Learn Hardcore Swahili: Je, watoto wangapi wataenda kwenye kambi ya muziki wikendi hii? - How many children will go to the music camp this weekend?

Je is a question marker placed at the start of a sentence to signal that what follows is a question. It’s especially common in written or more formal Swahili.

In this sentence, you could say either:

Je, watoto wangapi wataenda kwenye kambi ya muziki wikendi hii?
Watoto wangapi wataenda kwenye kambi ya muziki wikendi hii?

Both are correct. Je is optional here. It’s most strongly associated with yes/no questions, but it is also used with wh- questions like wangapi (how many), mainly as a stylistic choice or for clarity.

Why is it watoto wangapi and not wangapi watoto?

In Swahili, -ngapi (how many) usually comes after the noun it is counting:

watoto wangapi – how many children
vitabu vingapi – how many books
siku ngapi – how many days

So the natural order is:

[noun] + [agreement form of -ngapi]

Putting wangapi before watoto (wangapi watoto) is not normal Swahili word order and will sound incorrect or very odd to native speakers.

How is wangapi formed, and why does it start with wa-?

Wangapi comes from the root -ngapi (how many), which changes according to the noun class, just like adjectives do.

watoto is in the WA- (watu) noun class (plural people: mtoto/watoto, mtu/watu).
Adjectives agreeing with this class take the prefix wa- in the plural.
So -ngapi becomes wa-ngapi → wangapi to agree with watoto.

More examples for comparison:

mtoto wangapi? – incorrect (you don’t usually ask “how many” about a singular)
watoto wangapi? – correct: how many children?
kitabu kimoja, vitabu vingapi? – one book, how many books?
siku ngapi? – how many days? (no extra prefix in that noun class)

So wa- in wangapi is agreement with watoto, not part of the basic “how many” meaning.

What does wataenda consist of, grammatically?

Wataenda is the future tense of the verb kwenda/enda (to go).

It breaks down as:

wa- – subject prefix for they (class 2 plural: watoto, watu, walimu, etc.)
-ta- – future tense marker
-enda – verb stem (go)

So:

wa- + -ta- + -enda → wataenda = they will go

Some additional points:

You may also see watakwenda (from kwenda). Both wataenda and watakwenda are accepted; enda is a shortened/common form of kwenda.
The negative future is formed with hawa- and -ta-:
Hawataenda – They will not go.

Why is kwenye used here, and how is it different from katika or kwa?

Kwenye is a preposition that roughly means in / at / to a place. In many contexts it overlaps with katika and sometimes kwa, but there are tendencies:

kwenye – very common in everyday speech; often “at/to/in” a location:
kwenye kambi – at the camp / to the camp
katika – more formal or written; often “in/within” an area, situation, or abstract context:
katika nchi hii – in this country
kwa – many uses, including “at someone’s place,” “by means of,” “for”:
kwa mama – at mum’s place
kwenda kwa basi – to go by bus

In this sentence, kwenye kambi ya muziki means to the music camp / at the music camp. You could also say katika kambi ya muziki, but kwenye is more natural for casual speech about going to a physical place.

What does kambi ya muziki literally mean, and what is the role of ya?

Kambi ya muziki literally means camp of music → music camp.

kambi – camp
muziki – music
ya – “of,” agreeing with the noun class of kambi

Swahili uses possessive/associative markers (like ya, wa, cha, vya, la, etc.) that agree with the noun they “belong to.” Here:

kambi belongs to the N-/N- noun class (often singular/plural the same form),
In this class, the associative marker is ya.

So:

kambi ya muziki – music camp
kambi ya vijana – youth camp
kambi ya majira ya joto – summer camp

The ya is obligatory; you can’t just say kambi muziki.

Why is it wikendi hii and not hii wikendi for “this weekend”?

In standard Swahili, demonstratives like hii (this) usually come after the noun:

wikendi hii – this weekend
siku hii – this day
kitabu hiki – this book
watoto hawa – these children

Putting hii before the noun (hii wikendi) is not standard; it’s influenced by English word order and sounds wrong in Swahili.

So the correct structure is:

[noun] + [demonstrative] → wikendi hii

For “next weekend,” you might also hear:

wikendi ijayo – the coming/next weekend

How does watoto agree with the verb wataenda?

Swahili verbs show agreement with the subject noun via a subject prefix on the verb.

watoto – children (plural, human, WA- class)
The corresponding subject prefix is wa- (they).

So:

watoto wataenda – the children will go
- wa- (they) + -ta- (future) + -enda (go)
If it were singular:
- mtoto ataenda – the child will go
  - a- (he/she) + -ta-
    - -enda

Other examples:

walimu wataenda – the teachers will go
wanafunzi wataenda – the students will go

In each case, the wa- in the verb matches the wa- noun class for plural people.

Is kwenye required, or could you say wataenda kambi ya muziki without it?

You can sometimes omit a preposition and use the place noun directly as a destination (especially with certain common locations like shuleni, nyumbani, sokoni).

With kambi, however, using kwenye (or katika) is more natural:

wataenda kwenye kambi ya muziki – they will go to the music camp
wataenda kambi ya muziki – understandable, but feels incomplete/less idiomatic in most contexts

So while people might occasionally drop the preposition in fast or informal speech, kwenye kambi ya muziki is the safer and more standard form.

Is Je actually used in spoken Swahili, or is it mostly written?

Je is used in both spoken and written Swahili, but its frequency varies:

In formal speech (news, speeches, careful conversation) and writing, Je is quite common at the beginning of questions.
In casual conversation, people often just rely on intonation and word order and drop Je:
- Watoto wangapi wataenda kwenye kambi ya muziki wikendi hii?
  (rising intonation at the end signals it’s a question)

So in natural, everyday speech, you will often hear the sentence without Je, but including Je is never wrong; it just sounds a bit more formal or deliberate.

Could this question be turned into a yes/no question, and how would the form change?

Yes. Right now it’s a wh-question because of wangapi (how many).

To make it a yes/no question, you’d remove wangapi and usually keep Je:

Je, watoto wataenda kwenye kambi ya muziki wikendi hii?
– Will the children go to the music camp this weekend?

Here:

The structure is now: Je + [statement] + ?
The answer is expected to be something like Ndiyo, wataenda / Hapana, hawataenda rather than a number.

So Je is especially typical and useful in yes/no questions, though optional in many wh-questions.