Breakdown of Leo mwalimu anatuuliza tu maswali mapya kuhusu biolojia.
Questions & Answers about Leo mwalimu anatuuliza tu maswali mapya kuhusu biolojia.
anatuuliza can be broken down like this:
- a- = subject prefix for he / she (class 1 singular)
- -na- = present tense marker (often “is …ing” / “does”)
- -tu- = object marker for us (1st person plural)
- uliz = verb root meaning ask
- -a = final vowel that almost all Swahili verb forms end in
So anatuuliza literally means “he/she is-us-asking” → “he/she is asking us.”
The meaning “us” is built into the verb as the object marker -tu-:
- ana- = he/she is
- -tu- = us
- -uliza = ask
So anatuuliza already contains “us”.
If you really want to emphasize us, you can also add sisi:
- Mwalimu anatuuliza sisi maswali mapya.
→ The teacher is asking *us (as opposed to others) new questions.*
But in normal, neutral sentences, -tu- alone is enough and sisi is usually omitted.
No, you cannot change anatuuliza to anatuliza; they are two different verbs:
- anatuuliza = a-na-tu-uliz-a → he/she is asking us
- anatuliza = a-na-tuliz-a → he/she is calming (someone/us), from the root -tuliza = to calm, to soothe
The two u sounds in anatuuliza come from:
- -tu- (us) + -uliz- (ask)
When these come together, you get tuuliz in spelling: a-na-tu-uliz-a → anatuuliza.
Both vowels remain; you do not merge them into atuliza, because that would change the verb root and the meaning.
No, they have completely different functions:
-tu- inside anatuuliza
- This is an object marker meaning “us”.
- It is a bound morpheme; it only appears inside a verb:
- anatuona = he/she sees us
- watutafuta = they look for us
tu after the verb
- This is a particle meaning “only / just”.
- It is an independent word, not attached to the verb.
- It limits or downplays something:
- Anafanya kazi tu. = He/she is just working / only working.
So in the sentence:
- anatuuliza → is asking us
- tu → only / just
Together: anatuuliza tu… = is just / only asking us…
The tu after anatuuliza is usually understood as “only / just”.
It can scope over:
- the whole action, roughly:
- Today the teacher is just asking us new questions about biology (and not doing much else).
or, depending on context and emphasis, more specifically:
- mainly “new questions”:
- Today the teacher is asking us only new questions (not old ones / not reviewing).
In writing, the scope can be a bit ambiguous without context. In speech, speakers use stress and intonation to show what tu is focusing on.
Position-wise, tu normally comes right after the word or phrase it limits:
- Anatuuliza tu maswali mapya.
- Anatuuliza maswali mapya tu. (more clearly “only new questions”)
All of these are possible, but they have slightly different focus.
The -na- in anatuuliza marks the present tense, often called the present progressive or simply present. It can mean:
- is asking us (right now / around now), or
- asks us (habitually), depending on context and adverbs like leo (today).
Compare with other tenses:
- alitutuuliza → a-li-tu-uliz-a
- He/she asked us (once, in the past).
- atatuuliza → a-ta-tu-uliz-a
- He/she will ask us.
- angetuuliza → a-nge-tu-uliz-a
- He/she would ask us.
So:
- Leo mwalimu anatuuliza…
→ Today the teacher is asking us / asks us… (present) - Jana mwalimu alituuliza…
→ Yesterday the teacher asked us… (past) - Kesho mwalimu atatuuliza…
→ Tomorrow the teacher will ask us… (future)
Swahili word order is fairly flexible, especially with adverbs and focus particles. The basic order here is:
- [Time] Leo
- [Subject] mwalimu
- [Verb (with object marker)] anatuuliza
- [Focus particle] tu
- [Object] maswali mapya
- [Prepositional phrase] kuhusu biolojia
Possible variations (all grammatical, but with slightly different emphasis):
- Mwalimu leo anatuuliza tu maswali mapya kuhusu biolojia.
