or “as one”.

In the sentence:

Usiku tunafunga pazia jepesi na pazia zito pamoja…
At night we close the light curtain and the heavy curtain together…

Pamoja tells us that the two curtains are closed at the same time / as a set.

Typical positions:

At the end of the verb phrase (as in the sentence):
- Tunafanya kazi pamoja. – We work together.
- Walikuja pamoja. – They came together.
It can also be fronted for emphasis:
- Pamoja tunafunga pazia jepesi na pazia zito. – Together we close… (now “we together” is emphasized).

But between the verb and the direct object (e.g. tunafunga pamoja pazia…) is less natural. The most neutral position here is at the end: …pamoja.

What does ili mean, and why is it followed by tuwe instead of something like tuko?

Ili is a conjunction that introduces a purpose or result clause, similar to:

“so that”
“in order that / in order to”

Because it expresses purpose, the verb that follows usually takes the subjunctive mood.

That’s why we get:

ili tuwe na faragha zaidi
literally: so that we may be with more privacy
= so that we have more privacy

Here:

tuwe is the subjunctive form of kuwa (to be):
- tuko = we are (normal present)
- tuwe = that we (may) be (subjunctive after ili)

Compare:

Tunafunga pazia ili tuwe na giza. – We close the curtains so that we have darkness.
Tunafunga pazia kwa sababu tuko usingizini. – We close the curtains because we are asleep.
(no purpose, just a reason; so tuko, not tuwe)

How does tuwe na faragha zaidi mean “so that we have more privacy”? Why is it literally “be with”?

Swahili often uses the structure kuwa na + [noun] to express “to have [noun]”.

kuwa na pesa – to have money
kuwa na watoto – to have children
kuwa na bahati – to be lucky (lit. to be with luck)

So:

tuwe na faragha zaidi
literally: that we be with more privacy
idiomatically: that we have more privacy

This is the standard way to say “have X” for many kinds of possessions, qualities, or states.

What kind of noun is faragha? Can it be plural or take adjectives?

Faragha is an abstract noun meaning “privacy” or “seclusion / being unobserved”. It is:

normally uncountable (like “privacy” in English)
not typically pluralized; no common plural form is used in everyday Swahili

You will more often see it with degree words like:

faragha kidogo – a little privacy
faragha nyingi – a lot of privacy
faragha zaidi – more privacy

So in faragha zaidi, zaidi is modifying the amount/degree of privacy, not turning it into a countable thing.

What does zaidi add here, and where does it usually go in the sentence?

Zaidi means “more”, “extra”, “further”, “in addition”, depending on context.

In faragha zaidi, it means “more privacy”:

faragha – privacy
faragha zaidi – more privacy

Typical patterns:

Noun + zaidi – “more [noun]”
- muda zaidi – more time
- chakula zaidi – more food
- faragha zaidi – more privacy
Verb + zaidi – “do [verb] more / to a greater extent”
- kujifunza zaidi – to study more
- kupumzika zaidi – to rest more
zaidi ya – “more than” (for comparisons)
- zaidi ya watu mia – more than a hundred people
- ana miaka zaidi ya kumi – he/she is more than ten years old

In this sentence, the most natural position is after the noun: faragha zaidi. You would not normally say zaidi faragha.

Can the word order of usiku, pamoja, etc. be changed without changing the meaning?

Yes, Swahili word order is somewhat flexible, especially with time and manner expressions. All of these are possible, with only slight changes of emphasis:

Usiku tunafunga pazia jepesi na pazia zito pamoja…
(neutral; sets the time first: At night, we…)
Tunafunga pazia jepesi na pazia zito pamoja usiku.
(still natural; now usiku feels like an afterthought: We close the light and heavy curtain together at night.)
Pamoja tunafunga pazia jepesi na pazia zito usiku.
(emphasizes “together we close …”)

The original version is idiomatic and clear. The key is to keep:

tunafunga (verb) together with its object (pazia…)
ili tuwe na faragha zaidi as the purpose clause at the end

Moving pamoja between the verb and its direct object (e.g. tunafunga pamoja pazia…) is less natural; better at the end of the object phrase or at the very beginning for emphasis.