Learn Hardcore Swahili: Ripoti ninayoisoma leo jioni ni ndefu. - The report that I am reading this evening is long.

ni- = I (1st person singular subject prefix)
-na- = present tense marker (am / is / are …‑ing, or general present)
-yo- = relative marker for noun class 9/10 (“that/which”) referring back to ripoti
-i- = object prefix for noun class 9/10 (“it”) again referring to ripoti
soma = verb root “to read”

So ni-na-yo-i-soma literally is like “I‑PRES‑which‑it‑read” → “that I am reading (it).”
In context, it means “which I’m reading (this evening).”

Why does the relative clause come as ripoti ninayoisoma, not “I am reading the report” in Swahili word order?

Swahili usually puts the head noun first, followed immediately by its relative clause:

Ripoti ninayoisoma …
= “The report that I am reading …”

Structurally, it’s:

head noun: ripoti
relative clause: ninayoisoma (“that I am reading (it)”)

So instead of “I am reading the report that is long,” Swahili prefers “The report that I am reading is long.” That’s why the sentence starts with Ripoti, then the relative clause ninayoisoma, and only later comes ni ndefu (“is long”).

Why do we need both -yo- and -i- in ninayoisoma? Isn’t one of them enough?

They do slightly different jobs:

-yo- is the relative marker, saying “which/that.” It links the verb to the noun ripoti.
-i- is the object prefix, saying “it” (referring to that same report) inside the verb.

So ninayoisoma is literally “I‑PRES‑which‑it‑read.”

In practice:

Ripoti ninayoisoma …
= “The report that I am reading (it) …”

Many speakers, especially in informal speech, may say:

Ripoti ninayosoma leo jioni ni ndefu.

Here the -i- (object prefix) is dropped: ni‑na‑yo‑soma.
This is widely understood and heard, but the fully marked textbook style is ninayoisoma, with both markers present. If you’re learning, using both is safe and very clear.

Could we form the relative clause using ambayo instead of -yo-? How would that look?

Yes. Swahili has two main patterns for relative clauses:

Relative marker inside the verb (what you see in your sentence).
Independent relative pronoun like ambayo.

With ambayo, you’d say:

Ripoti ambayo ninasoma leo jioni ni ndefu.
= “The report that I am reading this evening is long.”

Notes:

ambayo is the form that agrees with class 9/10 nouns like ripoti.
In this pattern, the verb inside the relative clause (ninasoma) looks more “normal” to learners because it doesn’t carry the relative marker -yo-.
Both Ripoti ninayoisoma … and Ripoti ambayo ninasoma … are grammatical.
The verb‑internal relative (ninayoisoma) is more compact and is very common in careful written Swahili.

What tense/aspect is expressed by -na- in ninayoisoma, and how can it refer to “this evening”?

The -na- marker is the present tense:

Often present progressive: “I am reading.”
Sometimes general present / habitual: “I read.”

In ninayoisoma, it’s “that I am reading.”

Swahili can use the present tense together with a future time expression to talk about planned or near‑future actions, just like English does with “I’m reading it this evening”:

leo jioni = “this evening / today evening”

So:

Ripoti ninayoisoma leo jioni …
≈ “The report that I’m (going to be) reading this evening …”

If you wanted to be very explicitly future, you could use -ta-:

Ripoti nitakayoisoma leo jioni ni ndefu.
(ni‑ta‑kayo‑i‑soma) = “The report that I will read this evening is long.”

In Ripoti ninayoisoma leo jioni ni ndefu, what does the second ni (before ndefu) do? Is it the same as the ni- in ninayoisoma?

They are two different things that just happen to sound the same:

ni- (attached to ninayoisoma)
- This is the subject prefix “I” on the verb: ni-na-yo-i-soma = “I am reading it.”
ni (separate word before ndefu)
- This is the copula “is/are.”
- It doesn’t change for person or number:
  - Ripoti ni ndefu. = “The report is long.”
  - Ripoti zote ni ndefu. = “All the reports are long.”
  - Mimi ni mwalimu. = “I am a teacher.”