- Leo mwalimu anatuuliza maswali mapya tu kuhusu biolojia. (more clearly “only new questions”)
- Leo mwalimu anatuuliza maswali mapya kuhusu biolojia tu. (only about biology)
What you usually can’t change is the internal structure of the verb:
- a-na-tu-uliz-a must stay in that order.
You also normally keep the verb early in the clause and objects after it.
This is about noun classes and adjective agreement.
swali (question)
- Class 5 (singular) → prefix ji-/∅
- swali jipya = a new question
- noun: swa-li
- adjective: -pya with class 5 agreement → jipya
maswali (questions)
- Class 6 (plural) → prefix ma-
- maswali mapya = new questions
- noun: ma-swali
- adjective: -pya with class 6 agreement → mapya
So the adjective -pya (“new”) changes its form:
- Class 5 (sg): jipya
- Class 6 (pl): mapya
The rule: the adjective must agree with the noun class and number of the noun it describes.
Swahili does not have articles like a / an / the. Nouns like mwalimu, maswali, biolojia are bare; their definiteness is understood from context.
- mwalimu can mean “a teacher” or “the teacher”.
- maswali can mean “questions” or “the questions.”
In this sentence, context (especially Leo, “today”) makes mwalimu most naturally understood as “the teacher (we know / have today)” rather than some random teacher.
If you really need to be explicit, you can use other words:
- mwalimu mmoja = a / one teacher
- yule mwalimu = that (specific) teacher
But normally, you just use mwalimu and let context decide.
kuhusu is a preposition meaning roughly “about / concerning / regarding.” It introduces a topic:
- Maswali kuhusu biolojia = questions about biology
- Habari kuhusu ajali = news about the accident
It works much like English “about”: you put kuhusu before the noun phrase that is the topic:
- kuhusu + [noun]
- kuhusu biolojia
- kuhusu kazi yako
- kuhusu safari yetu
You can say juu ya biolojia, and it will usually be understood as “about biology”, but there is a nuance:
kuhusu biolojia
- Very standard for “about biology / concerning biology.”
- Tends to sound a bit more neutral and general.
juu ya biolojia (literally: “on/top of biology”)
- Often used like “on the topic of biology / on biology.”
- Common in some styles (e.g. book titles, essay topics):
- Kitabu juu ya biolojia = A book on biology.
In everyday speech about questions or discussions, kuhusu is often the first choice:
- maswali kuhusu biolojia feels slightly more natural than
- maswali juu ya biolojia, though both are acceptable.
You can add sisi, but you usually don’t need to.
Mwalimu anatuuliza maswali mapya.
- Normal, neutral: The teacher is asking us new questions.
Mwalimu anatuuliza sisi maswali mapya.
- Emphatic: The teacher is asking *us (not them) new questions.*
So sisi is used mainly for contrast or emphasis.
Grammatically, -tu- alone already expresses “us,” so adding sisi is optional and stylistic.
Yes, you can say Mwalimu anauliza maswali mapya kuhusu biolojia, but the meaning changes:
Mwalimu anatuuliza maswali mapya kuhusu biolojia.
- The teacher is asking *us new questions about biology.*
Mwalimu anauliza maswali mapya kuhusu biolojia.
- The teacher is asking new questions about biology.
- There is no indication who is being asked; maybe students in general, maybe other teachers—it’s unspecified.
So:
- With -tu-: you explicitly say we are the people being asked.
- Without an object marker (and without sisi): you only talk about the questions, not about who they are directed to.
Yes, that is grammatically correct, but it is usually only used when the subject is already clear from context.
- Leo anatuuliza tu maswali mapya kuhusu biolojia.
- Today he/she is just asking us new questions about biology.
Because a- in anatuuliza only says “he/she (class 1)”, it doesn’t tell you who the person is.
If it’s obvious (for example, you are already talking about the teacher), you can drop mwalimu.
If it is not obvious, you normally keep mwalimu so the listener knows who he/she is:
- Leo mwalimu anatuuliza tu maswali mapya kuhusu biolojia.
- Clear: it is specifically the teacher doing the asking.