Baada ya mtihani, kila mwanafunzi alipata dakika chache kujiandikia maoni yake mwenyewe katika shajara au daftari.

After the exam, each student got a few minutes to write his or her own thoughts in a diary or notebook.

Breakdown of Baada ya mtihani, kila mwanafunzi alipata dakika chache kujiandikia maoni yake mwenyewe katika shajara au daftari.

• mwanafunzi: the student
• katika: in
• kila: every
• au: or
• kupata: to get
• baada ya: after
• mtihani: the exam
• maoni: the opinion
• dakika: the minute
• chache: few
• daftari: the notebook
• yake: his/her
• shajara: the diary
• kujiandikia: to write for oneself
• mwenyewe: himself/herself

Questions & Answers about Baada ya mtihani, kila mwanafunzi alipata dakika chache kujiandikia maoni yake mwenyewe katika shajara au daftari.

In baada ya mtihani, what does baada ya literally mean, and why do we need ya there?

Baada ya is a fixed expression meaning “after …”.

Literally:

• baada = “after/aftermath/period following”
• ya = a possessive connector meaning “of”, agreeing with baada

So baada ya mtihani is literally “the after(of) the exam” → “after the exam”.

You cannot normally drop ya here; you say:

• baada ya kazi – after work
• baada ya chakula – after the meal
• baada ya mtihani – after the exam

Can baada ya be followed by a verb phrase, like “after taking the exam”?

Yes. Baada ya can be followed by either a noun or a verb in the infinitive:

• baada ya mtihani – after the exam
• baada ya kufanya mtihani – after taking/doing the exam
• baada ya kumaliza mtihani – after finishing the exam

So your sentence could also have been:

• Baada ya kufanya mtihani, kila mwanafunzi… – After taking the exam, each student…

In kila mwanafunzi alipata, why is the verb singular, even though “each student” feels plural in English?

In Swahili, kila (“each/every”) always takes a singular noun and singular verb agreement:

• kila mwanafunzi alipata – each student got
• kila mtu alikuja – everyone came
• kila siku ninajifunza – every day I learn

So:

• mwanafunzi is singular.
• The verb alipata has a- (3rd person singular “he/she”) as the subject prefix.

Even if in English you say “each student … they got…”, Swahili treats it as clearly singular and uses alipata, not walipata.

How is alipata formed, and what does it tell us about tense and subject?

alipata breaks down like this:

• a- = subject prefix for “he/she” (3rd person singular)
• -li- = past tense marker
• -pata = verb root “get, obtain, receive”

So alipata = “he/she got” or “he/she received”.

In context:

• kila mwanafunzi alipata – each student got/received…

Why is it dakika chache and not chache dakika? What is the rule here?

In Swahili, descriptive words like adjectives and many quantifiers usually come after the noun:

• mtu mzuri – a good person
• vitabu vingi – many books
• dakika chache – a few minutes

So the pattern is: > [noun] + [describing word]

That’s why you say dakika chache, not chache dakika.

What exactly does chache mean here, and does it change with singular/plural or noun class?

chache means “a few” or “not many” in this context.

For nouns like dakika (minutes), which are in the N-class (no visible prefix), chache stays the same:

• saa chache – a few hours
• dakika chache – a few minutes

For other noun classes, “few” can change form, for example:

• watu wachache – a few people (class 2, wa-)
• viti vichache – a few chairs (class 8, vi-)

But with dakika, you just use chache.

What does kujiandikia literally mean, and how is it built from smaller parts?

kujiandikia is built like this:

• ku- = infinitive marker “to …”
• -ji- = reflexive marker (doing the action to/for oneself)
• -andik- = verb root “write”
• -ia = applicative extension “to/for (someone)”

So literally, kujiandikia means something like: > “to write for oneself / to write to oneself”

In context, kujiandikia maoni yake mwenyewe means “to write down his/her own reflections/opinions (for themselves)”, emphasizing that the writing is personal and for the student’s own benefit.

Could we just say kuandika maoni instead of kujiandikia maoni yake mwenyewe?

You could say kuandika maoni, and it would mean “to write opinions/comments”, but you would lose some nuance:

• kuandika maoni – just “to write opinions/comments” (quite neutral)
• kujiandikia maoni yake mwenyewe – emphasizes:
  • the action is for oneself (-ji- … -ia)
  • the opinions are their own personal ones (yake mwenyewe)

So the original phrase stresses personal, self-reflective writing, more like “to jot down one’s own reflections in a journal.”

What does maoni mean, and what noun class is it in?

maoni means “opinions, views, reflections, comments”.

Grammatically:

• It’s in class 6 (the ma- class).
• It’s usually used as a plural-only noun; there’s no common singular form in everyday Swahili.

Because it’s class 6, it takes class‑6 agreement:

• maoni yake – his/her opinions
• maoni yao – their opinions (of several people)
• maoni yangu – my opinions

Why is it maoni yake and not maoni yao, if we’re talking about all the students?

The key is “kila mwanafunzi” = each student (individually).

For each single student:

• maoni yake = his/her opinions (one person’s opinions)

We are not referring to all the students together sharing one set of opinions; each student has their own. So Swahili uses the singular possessor:

• kila mwanafunzi alipata … kujiandikia maoni yake mwenyewe
  → each student got … to write down his/her own reflections.

If you said maoni yao, it would mean “their opinions” of a group (more than one possessor).

What is the function of mwenyewe after yake in maoni yake mwenyewe?

mwenyewe is an emphatic word meaning “(him/her)self” / “own”.

• maoni yake – his/her opinions
• maoni yake mwenyewe – his/her own opinions

It adds emphasis that the opinions are personally theirs, not copied, not someone else’s. Other examples:

• alifanya mwenyewe – he/she did it (himself/herself)
• nyumba yake mwenyewe – his/her own house

Is katika the same as kwenye here? Could I say kwenye shajara au daftari instead?

Yes, in this sentence katika and kwenye are basically interchangeable:

• katika shajara au daftari
• kwenye shajara au daftari

Both mean “in a journal or notebook”.

Nuance:

• katika – a bit more formal / written style.
• kwenye – very common in everyday speech.

Grammatically, both introduce a location or container: “in / on / at”.

What is the difference between shajara and daftari?

Both are types of books for writing, but they differ in typical use:

• shajara

  • a diary / journal
  • associated with personal entries, reflections, dates, events.

• daftari

  • a notebook / exercise book
  • often used in school: writing notes, exercises, homework.

So katika shajara au daftari covers both a personal journal and an ordinary notebook—whatever the student is using to write in.