Learn Hardcore Swahili: Dada yangu aliandika blogu fupi kuhusu safari yetu ya mwisho kwenda baharini. - My sister wrote a short blog about our last trip to the ocean.

Dada yangu aliandika blogu fupi kuhusu safari yetu ya mwisho kwenda baharini.

My sister wrote a short blog about our last trip to the ocean.

Breakdown of Dada yangu aliandika blogu fupi kuhusu safari yetu ya mwisho kwenda baharini.

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Questions & Answers about Dada yangu aliandika blogu fupi kuhusu safari yetu ya mwisho kwenda baharini.

Why is it dada yangu and not yangu dada?

In Swahili, possessive words like yangu (my) usually come after the noun they describe.

dada yangu = my sister
rafiki yangu = my friend
kitabu changu = my book

So the pattern is: noun + possessive.
Putting yangu before dada (→ yangu dada) is ungrammatical in standard Swahili.

Does dada only mean “sister,” or can it have other meanings?

Dada primarily means “sister”, usually a female sibling. Context can also extend it to:

A close female friend (a bit like saying “sister” in English in a figurative way).
In some contexts, a young woman or girl (but this is more informal / contextual).

To be more specific:

dada yangu – my sister
dada mkubwa – older sister
dada mdogo – younger sister

What tense is aliandika, and how is it formed?

Aliandika is in the past tense (specifically, the simple past / completed action).

It breaks down like this:

a- = subject prefix for he/she (or my sister here)
-li- = past tense marker
-andika = verb root “write”

So:

aliandika = he/she wrote
niliandika = I wrote (ni- + -li- + andika)
waliandika = they wrote (wa- + -li- + andika)

Why is it blogu fupi and not fupi blogu?

In Swahili, descriptive adjectives normally follow the noun:

blogu fupi = short blog
safari ndefu = long trip
mtoto mdogo = small child

So the pattern is: noun + adjective.

Putting the adjective first (fupi blogu) sounds wrong or at least very marked in Swahili.

What noun class is blogu, and why doesn’t fupi seem to change form?

Blogu is a loanword that usually ends up in the N-class (class 9/10), like safari, chai, barua, etc.

Adjectives agreeing with N-class nouns often have the same form for singular and plural. For the adjective “short”:

blogu fupi – a short blog
blogu fupi – short blogs

Notice fupi stays the same. That’s normal for N-class agreement.

What is the function of kuhusu in this sentence, and could we use something else instead?

Kuhusu means “about” or “concerning”:

blogu fupi kuhusu safari yetu...
= a short blog about our trip...

You could replace kuhusu with juu ya in many everyday contexts:

blogu fupi juu ya safari yetu...

However, kuhusu often sounds a bit more neutral and is very common in writing and speech.

How does safari yetu ya mwisho work? Why are there two “of”/possessive-looking words (yetu and ya)?

Safari yetu ya mwisho literally layers two relationships:

safari yetu – our trip
- safari (trip) + yetu (our) → possessive: the trip belongs to “us”
safari yetu ya mwisho – our last trip
- ya mwisho links safari yetu with the adjective mwisho (“last / final”).

Here ya is an associative/connector that agrees with safari’s noun class (9/10 → uses ya). So:

safari ya mwisho – the last trip
safari yetu ya mwisho – our last trip

Why do we use ya (in ya mwisho) and not wa or some other form?

The connector ya agrees with the noun class of safari, which is class 9/10 (N-class).
Different noun classes use different agreement forms:

Class 1/2 (mtu/watu): wa
- mtu wa mwisho – the last person
Class 3/4 (mti/miti): wa
- mti wa mwisho – the last tree
Class 9/10 (safari/safari): ya
- safari ya mwisho – the last trip

So safari → class 9 → use ya: safari ya mwisho.

Is mwisho here an adjective meaning “last,” or a noun meaning “end”?

Mwisho is originally a noun meaning “end” or “final point”, but it is very commonly used in constructions that function like an adjective:

safari ya mwisho – the final/last trip (literally: trip of the end)
siku ya mwisho – the last day

So grammatically, mwisho is a noun, but in phrases like this it plays the role of “last/final.”

What’s the difference between bahari and baharini?

bahari = the sea, the ocean (basic noun)
baharini = at the sea / to the sea / in the sea

The -ni ending is a locative suffix, which adds a sense of location. It can mean “in/at/on/to,” depending on context:

niko baharini – I am at the sea
nitaenda baharini – I will go to the sea

In your sentence, kwenda baharini is naturally understood as “to the sea / to the beach.”

Why don’t we need a separate word for “to” before baharini (like to the sea)?

Swahili often builds location and direction into the noun with -ni, so a separate preposition like “to” or “at” is not always required.

kwenda baharini – to go to the sea
kufanya kazi shuleni – to work at school
kukaa nyumbani – to stay at home

The context and verb (like kwenda “to go”) tell you whether -ni should be read as “at,” “to,” or “in.”

Why is it written kwenda and not kuenda?

The verb is historically kuenda (from ku- + enda, “to go”), but in standard modern Swahili it is almost always written and pronounced kwenda.

This comes from a sound change where u + e often becomes we:

ku + enda → kwenda

You might still see kuenda sometimes, but kwenda is the more common and recommended spelling.

Could we change the word order, for example move kwenda baharini earlier in the sentence?

Swahili word order is fairly flexible, but the given order is very natural:

Dada yangu aliandika blogu fupi kuhusu safari yetu ya mwisho kwenda baharini.

You can move the kuhusu... phrase, but you must keep related parts together. These are acceptable, though less common:

Dada yangu aliandika kuhusu safari yetu ya mwisho kwenda baharini blogu fupi.
(sounds a bit awkward, as “blogu fupi” is split off to the end)

More natural is to keep blogu fupi together and keep kuhusu + safari... together. The original sentence already does this in a clear, typical way, so it’s usually best to keep this order.