Watoto wanapenda kuogelea katika bwawa la kuogelea.

Children like to swim in the swimming pool.

Breakdown of Watoto wanapenda kuogelea katika bwawa la kuogelea.

• kupenda: to like
• katika: in
• mtoto: the child
• kuogelea: to swim
• bwawa la kuogelea: the swimming pool

Questions & Answers about Watoto wanapenda kuogelea katika bwawa la kuogelea.

What does each word in Watoto wanapenda kuogelea katika bwawa la kuogelea literally mean?

Word‑for‑word:

• Watoto – children (plural of mtoto, “child”)
• wana- – they (subject prefix for “they” – people, class 2)
• -penda – like / love
  • → wanapenda – they like / they love
• ku- – infinitive marker (“to …”)
• -ogelea – to swim
  • → kuogelea – to swim / swimming
• katika – in / inside / within
• bwawa – pool / pond / dam (here: pool)
• la – of (associative for class 5 singular, agreeing with bwawa)
• kuogelea – swimming (literally “of swimming”)

So bwawa la kuogelea is literally “pool of swimming” → swimming pool.

Why is it wanapenda and not just wapenda?

In standard Swahili, the present/habitual tense uses the -na- tense marker:

• wana- – subject prefix for “they”
• -na- – present / habitual tense marker
• -penda – verb root “like / love”

So:

• wanapenda = they like / they love / they usually like

Without -na-, wapenda would sound archaic, poetic, or dialectal. For normal modern speech, you need -na- for the simple present.

What does the ku- in kuogelea mean?

ku- in front of a verb root is the infinitive marker, like “to” in English:

• ogelea – swim (verb root)
• kuogelea – to swim / swimming

This infinitive form can work:

1. As an infinitive verb:
   
   • Wanapenda kuogelea – They like to swim.
2. As a verbal noun (the activity):
   
   • bwawa la kuogelea – a pool for swimming / swimming pool.

So the same form kuogelea can mean either “to swim” or “(the activity of) swimming,” depending on context.

Why is kuogelea used twice in the sentence? Isn’t that repetitive?

It looks repetitive in English, but each kuogelea has a different role:

1. Wanapenda kuogelea
   – kuogelea is the activity they like (“to swim”).

2. bwawa la kuogelea
   – kuogelea is part of a compound noun (“pool of swimming” = “swimming pool”).

Grammatically it’s completely natural in Swahili to use the same verb:

• Once as an infinitive after penda (like to swim), and
• Once as a noun-like infinitive after la (pool of swimming).

If you said simply bwawa without la kuogelea, it would mean just a pool/pond, not specifically a swimming pool.

Could you say Watoto wanapenda kuogelea katika bwawa and leave out la kuogelea?

You can say it, but the meaning changes:

• Watoto wanapenda kuogelea katika bwawa.
  → The children like swimming in a pool/a pond (any kind of pool/pond; not necessarily a specially built swimming pool).

• Watoto wanapenda kuogelea katika bwawa la kuogelea.
  → The children like swimming in the swimming pool.

So la kuogelea tells you what kind of pool it is (a “pool for swimming,” not e.g. a fish pond or irrigation pond).

What is the role of katika here, and could I use kwenye instead?

katika is a preposition meaning in / inside / within.

In this sentence:

• katika bwawa la kuogelea – in the swimming pool.

You can also say:

• kwenye bwawa la kuogelea

The difference:

• katika – a bit more formal / neutral, common in writing.
• kwenye – very common in everyday speech, often a bit more colloquial.

Both are grammatically correct here:

• Watoto wanapenda kuogelea katika bwawa la kuogelea.
• Watoto wanapenda kuogelea kwenye bwawa la kuogelea.

The meaning is essentially the same: “in the swimming pool.”

Is katika actually required, or can I just say Watoto wanapenda kuogelea bwawani?

You have several natural options:

1. With katika / kwenye (what you have):

   • … kuogelea katika bwawa la kuogelea
   • … kuogelea kwenye bwawa la kuogelea

2. Using a locative suffix instead of a preposition:

   • … kuogelea bwawani – “to swim in the pool”
     (-ni is a locative ending → “in/at the pool”)

3. You normally cannot just drop the preposition or the -ni and say:

   • ✗ … kuogelea bwawa la kuogelea
     This sounds wrong, because bwawa needs to be marked as a location, either by:
   • a preposition (katika/kwenye/ndani ya), or
   • a locative ending (-ni, giving bwawani).

So yes, katika (or an equivalent way of marking location) is needed.

Why is it bwawa la kuogelea and not bwawa ya kuogelea or bwawa wa kuogelea?

The connecting word (la, ya, wa, etc.) must agree with the noun class of the first noun.

• bwawa is a class 5 noun (plural: mabwawa, class 6).
• The class 5 associative (of/’s) marker is la.
• The class 6 associative marker is ya.

So:

• bwawa la kuogelea – pool of swimming (one pool)
• mabwawa ya kuogelea – pools of swimming (several pools)

wa is the associative for class 1/2 (people) or class 11, so it wouldn’t fit with bwawa.

That’s why la is the correct form here.

Why isn’t bwawa in the plural? Why not mabwawa ya kuogelea?

It’s singular because the sentence is talking about one swimming pool:

• bwawa la kuogelea – a/the swimming pool (singular)
• mabwawa ya kuogelea – swimming pools (plural)

Swahili doesn’t force plural on everything just because the subject (watoto, children) is plural. The number of the pool is independent of the number of the children.

If you wanted to talk about several pools, you would indeed say:

• Watoto wanapenda kuogelea katika mabwawa ya kuogelea.
  → The children like swimming in swimming pools (plural).

Can I change the word order, like Watoto wanapenda katika bwawa la kuogelea kuogelea?

You should not move kuogelea away from the verb wanapenda like that. In Swahili, the normal and natural order is:

• [Subject] [verb] [object/infinitive] [place]

So:

• Watoto wanapenda kuogelea katika bwawa la kuogelea.

If you move things around too much, it becomes confusing or ungrammatical. More natural variations could be:

• Watoto wanapenda kuogelea bwawani.
• Watoto wanapenda kuogelea kwenye bwawa la kuogelea.

But keep wanapenda kuogelea together as a unit (“like to swim”), then add the location.

How do you pronounce kuogelea and bwawa?

Some tips:

• kuogelea:

  • Syllables: ku‑o‑ge‑le‑a
  • Pronounce ku‑o clearly as two vowels: koo‑o‑geh‑leh‑ah (not “kwo”).
  • Stress is usually on the second-to-last syllable: ku‑oge‑lea.

• bwawa:

  • Syllables: bwa‑wa
  • The bw cluster is like “b” + “w” together: bwah‑wah.
  • Again, stress on the second-to-last syllable: bwa‑wa.