Learn Hardcore Swahili: Mfereji ule una maji baridi asubuhi. - That ditch over there has cold water in the morning.

In much of Kenya, mfereji is very commonly used to mean a water tap / faucet.
More literally, mfereji is a channel, ditch, or canal built to carry water (e.g. an irrigation ditch).

So in everyday speech, especially in urban settings, this sentence will usually be understood as “that tap has cold water in the morning.” But in a farming or rural context it could also be understood as “that irrigation channel has cold water in the morning.”

Why is it mfereji ule and not ule mfereji?

In modern standard Swahili, the normal order is:

noun + demonstrative
- mfereji ule = that tap/canal (over there)
- kitabu hiki = this book
- mtu yule = that person (over there)

Putting the demonstrative before the noun (ule mfereji) is possible but:

it sounds formal, poetic, or old‑fashioned, and
it often adds contrast or emphasis (“that tap, not the other one”).

For everyday conversation, stick to mfereji ule (noun first, demonstrative second).

What exactly does ule mean, and how is it different from other “that” words like huo or hiyo?

Swahili has three basic distances for demonstratives (this/that):

near me (this): e.g. huu, hii, hiki, huyu
near you (that near you): e.g. huo, hiyo, hicho, huyo
far from both (that over there): e.g. ule, ile, kile, yule

Mfereji belongs to noun class 3, whose demonstratives are:

huu – this (near me)
huo – that (near you)
ule – that (over there / further away)

So:

mfereji huu = this tap (near me)
mfereji huo = that tap (near you)
mfereji ule = that tap (over there / more distant)

In your sentence, ule suggests a tap or canal that is not close to the speaker.

Why is the verb una and not ana or ina?

The verb form una breaks down like this:

u- = subject prefix for noun class 3 (the class of mfereji)
-na = present tense marker often translated as “has” or “is with”

So mfereji ule una… literally means “that mfereji (it) has…”.

You don’t use:

ana – that is for class 1 (people/animals, e.g. mtu ana, “the person has”)
ina – that is for class 4 nouns (mi‑) or for some inanimate classes (e.g. mifereji ina, “the ditches/taps have”).

Verb agreement in Swahili is controlled by the noun class, not by “he/she/it” like in English.

Does una maji baridi literally mean “has cold water”? How would you break it down word‑for‑word?

Yes, it basically means “has cold water”. Word‑for‑word:

mfereji ule – that tap / that canal
u‑na – it‑has (u‑ = it, class 3; ‑na = present “have/with”)
maji – water
baridi – cold

So a close literal breakdown is:

Mfereji ule una maji baridi asubuhi.
= That mfereji it‑has water cold in‑the‑morning.

Natural English: “That tap has cold water in the morning.”

Why is baridi not changing its form to agree with maji? Is baridi really an adjective?

Baridi is a bit special. It can act as:

A noun: baridi = cold, coldness
An adjective‑like word: maji baridi = cold water

Unlike many true adjectives (like kubwa = big, refu = tall), baridi often does not show extra agreement prefixes in this kind of phrase. You simply say:

maji baridi – cold water
chai baridi – cold tea
hali ya hewa baridi – cold weather

So in practice, you treat baridi almost like a fixed describing word after the noun, without adding agreement prefixes for most everyday uses.

Since maji looks plural, why doesn’t the verb agree with maji instead of mfereji?

In this sentence the subject is mfereji ule (that tap/canal), not maji (water). That is why the verb agrees with mfereji:

Mfereji ule una maji baridi asubuhi.
= That tap has cold water in the morning.

The structure is:

[Subject] mfereji ule → class 3 → u‑na
[Object] maji baridi → water (class 6) = just the thing possessed

If you made maji the subject, the verb would change:

Maji baridi yako kwenye mfereji ule asubuhi.
= Cold water is in that tap in the morning.
Here maji is the subject, and the verb/copula would agree with its own class if you fully conjugated it.

So verb agreement always follows the subject noun, not another noun later in the sentence.

Can asubuhi be placed in a different position, or must it come at the end?

Time expressions like asubuhi (in the morning) are quite flexible. All of these are possible and natural:

Mfereji ule una maji baridi asubuhi.
Asubuhi, mfereji ule una maji baridi.
Mfereji ule asubuhi una maji baridi. (slightly less common, but acceptable in speech)

Most often you’ll see the time word at the beginning or at the end of the sentence. Keeping asubuhi at the end, as in your sentence, is very common and perfectly correct.

How would you say “That tap has cold water every morning” in Swahili?

You can add kila (every) before asubuhi:

Mfereji ule una maji baridi kila asubuhi.
= That tap has cold water every morning.

You can also say:

Kila asubuhi, mfereji ule una maji baridi.
(Same meaning, with the time phrase fronted for emphasis.)

How would the sentence change to say “That tap doesn’t have cold water in the morning”?

To negate una, you use the negative prefix ha‑ and drop ‑na, replacing it with ‑na → ‑na? Actually for kuwa na “to have”, the pattern is:

Affirmative: una (u‑ + ‑na)
Negative: hauna (ha‑ + u‑ + ‑na → often written as hauna)

So the full negative sentence is:

Mfereji ule hauna maji baridi asubuhi.
= That tap doesn’t have cold water in the morning.

Here hauna literally means “does not have”.

How would you say “Those taps have cold water in the morning” (plural)?

First, make mfereji plural:

mfereji (singular) → mifereji (plural)

Then change the demonstrative and the verb to match class 4 (mi‑):

mifereji ile – those taps (over there)
ina – it/they have (i‑ = class 4 subject + ‑na present)

So the plural sentence is:

Mifereji ile ina maji baridi asubuhi.
= Those taps have cold water in the morning.

Notice the changes:

mfereji ule una… (singular, class 3: u‑)
mifereji ile ina… (plural, class 4: i‑)