So in the sentence:

Ripoti ninayoisoma leo jioni = “The report that I am reading this evening”
ni ndefu = “is long.”

Why is the adjective ndefu and not refu or mrefu after ripoti?

Swahili adjectives agree with noun classes. The basic adjective here is -refu (“long, tall”), but it changes form depending on the noun class:

Class 1 (person): mtu mrefu – a tall person
Class 2 (plural people): watu warefu – tall people
Class 3 (tree): mti mrefu – a tall tree
Class 9/10 (N‑class: barua, safari, ripoti, etc.): barua ndefu, safari ndefu, ripoti ndefu

Ripoti belongs to noun class 9/10 (N‑class), whose adjective prefix is N-. When N- combines with -refu, you get ndefu (sound changes make it easier to pronounce).

So:

ripoti ndefu = “a long report”

That’s why the sentence ends with ni ndefu, agreeing with ripoti.

Why is the time phrase leo jioni (“this evening”) placed after ninayoisoma and before ni ndefu? Could it go somewhere else?

leo jioni is a time expression meaning “this evening / today evening”. In this sentence it clearly modifies the reading action, not the “being long”:

“The report that I am reading this evening is long.”

Placing it right after ninayoisoma makes that link clear:

Ripoti ninayoisoma leo jioni ni ndefu.

Other natural placements include:

Leo jioni, ripoti ninayoisoma ni ndefu.
(“This evening, the report that I am reading is long.” – stylistic, with time at the front.)

Less natural (and potentially ambiguous) is:

Ripoti ninayoisoma ni ndefu leo jioni.
This can sound like “The report that I am reading is long this evening,” which is odd.

So the original placement is the most straightforward: keep leo jioni as close as possible to the verb (ninayoisoma) whose time it describes.

What exactly does leo jioni mean? Why do we have both leo and jioni?

leo jioni combines:

leo = “today”
jioni = “evening”

Together they mean “this evening”, literally “today evening,” just like:

kesho asubuhi = tomorrow morning (“tomorrow morning”)
jana usiku = last night (“yesterday night”)

Swahili often forms expressions like this without a preposition like “in”:

Nitaondoka leo jioni. = “I’ll leave this evening.”
Tulifika jana usiku. = “We arrived last night.”

So leo jioni is the normal way to say “this evening.”

Why isn’t there an explicit word for “that/which,” like ambayo or kwamba, in the sentence?

There is a “that/which” – it’s just built into the verb as -yo-.

Swahili has two strategies:

Built‑in relative marker (as in your sentence):
- Ripoti ninayoisoma …
  = “The report that I am reading …”
- Here -yo- = “that/which,” agreeing with ripoti (class 9/10).
Independent relative pronoun:
- Ripoti ambayo ninasoma …
- ambayo = “that/which,” again agreeing with class 9/10.

So the function of English “that/which” is handled either by -yo- attached to the verb or by an independent word like ambayo. In your sentence the compact, verb‑internal form is used.

Is ninayoisoma always written as a single word in Swahili?

Yes. In standard Swahili orthography, all these pieces are written together as one word:

subject prefix (ni-)
tense marker (-na-)
relative marker (-yo-)
object prefix (-i-)
verb root (soma)

So you write ninayoisoma, not ni nayo isoma or nina yo isoma, etc.

This applies generally to Swahili verbs: prefixes for subject, tense, object, relatives, and the verb root all form one orthographic word (unless there’s a separate particle like ku in some special constructions).

How would the sentence change if the person reading the report were “you (plural)” instead of “I”?

You only need to change the subject prefix on the verb:

ni- (I) → m- (you plural)

So:

Ripoti mnayoisoma leo jioni ni ndefu.
= “The report that you (plural) are reading this evening is long.”

Breakdown:

m- = you (plural)
-na- = present
-yo- = relative marker for “ripoti” (class 9/10)
-i- = object “it” (the report)
soma = read

Everything else in the sentence stays the same.