Learn Hardcore Swahili: Leo mama anaamka kuchelewa kidogo kwa sababu alikuwa mchovu jana. - Today mother is waking up a bit late because she was tired yesterday.

Putting Leo at the start makes “today” feel like the topic: As for today, mom is waking up a bit late…
Putting leo later can sound a bit more neutral or like you’re adding the time information after introducing the subject.

Swahili is fairly flexible with adverbs of time (leo, jana, kesho, siku hizi, etc.); they often appear at the beginning or the end of the sentence.

Why is there no word for “my” in mama? How do I know it means “my mom” and not just “a mother”?

Literally, mama just means “mother” (or “mom”). It doesn’t automatically include “my” in a strict grammatical sense.

To say “my mother” explicitly, you can say:

mama yangu = my mother
mama yangu anaamka… = my mother is waking up…

However, in natural conversation, context often makes it clear:

If you’re talking about your own family, mama often gets understood as “my mother” even without yangu.
If you need to be precise, or you’re introducing someone, you’d normally add the possessive: mama yangu, mama yake (his/her mother), etc.

So in realistic use, Leo mama anaamka… will often be understood as “Today my mom is waking up…”, but strictly speaking, yangu is the explicit “my”.

Why is it anaamka kuchelewa kidogo and not something like anaamka kuchelewa kwa kidogo or anaamka kuchelewa muda kidogo?

In Swahili, kidogo (“a little, a bit, slightly”) can be used very freely as an adverb, without any extra prepositions.

kuchelewa = to be late
kuchelewa kidogo = to be a little late / “a bit late”

You don’t add kwa (for, by, with) or muda (time/period) here, because kidogo is not a length of time like “10 minutes”; it’s just qualifying the degree of lateness.

Compare:

alichelewa saa moja – he was late by one hour (a specific period)
alichelewa kidogo – he was a bit late (no specific amount)

So anaamka kuchelewa kidogo is perfectly natural: “she wakes up a bit late.”

Why do we have two verbs in a row: anaamka kuchelewa? Why is kuchelewa in the infinitive?

The pattern [finite verb] + [ku-verb] is common in Swahili. The second verb in ku- form often acts like an adverb, describing how the first action happens.

alienda kulala – he went to sleep
alijaribu kuongea – he tried to speak
anaamka kuchelewa – she wakes up late

Here:

anaamka – she wakes up
kuchelewa – to be late / late

So anaamka kuchelewa is a natural way to say “she wakes up late”. The kuchelewa tells you in what manner she wakes up.

What’s the difference between kuchelewa and saying something like amechelewa or anachelewa?

All forms are from the root -chelewa (“be late”), but they’re used differently:

kuchelewa – infinitive / verbal noun: “to be late, being late”
- Used after other verbs: anaamka kuchelewa (she wakes up late)
anachelewa – present: “he/she is late / is being late / is running late”
- Leo anachelewa – Today she is (running) late.
amechelewa – perfect: “he/she has arrived late / ended up late”
- Amechelewa kazini – She has (arrived) late to work.

In your sentence we need “wakes up late”, not “is late (for something)” or “has arrived late”, so the adverbial kuchelewa fits best with anaamka.

Why is kidogo after kuchelewa? Could we say kidogo kuchelewa instead?

The normal and natural order is:

kuchelewa kidogo – be-late a-little

In Swahili, adverbs like sana (very), kidogo (a little), vizuri (well) nearly always come after the verb or adjective they modify:

anakula sana – he eats a lot
anasema vizuri – she speaks well
amechelewa kidogo – he was a little late

Putting kidogo before kuchelewa (kidogo kuchelewa) is not standard and would sound odd or wrong to native speakers.

What does kwa sababu literally mean, and can I just say sababu by itself?

Literally:

sababu = “reason, cause”
kwa sababu = “for (the) reason [that]…” → because

In practice, kwa sababu is the normal way to say “because” when connecting two clauses:

Anaamka kuchelewa kwa sababu alikuwa mchovu jana.
→ She wakes up late because she was tired yesterday.

You can use sababu by itself as a noun:

Sababu ni kazi nyingi. – The reason is a lot of work.

But to mean “because” in a sentence like yours, you normally need kwa sababu, not just sababu. Other common “because” words are maana or kwa kuwa / kwa vile, but kwa sababu is very standard and neutral.

Why does the second part switch to the past: alikuwa mchovu jana? Is it okay to mix present and past like that?

Yes, it’s not only okay, it’s exactly what you want here.

anaamka – present (today, right now / this morning)
alikuwa mchovu jana – past (yesterday she was tired)

You’re saying:

Today she is waking up late *because yesterday she was tired.*

So the reason is a state that existed in the past (yesterday), and the result happens now (today). In Swahili (as in English), mixing tenses like this is normal and often necessary to show the time relationship.

What is the structure of alikuwa and why not just use alikua?

The verb kuwa means “to be / to become.”

Alikuwa is formed as:

a- = he/she (3rd person singular)
-li- = past tense marker
-kuwa = be

So alikuwa = “he/she was”.

You cannot write alikua (with only one w) in standard Swahili. The verb stem is -kuwa, and the w stays when you conjugate it:

nilikuwa – I was
ulikuwa – you (sg.) were
alikuwa – he/she was
walikuwa – they were

So alikuwa mchovu jana is the correct past form: “she was tired yesterday.”

What’s the difference between alikuwa mchovu jana and alichoka jana or alikuwa amechoka jana?

All versions are related to being tired, but with slightly different focus:

alikuwa mchovu jana
- mchovu is an adjective = “tired, exhausted”.
- Focuses on the state: she was (in a tired condition) yesterday.
alichoka jana
- From kuchoka = “to get tired, to become tired”.
- Focuses on the event/change: she *got tired yesterday (at some point).*
alikuwa amechoka jana
- amechoka is the perfect of “get tired” → “has gotten tired / is (as a result) tired.”
- alikuwa amechoka jana suggests: yesterday she had already gotten tired / she was found tired.
- This is closer to past perfect nuance (“she had gotten tired”).

In your sentence, alikuwa mchovu jana is a simple, clear way to express the general state yesterday that explains today’s behaviour.

Is mchovu only “tired” in the physical sense, or can it also mean mentally/emotionally tired?

Mchovu usually means physically tired, exhausted, worn out, but like “tired” in English, it can extend to:

mental fatigue: after studying a lot
emotional fatigue: tired of problems, stress, etc.

Context will clarify. If you want to emphasise specifically being fed up / emotionally tired, you might also hear verbs like kuchoshwa (to be made tired/bored), but mchovu alone is often broad enough in everyday speech.