Learn Hardcore Swahili: Sisi tuliwahi kufika sokoni leo. - We arrived early at the market today.

Sisi tulifika sokoni leo = We arrived at the market today (neutral, just a simple fact).
Sisi tuliwahi kufika sokoni leo adds the idea of being early or being in time / managing to.

In this sentence, tuliwahi suggests something like:

We got to the market early today, or
We managed to get to the market today / we actually made it to the market today.

So tuliwahi kufika is not just “we arrived”; it carries an extra nuance of timing or success in doing the action.

How is tuliwahi formed? What are its parts?

Tuliwahi is one Swahili verb form made up of several pieces:

tu- = we (subject prefix, 1st person plural)
-li- = past tense marker
-wahi = verb stem meaning to be early, to be in time, to ever have done, to manage (to do something)

So:

tuliwahi = tu- (we) + -li- (past) + -wahi (be early/ever/managed)
→ we were early / we managed / we ever did (in the past)

Because kuwahi is a verb, it takes the usual subject and tense markers like any other Swahili verb.

Why is there another verb kufika after tuliwahi? What is the role of ku- here?

In tuliwahi kufika, the verb kuwahi is acting like to manage to… / to be early to… / to (ever) do… and it normally introduces another action.

So you get the pattern:

kuwahi + [another verb in the infinitive]

Here:

kufika = ku- (infinitive marker “to”) + -fika (root arrive)

So:

tuliwahi kufika ≈ we managed to arrive / we were early to arrive.

The ku- in kufika shows that fika is in the infinitive form (to arrive), not a fully conjugated finite verb.

Could I say Sisi tuliwahi fika sokoni leo without ku-?

No, that would be wrong. After kuwahi, the following verb should remain in the infinitive, which in Swahili is formed with ku- + verb root:

kufika (to arrive)
kula (to eat)
kuja (to come), etc.

You need that ku- here:

✅ tuliwahi kufika sokoni leo
❌ tuliwahi fika sokoni leo

Is Sisi really necessary? Could I just say Tuliwahi kufika sokoni leo?

You can definitely drop Sisi:

Tuliwahi kufika sokoni leo.

In Swahili, the subject is already indicated by the subject prefix on the verb:

tu- in tuliwahi = we

So:

Sisi tuliwahi kufika sokoni leo = We (emphatic) managed to arrive at the market today.
Tuliwahi kufika sokoni leo = We managed to arrive at the market today. (normal, unmarked)

You use Sisi if you want to emphasize “we” (as opposed to someone else), or in very clear / slow speech, or sometimes in writing for focus. Otherwise, just Tuliwahi… is natural.

What does the -ni ending in sokoni mean? How is it different from soko?

Soko means market.

Adding -ni makes it a locative: it indicates a place (at the market / to the market).

soko = market (as a noun)
sokoni = at the market, to the market, in the market (location)

So:

tuliwahi kufika sokoni = we managed to arrive at the market.

The exact English preposition (at, to, in) depends on context, but -ni marks that it’s a location.

Why do we have kufika sokoni and not kwenda sokoni here? What’s the difference between kufika and kwenda?

Both are possible, but they mean slightly different things:

kwenda = to go
kufika = to arrive

So:

Tuliwahi kwenda sokoni leo ≈ We managed to go to the market today / We went (in time) to the market today.
Tuliwahi kufika sokoni leo ≈ We managed to arrive at the market early / We were early in arriving at the market today.

Kufika focuses on the arrival; you actually got there.
Kwenda focuses on the going/journey, not necessarily reaching the destination (though often implied).

In many everyday contexts, both are acceptable, but kufika is stronger about “we reached the place.”

Can the word leo be put somewhere else in the sentence, like Leo tuliwahi kufika sokoni?

Yes, leo is flexible in position. All of these are possible, with small differences in emphasis:

Sisi tuliwahi kufika sokoni leo.
– Default order; “today” comes at the end.
Leo tuliwahi kufika sokoni.
– Stronger emphasis on today: Today we managed to arrive at the market (unlike other days / unusually).
Leo sisi tuliwahi kufika sokoni.
– Emphasizes both today and we (maybe contrasting with others).

The grammar doesn’t change; word order mostly affects what you are highlighting in the sentence.

Does tuliwahi here have the same “ever” meaning as in Umewahi kwenda …? (“Have you ever been…?”)

It’s the same verb (kuwahi), but the nuance depends on context and tense.

In questions or with the perfect, like:
- Umewahi kwenda Zanzibar?
  → Have you ever been to Zanzibar?
kuwahi expresses “ever (in your life)”.
In your sentence Sisi tuliwahi kufika sokoni leo, in simple past with leo, it more naturally means:
- We were early to arrive at the market today
  or
- We managed to arrive at the market today.

So here it’s not really “we once ever arrived at the market today”; rather it’s about the timing / success of the action today.

How would I say “We didn’t manage to get to the market today / We never got to the market today” using the same pattern?

You can negate kuwahi:

Hatukuwahi kufika sokoni leo.

Breakdown:

ha- = negative
-tu- = we
-ku- = past negative marker
-wahi = manage / be early / ever

So hatukuwahi kufika ≈ we didn’t manage to arrive / we never got to arrive.

Full sentence:

Hatukuwahi kufika sokoni leo.
→ We never got to the market today / We didn’t manage to arrive at the market today.

After kuwahi, must the next verb always be in the ku- infinitive form like kufika, or can it be conjugated?

In this construction (the one used in your sentence), the second verb is normally in the infinitive:

kuwahi + ku-VERB

Examples:

Nilikuwa na haraka nikawahi kufika mapema.
I was in a hurry and I managed to arrive early.
Je, umewahi kula ugali?
Have you ever eaten ugali?

If you conjugate the second verb instead of using the infinitive, you change the structure and often the meaning or the naturalness of the sentence. For expressing manage to do X / be early to do X / ever do X, you should keep the second verb in the ku- form.