Learn Hardcore Swahili: Kabla hatujaondoka shuleni, mwalimu alituruhusu kuuliza swali la mwisho kila mmoja wetu. - Before we left school, the teacher allowed each of us to ask a final question.

In Swahili, after kabla (before), it is very common to use the negative perfect form to talk about an action that had not yet happened at that point in time.

hatujaondoka literally means we have not (yet) left.
So kabla hatujaondoka shuleni is literally: before we have (yet) left school, which corresponds to natural English: before we left school / before leaving school.

Grammatically:

ha- = negative prefix
-tu- = we (1st person plural)
-ja- = perfect aspect (in negative, often “not yet”)
ondoka = to leave

So the pattern kabla + [negative perfect] is a standard way to express before doing X in Swahili.

Why is the verb after kabla in the negative? Does kabla hatujaondoka really mean “before we left”?

Yes. This is a typical Swahili structure.

With kabla meaning before, Swahili often uses:

kabla + [subject] + [negative perfect] + [verb]

to express “before [subject] did [verb]”.

Examples:

Kabla sijaondoka = Before I (have) left → Before I leave/left
Kabla hujaondoka = Before you (have) left → Before you leave
Kabla hatujaondoka = Before we (have) left → Before we leave/left

Even though it looks like a present perfect negative (“we have not yet left”), in this kabla structure it functions like “before we left / before we had left” in English.

Could we also say kabla ya kuondoka shuleni instead of kabla hatujaondoka shuleni? What is the difference?

Yes, you can say both:

Kabla hatujaondoka shuleni…
Kabla ya kuondoka shuleni…

They are both correct, but slightly different grammatically:

Kabla hatujaondoka shuleni
- kabla
  - full clause (subject and verb)
- Emphasizes that we had not yet left.
- Structure: conjunction + clause.
Kabla ya kuondoka shuleni
- kabla ya
  - infinitive kuondoka
- More like before leaving school (without explicitly repeating the subject).
- Structure: preposition-like phrase + verbal noun (infinitive).

In meaning, they are very close here. The hatujaondoka version is a bit more explicit about the subject “we” and is very natural in narrative contexts.

What exactly does shuleni mean, and why not just shule?

Shuleni is shule (school) plus the locative suffix -ni.

shule = school
shuleni = at school / in school / to school / from school, depending on the verb

In this sentence:

kabla hatujaondoka shuleni = before we have left (from) school.

Swahili often uses the -ni locative instead of a separate preposition in English (“at, in, to, from”). The exact direction comes from the verb ondoka (to leave), so shuleni here is understood as “from school” without needing a separate word for “from”.

How is alituruhusu formed, and what does each part mean?

Alituruhusu breaks down like this:

a- = he / she (3rd person singular subject)
-li- = past tense marker
-tu- = us (1st person plural object marker)
ruhusu = allow / permit (verb root)

So mwalimu alituruhusu literally means:

The teacher (he/she) past-us-allowed
Natural English: The teacher allowed us.

The -tu- tells you who was allowed: us.

Why do we have alituruhusu kuuliza, with kuuliza after alituruhusu? Could we say alituruhusu tuulize instead?

Both patterns are possible, but they are slightly different:

alituruhusu kuuliza swali la mwisho
- kuuliza = infinitive “to ask”
- Structure: alituruhusu + infinitive
- Means: he allowed us to ask a question (general permission to do the action).
alituruhusu tuulize swali la mwisho
- tuulize = we should ask (subjunctive)
  - tu- (we) + ulize (ask, subjunctive form)
- Structure: alituruhusu + subjunctive clause
- More like: he allowed that we ask a question / he let us ask.

In everyday speech, alituruhusu kuuliza is very natural and perhaps slightly more neutral. alituruhusu tuulize focuses more on the specific act “that we ask (now)” as an allowed/approved action. Both are grammatically fine.

What does kuuliza consist of? Why are there two “u”s?

Kuuliza is:

ku- = infinitive marker “to”
uliza = ask

When you put them together, you get ku + uliza → kuuliza with two u sounds in a row. Written Swahili keeps both vowels, so it’s kuuliza, but when speaking, the two us flow together as one long u sound.

Meaning: to ask.

Why is it swali la mwisho instead of just swali mwisho?

Swahili uses an associative (of) connector between two nouns when one describes or qualifies the other.

swali = question (noun class 5, ji-/ma- class)
la = associative connector “of” for class 5/6
mwisho = end / last

So:

swali la mwisho = the last question (literally “question of the end/last”).

You need the connector la here.
Swali mwisho would be ungrammatical or at least very odd; the relationship between the two nouns would be unclear.

Could we say swali moja la mwisho instead? How does that differ from swali la mwisho?

Yes, you can say:

swali moja la mwisho = one last question

Breakdown:

swali = question
moja = one
la mwisho = of last

Typical order is:

Noun
Number
Associative phrase

So swali moja la mwisho strongly emphasizes both “one” and “last”:

one question, and it is the last one.

In the original sentence, swali la mwisho already implies one last question, but moja would make the “one” explicit. Context plus kila mmoja wetu (“each of us”) already makes it clear that it’s one per person, so the author didn’t need moja.

What does kila mmoja wetu literally mean, and why is mmoja singular when we mean “each of us” (plural)?

Kila mmoja wetu breaks down as:

kila = each / every
mmoja = one (class 1, person)
wetu = our / of us

Literally: each one of us.

In Swahili, kila always goes with a singular noun or pronoun, even though the overall meaning is plural:

kila mtoto = each child
kila siku = every day
kila mmoja = each one (person)

So kila mmoja wetu is perfectly normal: kila + mmoja (singular “one person”), and wetu attaches to that phrase to show “of us”.

Why is kila mmoja wetu at the end of the sentence? Could it go earlier, like mwalimu alituruhusu kila mmoja wetu kuuliza…?

Yes, you can move kila mmoja wetu, and the meaning is basically the same:

Mwalimu alituruhusu kuuliza swali la mwisho kila mmoja wetu.
Mwalimu alituruhusu kila mmoja wetu kuuliza swali la mwisho.

Both mean: The teacher allowed each of us to ask one last question.

The version with kila mmoja wetu at the end feels like it adds that detail after describing the general permission:

First: The teacher allowed us to ask a last question…
Then: …each one of us.

The version alituruhusu kila mmoja wetu kuuliza foregrounds the idea of “each one of us” as the focus of the permission. Both orders are natural; word order in Swahili is fairly flexible for such phrases.

Could we put the kabla clause at the end? For example: Mwalimu alituruhusu kuuliza swali la mwisho kila mmoja wetu kabla hatujaondoka shuleni. Is that acceptable?

Yes, that is acceptable Swahili.

You can say:

Kabla hatujaondoka shuleni, mwalimu alituruhusu kuuliza swali la mwisho kila mmoja wetu.
Mwalimu alituruhusu kuuliza swali la mwisho kila mmoja wetu kabla hatujaondoka shuleni.

Both are correct and mean the same thing. Like in English:

Before we left school, the teacher allowed…
The teacher allowed… before we left school.

Placing kabla… at the beginning gives a bit more narrative or temporal framing right away, but it’s mainly a stylistic choice.