Mimi mwenyewe nilichagua kusoma Kiswahili kuliko somo la fizikia.

I myself chose to study Swahili rather than physics.

Breakdown of Mimi mwenyewe nilichagua kusoma Kiswahili kuliko somo la fizikia.

• mimi: I
• somo: the subject
• la: of
• kuchagua: to choose
• Kiswahili: Swahili
• kusoma: to study
• mwenyewe: myself
• kuliko: rather than
• fizikia: physics

Questions & Answers about Mimi mwenyewe nilichagua kusoma Kiswahili kuliko somo la fizikia.

Why does the sentence use Mimi when nilichagua already means “I chose”?

In Swahili, the subject prefix ni- in nilichagua already shows that the subject is “I”, so Mimi is not grammatically required.

Mimi is added mainly for:

• Emphasis: stressing who did it – “I chose…”
• Contrast: implying “I (as opposed to someone else) chose…”

So:

• Nilichagua kusoma Kiswahili… = I chose to study Swahili…
• Mimi nilichagua kusoma Kiswahili… = I chose to study Swahili…
• Mimi mwenyewe nilichagua… = I myself / I personally chose…

The full phrase Mimi mwenyewe strongly highlights personal responsibility or independent choice.

What exactly does mwenyewe mean in this sentence?

Mwenyewe literally means “oneself” or “(by) oneself”, but in this sentence its nuance is closer to:

• “myself”
• “personally”
• “on my own / of my own accord”

So Mimi mwenyewe nilichagua… suggests:

• I personally made this choice (no one forced me / it was my decision).

Without mwenyewe, the sentence would still be correct:

• Mimi nilichagua kusoma Kiswahili… = I chose to study Swahili… but it would sound a bit less emphatic about whose decision it was.

You can use mwenyewe with other persons too:

• Wewe mwenyewe – you yourself
• Yeye mwenyewe – he/she himself/herself
• Sisi wenyewe – we ourselves

Could I move mwenyewe and say Mimi nilichagua mwenyewe kusoma Kiswahili?

You can hear different positions for mwenyewe, but not all sound equally natural in every context.

Most natural here:

• Mimi mwenyewe nilichagua kusoma Kiswahili… ✅
• Nilichagua mwenyewe kusoma Kiswahili… ✅ (I chose by myself to study Swahili.)

Less natural / potentially awkward:

• Mimi nilichagua mwenyewe kusoma Kiswahili… – possible, but the placement feels a bit clumsy to many speakers. It tends to be clearer if mwenyewe directly follows the pronoun or the verb:
  • Mimi mwenyewe nilichagua…
  • Nilichagua mwenyewe…

General guideline:

• To emphasize who: put mwenyewe after the pronoun → Mimi mwenyewe…
• To emphasize how (did it by yourself): put mwenyewe after the verb → Nilichagua mwenyewe…

How is the verb nilichagua formed, and what does each part mean?

Nilichagua can be broken down like this:

• ni- = subject prefix for “I”
• -li- = past tense marker (“did” / “-ed”)
• -chagu- = verb root from kuchagua (“choose”)
• -a = final vowel that most Swahili verbs take

So:

• ni-li-chagu-a → nilichagua = I chose.

Other examples with the same pattern:

• niliandika = I wrote (ni- + -li- + -andik- + -a)
• nilisoma = I read / studied
• niliona = I saw

Why is it kusoma Kiswahili and not something like ku soma Kiswahili or using a word for “to”?

In Swahili, the basic dictionary/infinite form of many verbs is ku- + verb root, written as one word:

• kusoma = to read / to study
• kuandika = to write
• kula = to eat (shortened from kukua)

You don’t use a separate word for “to” (as in English “to study”); the ku- prefix itself corresponds to English “to (verb)”.

After verbs of wanting/liking/choosing, Swahili often uses this ku- infinitive:

• Nilichagua kusoma Kiswahili. = I chose to study Swahili.
• Ninapenda kusoma. = I like to read/study.
• Nataka kula. = I want to eat.

So kusoma is correctly written as one word and serves as “to study” here.

Why is Kiswahili written with Ki- at the beginning?

