Learn Hardcore Swahili: Babu huenda sokoni kila asubuhi kununua mboga. - Grandfather goes to the market every morning to buy vegetables.

anaenda = he/she is going / goes (now or generally)
- a- = he/she (subject marker)
- -na- = present tense
huenda (as used in your sentence) = he/she usually goes / habitually goes
- hu- is a special marker for habitual action (things that happen regularly).

So:

Babu anaenda sokoni = Grandpa is going / goes to the market (no special emphasis on it being a habit).
Babu huenda sokoni = Grandpa usually / always goes to the market (it’s his routine).

The hu- form is specifically used for habitual actions, not one‑time events.

Why doesn’t huenda have a subject prefix like a- (for “he”)?

With the habitual marker hu-, Swahili normally drops the subject prefix (like a-, ni-, wa-).

So you say:

Huenda sokoni kila asubuhi. = He/She usually goes to the market every morning.
(No a- in front.)

If you add a full noun as subject, like Babu, you still don’t add a subject prefix:

✅ Babu huenda sokoni kila asubuhi.
❌ Babu ahuenda sokoni… (incorrect)

So the pattern is:

hu- (habitual) + verb stem, with no subject marker.

I’ve seen huenda translated as “maybe”. Is that the same huenda?

No, they are two different uses of the same string huenda:

huenda (habitual marker + verb -enda):
- In your sentence: Babu huenda sokoni…
- Meaning: Grandpa usually goes…
huenda as an impersonal verb / particle meaning maybe, perhaps:
- Huenda ataondoka kesho. = Maybe he will leave tomorrow.

You distinguish them by:

Habitual “hu-” + verb: clearly a normal verb structure with a subject (explicit or understood).
“huenda” = maybe: works more like “perhaps”, often not literally “goes”.

Context usually makes the meaning clear.

Why is it sokoni and not just soko?

Soko is the basic noun meaning “market”.

The ending -ni is a locative suffix, roughly meaning “in/at/to the [place]”.

soko = market
sokoni = at the market / in the market / to the market

So huenda sokoni can mean:

goes to the market
(or depending on context) goes to / is at the market

Swahili often uses this -ni ending instead of a separate preposition like to or at.

So does sokoni already include the idea “to the market”? Why is there no word for “to”?

Yes. In many cases, Swahili does not need a separate word for to, at, or in when talking about places.

-ni on place nouns often covers to / at / in:
- shule → shuleni = at school / to school
- nyumba → nyumbani = at home / home / to home
- soko → sokoni = at the market / to the market

So huenda sokoni = goes to the market, even though there is no separate to.

What does kila asubuhi literally mean, and why is asubuhi not in plural?

kila asubuhi literally is:

kila = every
asubuhi = morning

So: kila asubuhi = every morning.

In Swahili, kila is followed by what is effectively the singular form of the noun, even though the meaning is “every [plural idea]”:

kila mtoto = every child
kila siku = every day
kila wiki = every week
kila asubuhi = every morning

There is no plural marker after kila, because kila already expresses the “each/every” idea.

Can I change the word order of kila asubuhi and sokoni?

Yes, Swahili word order is quite flexible for adverbials (time, place, purpose). All of these are grammatically acceptable, with small differences in emphasis:

Babu huenda sokoni kila asubuhi kununua mboga.
Babu huenda kila asubuhi sokoni kununua mboga.
Kila asubuhi Babu huenda sokoni kununua mboga.

They all mean essentially the same thing: Every morning Grandpa goes to the market to buy vegetables. Changing the order may slightly highlight time first or place first, but the meaning stays clear.

What does kununua mean exactly, and what is the purpose of the ku- at the beginning?

The base verb is -nunua = to buy.

When you add ku- to a verb stem, you normally form the infinitive / verb noun:

kununua = to buy / buying
kula = to eat
kuenda / kwenda = to go
kusoma = to read / study

So kununua in your sentence is the infinitive of purpose:

… huenda sokoni kununua mboga.
= … he usually goes to the market *to buy vegetables.*

Why isn’t there a word like ili (“in order to”) before kununua?

In Swahili, the infinitive (the ku- form) can often express purpose all by itself:

Anaenda mjini kununua dawa.
= He/she is going to town to buy medicine.

You can add ili to make it explicit:

Anaenda mjini ili kununua dawa.
Babu huenda sokoni ili kununua mboga.

Both are correct, but in everyday speech ili is often omitted when the purpose is obvious from context. Your sentence is very natural as it is.

Does mboga always mean “vegetables”, or can it mean “food” in general?

mboga basically means vegetables / greens, especially the vegetable part of a meal.

Usage depends a bit on region:

In many contexts:
- mboga = vegetable(s), cooked greens, or the sauce/stew eaten with a starch (like ugali, rice, etc.).
In some East African usage, mboga can be extended in casual speech to mean “food” (especially the “dish” that goes with the staple), but strictly speaking it’s the vegetable dish / side.

In your sentence, mboga is best understood as vegetables (or greens) that Grandpa goes to buy at the market.

If Babu is “grandfather”, why isn’t there anything like “my” or “the”? How specific is Babu here?

Babu literally means grandfather, but in real usage it can function like:

a normal noun: grandfather
a kind of title / kin term: Grandpa, Old man (respectfully), even used for elderly men in general in some contexts.

In your sentence:

Babu huenda sokoni…
could mean:
- Grandpa (the one we know) goes to the market…
- Grandfather usually goes…
  depending on context.

Swahili does not always mark definite/indefinite (the/a) or possessive (my/our) unless needed. If you want to be explicit:

Babu yangu huenda sokoni… = My grandfather goes to the market…

Could I say Babu anaenda sokoni kila asubuhi kununua mboga instead? Would it be wrong?

It would be grammatically correct, but the nuance changes slightly.

Babu anaenda sokoni kila asubuhi kununua mboga.
→ Present tense, can mean Grandpa goes / is going to the market every morning to buy vegetables.
It can still imply a habit because of kila asubuhi, but the verb itself is just standard present.
Babu huenda sokoni kila asubuhi kununua mboga.
→ Explicitly habitual: Grandpa usually / always goes to the market every morning…

So:

To clearly highlight a routine/habit, huenda is more precise.
anaenda is fine, especially in casual speech, but less marked as habitual by itself.

Is asubuhi only “morning”, or does it include “early morning” or “forenoon”?

asubuhi generally covers the period from early morning up to late morning, roughly from dawn until around late forenoon.

You can be more specific if needed:

alfajiri = very early morning / dawn
asubuhi = morning in general
mchana = afternoon / daytime
jioni = evening
usiku = night

In your sentence, kila asubuhi just means every morning in the normal, broad sense.