Breakdown of Leo usiku, nitakuwa nikitazama runinga kwa dakika chache kabla sijaanza kusoma.
Questions & Answers about Leo usiku, nitakuwa nikitazama runinga kwa dakika chache kabla sijaanza kusoma.
Swahili normally builds “tonight” as a phrase:
- leo usiku = literally “today night” → tonight
You might also hear:
- usiku wa leo – also tonight, slightly more formal or careful
- usiku huu – this night (context usually makes it mean tonight)
There isn’t a single basic word that only means “tonight”; instead, phrases like leo usiku are standard and completely natural.
The word order is flexible. You can say:
- Leo usiku, nitakuwa nikitazama runinga… – Tonight, I’ll be watching TV… (“tonight” is in focus)
- Nitakuwa nikitazama runinga leo usiku… – I’ll be watching TV tonight… (more neutral order)
Both are correct. Putting leo usiku at the beginning is a common way to set the time frame up front, like English “Tonight, I’ll…”. The comma is optional in normal writing; it just marks a pause.
Grammatically, yes, both verbs carry the ni- (I) subject marker:
- nitakuwa = ni- (I) + -ta- (future) + -kuwa (to be) → “I will be”
- nikitazama = ni- (I) + -ki- (incomplete/“while” aspect) + -tazama (watch) → “(as I’m) watching”
Together, nitakuwa nikitazama is a standard way to form the future continuous:
nitakuwa nikitazama = I will be watching
So it’s not redundant; it’s:
- nitakuwa → sets the future “state”
- nikitazama → describes what you are doing in that state
This pattern (kuwa + -ki- verb) is very common in Swahili for continuous/progressive actions in various tenses:
- niko nikisoma – I am (currently) reading / studying
- nilikuwa nikisoma – I was reading / studying
- nitakuwa nikisoma – I will be reading / studying
Both refer to a future action, but the aspect is different:
nitatazama runinga
- Simple future: I will watch TV (a single event, neutral about duration or continuity).
nitakuwa nikitazama runinga
- Future continuous: I will be watching TV (emphasises the ongoing nature of the activity during a time period).
In this sentence, “for a few minutes before I start studying” fits nicely with the idea of an ongoing, temporary activity → future continuous is natural.
You may hear kuwa + na- used for progressive meaning in some varieties or in casual speech, but the standard and widely taught pattern for this meaning is:
- kuwa + -ki-: nitakuwa nikitazama
So for clear, textbook Swahili, especially for exams and formal contexts, you should prefer:
- nitakuwa nikitazama runinga rather than nitakuwa natazama runinga.
runinga means television / TV.
- runinga is a widely used Swahili word (especially in Tanzania and Kenya).
- televisheni is a borrowing from “television”, also very common and fully accepted.
In practice:
- runinga ≈ televisheni
Both mean TV, and either is fine in everyday conversation. You’ll see runinga a lot in Swahili media and school materials.
Here kwa introduces the idea of duration:
- kwa dakika chache – for a few minutes
In time expressions, kwa + time period often means “for (a period of)”:
- kwa siku tatu – for three days
- kwa mwaka mmoja – for one year
You can also hear:
- dakika chache by itself in casual speech; context often makes the duration meaning clear.
But kwa dakika chache is very natural and explicitly marks it as a span of time. There’s no change in basic meaning; kwa just makes the “for (x minutes)” feel more explicit.
Both relate to “small amount / few / little”, but usage differs:
chache
- Adjective meaning “few” (for countable plural nouns).
- Must agree with noun class; with N-class plural like dakika, it stays chache:
- dakika chache – a few minutes
- siku chache – a few days
kidogo
- Usually an adverb/adjective meaning “a little / a bit / small amount”.
- Often used for quantities in general (time, money, food, etc.):
- ngojea kidogo – wait a bit
- hela kidogo – a little money
You could say dakika chache (a few minutes) or dakika kidogo (a small amount of time / a short while). Chache focuses more clearly on number (“a few”), while kidogo is more vague (“a little”).
Literally:
- kabla sijaanza kusoma ≈ “before I have started to read/study”
– but in English we say “before I start studying”.
sijaanza is:
- si- – negative marker for I (1st person singular, negative)
- -ja- – negative perfect marker (“have not / not yet”)
- anza – start/begin
So sijaanza = “I have not (yet) started”.
In Swahili, after kabla, using this negative perfect is a standard way to say “before (someone) does something”, with the nuance of “before (someone) has done it”.
Swahili time clauses with kabla (before) commonly use the negative perfect to express an action that has not yet happened by a certain reference time:
- kabla sijaanza kusoma – before I (have) started studying → before I start studying
- kabla hujaondoka – before you (have) left → before you leave
The logic: at the “before” moment, the action is still unaccomplished, so it’s expressed as “have not yet done X”.
You generally do not say:
- ✗ kabla nitaanza kusoma
That sounds ungrammatical or at least very odd. Use:
- kabla sijaanza kusoma
or - kabla ya kuanza kusoma (see next question).
Yes. Both are correct and natural, with a small difference in structure:
kabla sijaanza kusoma
- Full clause with subject marking: “before I have started studying”
- Very common in conversational Swahili.
kabla ya kuanza kusoma
- Prepositional phrase: kabla ya + infinitive
- Literally: “before (the) starting to study”
- Slightly more neutral/formal in structure and doesn’t show the subject explicitly.
If you want to specify the subject with kabla ya, you can add a pronoun:
- kabla ya mimi kuanza kusoma – before I start studying
- kabla ya yeye kuanza kusoma – before he/she starts studying
In everyday speech, kabla sijaanza kusoma is very natural and idiomatic.
In Swahili, kusoma often covers both:
- to read (a book, newspaper, etc.)
- to study (as in do schoolwork, prepare for exams, etc.)
Context decides which English translation is better. In your sentence, with watching TV first and then getting to work, “to study” is usually the most natural translation.
Both patterns exist, but they’re used differently:
kabla sijaanza kusoma
- Uses the negative perfect; very typical and idiomatic.
- Emphasises that by that time, the action has not yet started.
- Very common when talking about real, expected events.
kabla nianze kusoma
- Uses the subjunctive (nianze).
- More likely in certain stylistic or more formal/written contexts.
- Feels a bit less common in everyday speech than the negative-perfect pattern, and can sound slightly more “planned” or “conditional”.
For most learners and everyday situations, kabla sijaanza kusoma is the safer, more natural choice.
You must keep ku- here:
- sijaanza kusoma – correct
- ✗ sijaanza soma – incorrect
Reason: anza (“start”) is followed by an infinitive in Swahili:
- anza kuimba – start singing
- anza kuandika – start writing
- anza kusoma – start reading/studying
So the pattern is anza + ku-verb. You don’t drop ku- in this construction.
Yes, it’s very natural and idiomatic. Slightly different but equally natural variants could be:
Leo usiku nitatazama runinga kwa dakika chache kabla sijaanza kusoma.
(simple future instead of future continuous – still OK)Leo usiku nitatazama televisheni kwa dakika chache kabla ya kuanza kusoma.
(using televisheni and the kabla ya kuanza structure)
But the original:
- Leo usiku, nitakuwa nikitazama runinga kwa dakika chache kabla sijaanza kusoma.
sounds fluent, clear, and fully standard.