Breakdown of Alipofungua mlango, mtoto alikimbia kumkumbatia.
Questions & Answers about Alipofungua mlango, mtoto alikimbia kumkumbatia.
In Swahili, what looks like one word often contains several grammatical pieces.
Alipofungua can be broken down like this:
- a- = subject prefix for he / she (class 1 singular)
- -li- = past tense marker
- -po- = “when / where” marker (a relative/locative marker)
- fungua = verb stem “open” (fungu- + final -a)
So literally, alipofungua is something like:
a-li-po-fungua → he/she–PAST–when–open → “when he/she opened”
The idea of “when” is built into the verb by the -po- element, so Swahili doesn’t need a separate word like “when” before the clause.
Swahili usually puts the subject information inside the verb as a prefix, instead of using independent pronouns.
- In alipofungua, the a- already means he/she.
- In alikimbia, the a- again means he/she.
So:
- alipofungua ≈ “when he/she opened”
- mtoto alikimbia ≈ “the child (he/she) ran”
A separate pronoun like yeye (“he/she”) is only used for emphasis or contrast, for example:
- Yeye alipofungua mlango, mtoto alikimbia kumkumbatia.
It was he/she (in particular) who, when opening the door, the child ran to hug.
In normal, neutral sentences, the subject prefix (a-) is enough.
Swahili uses noun classes, and verbs agree with the class of the subject.
- mtoto (child) is in class 1 (the class that typically includes people, like mtu, mtoto, mwalimu).
- The class 1 singular subject prefix is a-.
So:
- mtoto alikimbia
mtoto = child
a- = he/she (class 1)
-li- = past
-kimbia = run
→ “the child ran”
If the subject were plural (watoto = children), the prefix would change:
- watoto walikimbia
wa- = they (class 2, plural of class 1)
→ “the children ran”
Kumkumbatia is made of several parts stuck together:
- ku- = infinitive marker “to” (as in kumbatia = to hug)
- m- = object marker for him/her (class 1 singular)
- kumbat- = verb root meaning “embrace / hug”
- -ia = verbal ending here (part of the verb kumbatia)
So:
ku-m-kumbat-ia → to–him/her–hug–(verb ending) → “to hug him/her”
That’s why kumkumbatia means “to hug him/her”, not just “to hug”.
If you wanted the plain infinitive “to hug” with no object, you would use kumbatia (or kukumbatia, depending on context).
The person being hugged is indicated by the object marker m- in kumkumbatia:
- m- = him / her (class 1 singular)
So kumkumbatia = “to hug him/her.”
In the sentence:
Alipofungua mlango, mtoto alikimbia kumkumbatia.
the most natural reading is:
- Someone (he/she) opened the door (alipofungua mlango).
- The child ran to hug that person → the one who opened the door.
The context (two different third-person humans: the door-opener and the child) leads us to interpret m- as referring to the door-opener.
If you wanted to be extra explicit, you could add a pronoun:
- mtoto alikimbia kumkumbatia yeye
the child ran to hug him/her (that specific person)
But usually m- is clear enough from context.
In Swahili, one common way to express “run to do something” is:
[verb of motion] + ku- + [another verb]
Here:
- alikimbia = he/she ran
- ku- = to
- mkumbatia (within kumkumbatia) = hug him/her
So:
alikimbia kumkumbatia ≈ “he/she ran to hug him/her.”
This ku- + verb construction is like “to [verb]” in English.
You could sometimes also express the idea with two finite verbs, for example:
- mtoto alikimbia akamkumbatia
the child ran and (then) hugged him/her.
That version focuses more on the sequence (“ran and then hugged”), whereas alikimbia kumkumbatia highlights the purpose (“ran in order to hug”).
Yes. Swahili is flexible with clause order in cases like this. Both of these are natural:
Alipofungua mlango, mtoto alikimbia kumkumbatia.
→ When he/she opened the door, the child ran to hug him/her.Mtoto alikimbia kumkumbatia alipofungua mlango.
→ The child ran to hug him/her when he/she opened the door.
The meaning is essentially the same.
Starting with alipofungua mlango puts more emphasis on the moment of opening the door as the background condition. Starting with mtoto alikimbia… puts more emphasis on the child’s action.
In writing, a comma after the first clause is normal but not absolutely required for understanding.
Both -po- and -ki- can introduce subordinate clauses, but they have different typical uses:
- -po- → specific time / place: “when/where (at that moment / in that place)”
- -ki- → when/while/if (general, ongoing, or conditional)
In our sentence:
- alipofungua mlango → “when he/she opened the door (at that moment)”
If we used -ki- instead:
- alipofungua mlango (without -po-) is not correct for this meaning.
- A form like alipofungua doesn’t work here; we want a-li-po-fungua.
A more parallel example to compare:
- Akifungua mlango, mtoto hukimbia kumkumbatia.
→ When(ever) he/she opens the door, the child (usually) runs to hug him/her.
(Here -ki- with huku- shows a more general, habitual situation.)
Our sentence with -po- is about one specific occasion in the past.
Both verbs use the simple past tense marker -li-:
- a-li-po-fungua = when he/she opened
- a-li-kimbia = the child ran
Swahili doesn’t normally distinguish “he opened” vs “he had opened” the way English does with past vs past perfect.
The order of events is understood from the structure of the sentence:
- The alipofungua clause is a temporal background (“when he/she opened the door…”).
- The mtoto alikimbia kumkumbatia clause is the main event that happens at/after that moment.
Depending on context, it can be understood as:
- “When he/she opened the door, the child ran to hug him/her,” or
- “As soon as he/she opened the door, the child ran to hug him/her.”
But grammatically it is just simple past in both clauses.
The comma is a writing/reading aid, not a grammatical marker that changes the form of the words.
- Alipofungua mlango, mtoto alikimbia kumkumbatia.
- Alipofungua mlango mtoto alikimbia kumkumbatia.
Both are grammatical, but the comma makes it easier to see the structure:
- [Alipofungua mlango],
- [mtoto alikimbia kumkumbatia].
In speech, the comma corresponds to a slight pause or intonation break. It’s stylistically recommended but not “part of the grammar” in the way verb prefixes are.
Swahili doesn’t use articles like “the” and “a”. A bare noun such as mlango can correspond to:
- “the door”
- “a door”
- “the/that door” (if context is clear)
In alipofungua mlango, we usually understand “the door” or “the door (of the room/house they’re at)”, because the situation is clear enough from context.
You can add possessive or demonstrative information if you want to be more specific:
- alipofungua mlango wake = when he/she opened his/her door
- alipofungua mlango ule = when he/she opened that door
But in many ordinary contexts, plain mlango is perfectly natural and understood as “the door”.
With -po- in alipofungua, the default reading is a specific moment in the past serving as a trigger:
- “When (or as soon as) he/she opened the door, the child ran…”
It usually implies that the opening of the door happens first (or is completed), and the running happens in reaction to it.
If you wanted to clearly express “while he/she was opening the door” (ongoing overlapping actions), you’d be more likely to use a continuous or -ki- form, e.g.:
- Alipokuwa akifungua mlango, mtoto alikimbia kumkumbatia.
While he/she was opening the door, the child ran to hug him/her.
So the original sentence is understood as sequential / triggered, not two actions simply happening in parallel.