In Swahili, names of many languages take the Ki- prefix (noun class 7):

• Kiswahili – the Swahili language
• Kiingereza – English (language)
• Kifaransa – French
• Kichina – Chinese

The root here is -swahili (related to “coastal people”), and Ki- turns it into “the language of the Swahili people”.

Compare:

• Mswahili – a Swahili person (singular)
• Waswahili – Swahili people (plural)
• Kiswahili – the Swahili language

So Ki- is not random; it is a standard language/noun-class prefix.

Why is Kiswahili capitalized but fizikia is not?

Swahili capitalization is similar to English in this area:

• Languages and proper nouns are capitalized:
  • Kiswahili, Kiingereza, Kichina, Tanzania, Dar es Salaam
• School subjects and common nouns are usually not capitalized:
  • hisabati (mathematics)
  • kemi (chemistry)
  • biolojia (biology)
  • fizikia (physics)

In the sentence:

• Kiswahili – name of a language → capitalized.
• fizikia – a school subject / field of study → common noun → not capitalized.

What does kuliko mean, and how does it work in comparisons?

Kuliko is commonly used to mean “than” in comparisons.

Structure:

• [thing A] kuliko [thing B]

Examples:

• Ninapenda chai kuliko kahawa.
  I like tea more than coffee.
• Ni mkubwa kuliko kaka yangu.
  He is older than my brother.

In your sentence:

• kusoma Kiswahili kuliko somo la fizikia
  = to study Swahili rather than the subject of physics

So the construction is:

• [verb phrase / noun phrase] kuliko [comparison noun phrase]

Alternatives:

• zaidi ya can also mean “more than” in some contexts:
  • Ninapenda chai zaidi ya kahawa. = I like tea more than coffee. But kuliko is the most straightforward “than” for comparisons of preference.

Why is it somo la fizikia and not somo ya fizikia?

This is about noun classes and their agreement.

• somo (subject / lesson) belongs to noun class 5/6.
• Nouns in class 5 use the possessive connector la (for singular):
  • somo la… – subject of…
  • jina la… – name of…
  • tunda la… – fruit of…

ya is not correct here because:

• ya is used for other noun classes (like class 6 plural, etc.), not for singular class 5.

So:

• somo la fizikia = “the subject of physics”
• If it were plural:
  • masomo ya fizikia = physics subjects (plural “subjects of physics”)

Could I just say kuliko fizikia instead of kuliko somo la fizikia?

Yes, that is possible, especially when context is clear:

• Nilichagua kusoma Kiswahili kuliko fizikia.
  I chose to study Swahili rather than physics.

Difference in nuance:

• kuliko fizikia → compares two fields directly: Swahili vs physics.
• kuliko somo la fizikia → explicitly refers to the school subject of physics (a bit more formal/precise).

In many everyday situations, kuliko fizikia would be understood and sound natural.

What is the difference between nilichagua and nimechagua here?

Both are past forms but they have different nuances:

• nilichagua = simple past, “I chose”
  • Focuses on the action as a finished event in the past.
• nimechagua = present perfect, “I have chosen”
  • Emphasizes the current result or recentness of the choice.

In your sentence:

• Mimi mwenyewe nilichagua kusoma Kiswahili…
  → I myself chose to study Swahili (at some point in the past).
• Mimi mwenyewe nimechagua kusoma Kiswahili…
  → I myself have chosen to study Swahili (and that decision is current/just made).

Both are grammatically correct; the choice depends on the time perspective you want.

Is there another common way to say “instead of” apart from kuliko?

Yes, a very common alternative is badala ya, which literally means “instead of”.

You could say:

• Nilichagua kusoma Kiswahili badala ya somo la fizikia.
  I chose to study Swahili instead of the physics subject.

Comparison:

• kuliko → usually “than”, used in comparisons:
  • Ninapenda chai kuliko kahawa.
• badala ya → explicitly “instead of”:
  • Alikwenda mjini badala ya kwenda shuleni.
    He went to town instead of going to school.

In many contexts, both kuliko and badala ya can work, but badala ya highlights substitution more clearly.