Learn Hardcore Swahili: Kesho nitaonyesha bibi jinsi ya kufungua tovuti hiyo mwenyewe kwenye simu janja yake. - Tomorrow I will show grandmother how to open that website by herself on her smartphone.

In nitaonyesha bibi, bibi is a full noun phrase functioning as a direct object (“I will show grandmother / my wife…”), and there is no object marker inside the verb.

If you add an object marker like -m- / -mw- in nitamwonyesha, you are adding a different person as the object:

nitaonyesha bibi tovuti hiyo
= I will show grandma that website.
nitamwonyesha bibi tovuti hiyo
= I will show her to grandma (or: I will show him/her to the lady).

So:

nitaonyesha bibi… – bibi = the one who is being shown something.
nitamwonyesha bibi… – bibi = the indirect object (“to grandma”), and the direct object is some other person represented by -m-.

Because of this, nitaonyesha bibi jinsi ya… is the correct choice when bibi is the person learning how to do something.

Does bibi mean “grandmother” or “wife” here? How can I tell?

Bibi is ambiguous in Swahili; it can mean:

grandmother
wife (especially in some dialects / informal speech)
lady / madam / Ms. (a polite or formal way to refer to a woman)

In this single sentence, there is no purely grammatical clue that tells you which meaning is intended. You normally rely on:

Context (are we talking about family, marriage, or just a formal address?),
Who is speaking and to whom,
Prior information in the conversation or text.

So from this sentence alone, it could be “grandma”, “my wife”, or “the lady”, depending on the context the teacher has provided.

What is the role of jinsi ya in jinsi ya kufungua? Is it like “how to” in English?

Yes. Jinsi ya introduces a clause meaning “how to …”.

jinsi = manner, way, method
ya = “of” (a linking word showing possession/connection)

So jinsi ya kufungua tovuti hiyo literally is “the way of opening that website”, which corresponds to English “how to open that website.”

Common alternatives:

namna ya kufungua… – the way/how to open…
vile vya kufungua… (less common) – the way of opening…

You generally:

Use jinsi ya + infinitive when you want to say “how to do X.”

Why is it kufungua and not just fungua? What does the ku- mean?

Kufungua is the infinitive form of the verb fungua (“open”).

In Swahili:

ku- + verb stem often functions like “to + verb” or “-ing” in English, depending on context:
- kufungua = to open / opening
- kusoma = to read / reading
- kuimba = to sing / singing

After jinsi ya, you normally use the infinitive:

jinsi ya kufungua – how to open
jinsi ya kusoma – how to read

So kufungua is required here because it’s the action in abstract, not a command. If you removed ku- and just said fungua, it would sound like an imperative (“Open!”), not part of “how to open.”

What exactly does mwenyewe mean in this sentence, and who does it refer to?

Mwenyewe here means “by herself” / “on her own” / “herself (without help)”.

Key points:

mwenyewe is a kind of emphatic reflexive word: “oneself.”
In this sentence, it most naturally refers to bibi (the person being shown how to do something).

So the idea is:

“Tomorrow I will show grandma how to open that website by herself on her smartphone (so that she doesn’t need help next time).”

Technically, mwenyewe can be used for any person (me, you, him/her, us, them); you identify the reference from context:

Nitafanya mwenyewe. – I will do it myself.
Atafanya mwenyewe. – He/she will do it himself/herself.

Here, the action to be done alone (kufungua tovuti hiyo) is something bibi is learning, so mwenyewe is understood as “she herself.”

What is the difference between tovuti hiyo and tovuti hii or tovuti ile?

All three mean “this/that website”, but they differ in distance and discourse use:

tovuti hii – this website (near the speaker, or just introduced, or being focused on)
tovuti hiyo – that website (often “that one we’ve been talking about,” usually near the listener or already known in the conversation)
tovuti ile – that website (over there), more distant or more clearly separate, physically or mentally

In the sentence, tovuti hiyo suggests:

“that website (we both know about / we already mentioned).”

Tovuti is a class 9 noun, and class 9 uses hii / hiyo / ile for “this/that.”

What does kwenye mean in kwenye simu janja yake, and could I use a different preposition like katika or kwa?

Kwenye is a very common, fairly neutral preposition that usually means:

in / on / at / inside / within (depending on context)

In kwenye simu janja yake, it corresponds closely to “on her smartphone.”

Alternatives:

katika simu janja yake – also grammatical; often feels a bit more formal/literary.
juu ya simu janja yake – literally “on top of her phone,” which is not what we mean for “on a smartphone” in the software sense.
kwa simu janja yake – could mean “by/using her smartphone” (emphasising the means or tool more than the location/interface).

In modern spoken Swahili, kwenye is very frequent and natural here for “on (a device / platform).”

What does simu janja literally mean, and is it the normal way to say “smartphone”?

Literally:

simu = phone
janja = clever/cunning/smart

So simu janja literally is “clever/smart phone”, i.e. smartphone.

Usage:

In everyday modern Swahili, especially in East Africa, simu janja is widely understood and used to mean smartphone.
You may also see simu mahiri with essentially the same meaning, especially in more formal or technical language.

So simu janja yake = her smartphone.

Why is it simu janja yake and not simu yake janja? What is the word order for adjectives and possessives?

Swahili word order inside a noun phrase is generally:

Noun
Adjectives / describing words
Possessive (my, your, his/her, etc.)
Sometimes demonstratives (this/that) and other qualifiers

So the normal pattern is:

simu janja yake
phone – smart – her
→ her smart phone / her smartphone

If you said simu yake janja, it would sound odd or wrong to most speakers. The possessive yake normally follows after other descriptive modifiers like janja.

Why is the possessive form yake used with simu, and can yake mean “his” as well as “her”?

Yake is the correct possessive agreement for simu, because:

simu is a class 9 noun.
Class 9 uses ya- as its possessive prefix:
- ya + -angu → yangu (my)
- ya + -ako → yako (your)
- ya + -ake → yake (his/her)

So:

simu yangu – my phone
simu yako – your phone
simu yake – his/her phone

Swahili does not distinguish gender in pronouns the way English does.
Yake can mean:

his, her, or even its, depending on context.

Context (who we are talking about) tells you whether yake means his or her. In this sentence, since we have bibi, English learners will normally interpret yake as “her (phone).”

Can I move Kesho to another position in the sentence, like at the end, and will the meaning change?

Yes. Kesho (“tomorrow”) is a time expression, and in Swahili it can appear in several positions without changing the basic meaning:

Kesho nitaonyesha bibi jinsi ya…
Nitaonyesha bibi kesho jinsi ya…
Nitaonyesha bibi jinsi ya… kesho.

Most naturally:

Placing Kesho at the beginning (as in the original) is very common and slightly emphasizes the time.
Placing it after the verb or at the end is also fine, especially in speech.

So the meaning (“tomorrow I will show…”) stays the same; only the focus / emphasis may shift slightly.

Is “open a website” with kufungua tovuti natural in Swahili, or should it be phrased differently?

Kufungua tovuti is natural and commonly used in modern Swahili for “open a website.”

Some possible related expressions:

kufungua tovuti – to open a website
kufungua ukurasa wa tovuti – to open a web page (literally “page of a website”)
kuingia kwenye tovuti – to enter / go into a website (similar to “go to a website”)

In everyday usage, kufungua tovuti is perfectly acceptable and easily understood as “open (that) website” in a browser.