Kesho jioni, mimi nitakuja kwako.

Tomorrow evening, I will come to your place.

Breakdown of Kesho jioni, mimi nitakuja kwako.

• mimi: I
• kuja: to come
• kesho jioni: tomorrow evening
• kwako: at your place

Questions & Answers about Kesho jioni, mimi nitakuja kwako.

Do I have to say mimi, or is Kesho jioni nitakuja kwako also correct?

You don’t have to say mimi. The subject “I” is already built into nitakuja.

• Kesho jioni nitakuja kwako. – fully correct and very natural
• Kesho jioni, mimi nitakuja kwako. – also correct, but mimi adds emphasis or contrast.

Using mimi is like stressing I in English:

• “Tomorrow evening, I will come to your place (not someone else).”

So:

• Without mimi → neutral.
• With mimi → emphasised, contrastive, or more personal.

How is the verb nitakuja constructed, and what does each part mean?

Nitakuja breaks down as:

• ni- = subject prefix “I”
• -ta- = future tense marker “will”
• -kuja = verb stem “come”

So ni-ta-kuja literally = “I-will-come.”

Other persons follow the same pattern:

• utakuja – you (sg) will come
• atakuja – he/she will come
• tutakuja – we will come
• mtakuja – you (pl) will come
• watakuja – they will come

Does nitakuja mean “I will come” or “I am going to come”? Is there a difference?

Nitakuja covers both English ideas: “I will come” and “I am going to come.”

Swahili -ta- is a general future:

• prediction: Kesho jioni nitakuja kwako. – I will come tomorrow evening.
• plan/intention: Nitakuja kwako baadaye. – I’m going to come to your place later.

So you don’t need to choose between “will” and “going to” in Swahili; nitakuja works for both.

What exactly does kwako mean? Is it “to you” or “to your place”?

In this sentence, kwako means “to/at your place (where you live or are staying)”, not simply “to you” as a person.

It comes from kwa (at/to/with [a person]) + a possessive ending:

• kwangu – at my place
• kwako – at your (sg) place
• kwake – at his/her place
• kwetu – at our place
• kwenu – at your (pl) place
• kwao – at their place

So nitakuja kwako is best understood as:

• “I will come to your place / where you are (home, house, etc.).”

Why is it kwako and not kwa wewe? Are both correct?

For the meaning “to your place”, you should use kwako, not kwa wewe.

• kwako = to/at your place (fixed, idiomatic form)
• kwa wewe is not normally used for location like this and can sound wrong in this context.

You might see kwa wewe in different meanings, such as:

• Hii ni kwa wewe. – This is for you.
• Tulichelewa kwa wewe. – We were late because of you.

But when you mean “come to your place”, the natural phrase is:

• kuja kwako, not kuja kwa wewe.

Can I move kesho jioni or kwako to different positions in the sentence?

Yes. Swahili word order is flexible for time and place phrases. All of these are acceptable:

• Kesho jioni nitakuja kwako.
• Kesho jioni, mimi nitakuja kwako.
• Nitakuja kwako kesho jioni.
• Nitakuja kesho jioni kwako. (less common, but possible)

General tendencies:

• Time expressions often come first: Kesho jioni nitakuja kwako.
• Place can come right after the verb: Nitakuja kwako kesho jioni.

Your original sentence is perfectly natural.

Is the comma after Kesho jioni necessary in Swahili?

No, it’s optional and mostly a stylistic choice, similar to English.

Both are fine:

• Kesho jioni, mimi nitakuja kwako.
• Kesho jioni mimi nitakuja kwako.

Writers often use a comma after a fronted time phrase, but leaving it out is not incorrect.

Is there any difference between Kesho jioni and Jioni ya kesho?

They both mean “tomorrow evening”, but there’s a slight stylistic difference:

• Kesho jioni – most common and neutral in everyday speech.
• Jioni ya kesho – a bit more formal or emphatic, literally “the evening of tomorrow.”

In most situations, learners should prefer kesho jioni; it’s what people typically say.

Could I say Kesho jioni, mimi nakuja kwako instead of nitakuja kwako?

Yes, it’s grammatically correct, but the nuance changes slightly.

• Nitakuja kwako = clear future: “I will come / I’m going to come to your place.”
• Nakuja kwako kesho jioni = literally “I am coming to your place tomorrow evening”, often used like English “I’m coming tomorrow evening” (a plan or arrangement).

Both are understood as future because of kesho jioni, but:

• For learners, nitakuja is the clearest and safest future form with kesho.
• nakuja kesho is common in conversation and can sound a bit more immediate or arranged.

How would I say the negative: “Tomorrow evening, I will not come to your place”?

You negate the verb by changing the subject prefix and keeping -ta-:

• Kesho jioni, mimi sitakuja kwako.
  
  • si- = “I not” (1st person singular negative)
  • -ta- = future
  • -kuja = come

So sitakuja = “I will not come.”

Without mimi (also correct and common):

• Kesho jioni sitakuja kwako.