Nilipohamia mji huu, mimi nilianza kufanya kazi sokoni.

When I moved to this town, I began to work at the market.

Breakdown of Nilipohamia mji huu, mimi nilianza kufanya kazi sokoni.

• mimi: I
• kwenye: at
• soko: the market
• mji: the town
• huu: this
• kuanza: to begin
• kufanya kazi: to work
• nilipohamia: when I moved

Questions & Answers about Nilipohamia mji huu, mimi nilianza kufanya kazi sokoni.

What exactly is going on inside Nilipohamia? How is this verb built and why does it mean “when I moved (to)”?

Nilipohamia is one long word made of several parts stuck together:

• ni- = I (subject prefix, 1st person singular)
• -li- = past tense marker
• -po- = “when / at the time/at the place that” (relative marker)
• -hamia = verb stem “move to (a place)”

So:

ni-li-po-hamia → when I moved (to)

The -po- here links the verb to a specific time (and often place), so the whole clause Nilipohamia mji huu is best understood as:

Nilipohamia mji huu = When I moved to this town/city…

Why do we use kuhamia here and not kuhama? What’s the difference between these two verbs?

Both verbs are about moving, but they focus on different directions:

• kuhama = to move out / away / leave a place

  • e.g. Nilihama kijiji chetu. – I moved away from our village.

• kuhamia = to move to a place (arrival)

  • e.g. Nilihamia mji huu. – I moved to this town.

In your sentence, you care about the destination (this town), so kuhamia is correct:

Nilipohamia mji huu = When I moved to this town…
(focus on the place you came to, not the one you left)

Why do we have mimi and also ni- in nilianza? Isn’t that saying “I” twice?

Yes, in a sense it does say “I” twice, and that’s normal in Swahili.

• mimi = the independent pronoun “I / me”
• ni- in nilianza = the subject prefix “I” attached to the verb

So:

mimi nilianza = literally “I, I-started”

In Swahili the subject prefix on the verb is obligatory; you can’t drop ni- in normal sentences.

Adding mimi is:

• optional, and
• used for emphasis or contrast:

Nilipohamia mji huu, mimi nilianza kufanya kazi sokoni.
When I moved to this town, *I started working at the market (as for me / unlike others).*

Without emphasis you can simply say:

Nilipohamia mji huu, nilianza kufanya kazi sokoni.

Why is it mji huu and not huu mji for “this town/city”?

In Swahili, demonstratives (this, that, these, those) usually come after the noun, not before it as in English.

• mji huu = this town
• mji ule = that town (over there)
• miiji hii = these towns
• miiji ile = those towns

So the normal order is:

[noun] + [demonstrative]
mji huu, nyumba hii, mtoto huyu, watu hawa, etc.

Huu mji is not the regular way to say “this town”.
You might see fronted demonstratives in certain special emphatic or literary constructions, but for a learner you should stick with:

mji huu = this town

Why do we say sokoni and not just soko at the end of the sentence?

Sokoni is built from:

• soko = market
• -ni = location suffix (locative)

So:

• soko = a market (as a thing)
• sokoni = at/in the market (location)

In your sentence you’re talking about where you worked:

kufanya kazi sokoni = to work at the market

Using just soko here would sound incomplete or odd, because the intended meaning is clearly “at the market”, not “(some) market” as a bare noun.

Could I say kwenye soko instead of sokoni? Is there any difference?

Yes, you can say kwenye soko, and it is correct:

• sokoni = at the market
• kwenye soko = at the market

Subtle differences:

• sokoni
  • very common, compact, and feels more idiomatic in many contexts
  • uses the -ni locative suffix
• kwenye soko
  • a bit more explicit and sometimes slightly more specific (“in/on/at the market area”)
  • uses the preposition kwenye
    • plain noun

In your sentence, both are fine:

• Nilianza kufanya kazi sokoni.
• Nilianza kufanya kazi kwenye soko.

Everyday speech often prefers sokoni here.

Why is it kufanya kazi instead of just a single verb meaning “to work”?

In Swahili, kufanya kazi is a very standard expression meaning “to work”. Literally:

• kufanya = to do, to make
• kazi = work, job, task

So kufanya kazi = to do work, which is simply how Swahili usually says “to work”.

There is also the verb kufanya kazi used just like any other verb:

• Ninafanya kazi. – I am working.
• Nilianza kufanya kazi sokoni. – I started working at the market.

You can sometimes find other verbs for more specific ideas (e.g. kuhudumia wateja – to serve customers), but kufanya kazi is the basic, default way to say “to work”.

In English we often say “When I moved to this town, I started working…”. Is the comma and order of clauses in Swahili similar and can we change it?

Yes, the structure is very similar:

• Subordinate (when-) clause first, then main clause:
  • Nilipohamia mji huu, nilianza kufanya kazi sokoni.
    When I moved to this town, I started working at the market.

You can also put the “when”-clause after the main clause:

• Nilianza kufanya kazi sokoni nilipohamia mji huu.
  I started working at the market when I moved to this town.

Points to note:

• In writing, a comma is often used when the when-clause comes first, just like in English.
• In speech, the pause replaces the comma; word order is flexible, but both patterns are common and natural.

Why is -li- (past tense) used in both Nilipohamia and nilianza? Is there any special rule for tenses in “when”-clauses?

Both verbs describe events that happened in the past, so they both use the -li- past marker:

• Nilipohamia = ni-li-po-hamia → when I moved
• nilianza = ni-li-anza → I started

Swahili often uses the same past tense in both:

Nilipohamia mji huu, nilianza kufanya kazi sokoni.
When I moved to this town, I started working at the market.

You might see other combinations in different contexts (e.g. if one action was habitual or ongoing), but for a simple narrative of two completed past events, using -li- in both verbs is the normal, straightforward choice.

What exactly does the -po- part in Nilipohamia mean, and how is it different from other similar forms like -ki- in Nilipohamia… nikaanza… or Nikiwa…?

The -po- in Nilipohamia is a relative/temporal marker meaning roughly “when / at the time that / at the place that”.

• Nilipohamia mji huu…
  When I moved to this town…

A common contrast is with -ki-, which often suggests something more like “when(ever) / while / as”, especially for overlapping or conditional actions:

• Nilipohamia mji huu, nilianza kufanya kazi sokoni.
  When I moved to this town, I started working at the market. (one-time event)
• Nikiwa mjini, ninafanya kazi sokoni.
  When(ever) I am in town, I work at the market. (repeated/ongoing)
• Nikifika sokoni, nitakupigia simu.
  When I arrive at the market, I’ll call you.

In your sentence, -po- nicely marks a specific past moment (“the time when I moved to this town”), which fits the meaning very well.