Learn Hardcore Swahili: Kama tungesoma kwa sauti jana, tungelikumbuka msamiati huu leo. - If we had read aloud yesterday, we would remember this vocabulary today.

It introduces a conditional clause.
In speech, especially when the verb already has the conditional marker -nge-, kama is sometimes dropped:

Tungesoma kwa sauti jana, tungelikumbuka msamiati huu leo.

This is still understood as If we had read aloud yesterday, we would remember this vocabulary today.

So:

With kama: slightly clearer/more explicit.
Without kama: still correct and very common, because -nge- already shows it’s hypothetical.

How is tungesoma built, and what exactly does it mean?

tungesoma breaks down as:

tu- = we (1st person plural subject prefix)
-nge- = conditional marker (would, would have, were to)
soma = read

So tungesoma literally is “we would read / if we read” depending on context.

In this sentence:

Kama tungesoma kwa sauti jana…

the time word jana (yesterday) makes it clear it’s a past unreal condition:

“if we had read (aloud) yesterday…”

What is the difference between tungesoma and something like tulisoma or tunasoma?

They differ in both time and reality:

tulisoma
- tu- = we
- -li- = past
- soma = read
- Meaning: “we read” / “we studied” (actually happened in the past).
tunasoma
- tu- = we
- -na- = present/progressive
- soma
- Meaning: “we are reading / we read (now / regularly).”
tungesoma
- tu- = we
- -nge- = conditional
- soma
- Meaning: “we would read / if we read (but we didn’t).”

So -nge- makes the action hypothetical or unreal, while -li- and -na- talk about real past or present events.

How is tungelikumbuka formed, and why is there an extra -li- in it?

tungelikumbuka breaks down as:

tu- = we
-nge- = conditional marker
-li- = past/perfective tense marker
kumbuka = remember

So literally: “we would have remembered” / “we would remember (having remembered)”.

In practice, in a sentence like:

Kama tungesoma kwa sauti jana, tungelikumbuka msamiati huu leo.

it’s understood as:

If we had read aloud yesterday, we would remember this vocabulary today.

The -li- after -nge- often gives a sense similar to English “would have / would now have”, i.e. a result that would (now) exist because of an earlier action.

You could also hear:

… tungekumbuka msamiati huu leo.

without -li-, which many speakers simply use as “we would remember this vocabulary today” as well.
Adding -li- just makes the connection to a completed past action a bit more explicit.

Is -nge- always used for “would” in Swahili conditionals?

For ordinary hypothetical “would”, yes, -nge- is the core marker:

ningeenda – I would go / if I went
ungekula – you would eat
wangecheza – they would play

More “past-unreal / would have” nuances can be expressed in two main ways:

-nge-
- a past/perfect marker (like -li-), as in your sentence:
- tungelikumbuka – we would remember / we would have remembered
Using -ngali- in more formal/older style:
- tungalikumbuka – also we would have remembered / we would remember (now)

Everyday spoken Swahili frequently just uses -nge-, with or without an extra -li-, to cover most “would / would have” meanings.

Why is it msamiati huu and not msamiati hii?

Because of noun classes and agreement.

msamiati (vocabulary) is a Class 3 noun in Swahili.
Class 3 uses:
- huu for “this” (singular, near speaker)
- ule for “that” (far)

Class 1/2 human nouns (mtu, watu) use huyu / yule.
Class 9/10 nouns like meza use hii / ile.

So:

msamiati huu = this vocabulary (correct)
msamiati hii would sound wrong to a native speaker, because hii agrees with a different noun class.

What does kwa sauti literally mean, and is it the normal way to say “out loud”?

Literally, kwa sauti is:

kwa = with / by / using
sauti = voice / sound

So literally: “with voice / using voice” → aloud, out loud.

Yes, kusoma kwa sauti is the standard, natural way to say “to read aloud / to read out loud”.

A few variations you might encounter:

kusoma kwa sauti kubwa – read in a loud voice (emphasis on loudness)
kusoma kimya kimya – read silently (literally “quiet-quiet”)

Can the order of the two clauses be reversed, like in English?

Yes. Swahili allows both orders, just like English.

Original:

Kama tungesoma kwa sauti jana, tungelikumbuka msamiati huu leo.
If we had read aloud yesterday, we would remember this vocabulary today.

Reversed:

Tungelikumbuka msamiati huu leo kama tungesoma kwa sauti jana.

Both are grammatical and natural. As in English, putting the “if” clause first often highlights the condition, but the meaning doesn’t change.

Why do jana and leo go where they are, and can they move?

In the sentence:

Kama tungesoma kwa sauti jana, tungelikumbuka msamiati huu leo.

jana (yesterday) modifies tungesoma (the reading)
leo (today) modifies tungelikumbuka (the remembering)

Time words in Swahili are flexible in position. You could say:

Jana kama tungesoma kwa sauti, tungelikumbuka msamiati huu leo.
Kama tungesoma kwa sauti jana, leo tungelikumbuka msamiati huu.

As long as it’s clear which action they refer to, the sentence remains natural. The most common pattern is what you saw: the time word placed near the verb it refers to.

What kind of English conditional is this, and how close is the Swahili structure?

In English, this is basically a mixed conditional:

Past unreal condition → present consequence
If we had read aloud yesterday, we would remember this vocabulary today.

Swahili does something very similar:

Kama tungesoma kwa sauti jana
→ unreal past action (if we had read yesterday)
tungelikumbuka msamiati huu leo
→ hypothetical present result (we would remember today)

The key tools in Swahili are:

kama = if
-nge- (and sometimes -nge- + -li-) = would / would have

So structurally, the Swahili sentence is very close to the English mixed conditional, just expressed with verb morphology rather than extra English auxiliaries like had / would / would have.

How would I say just “We would remember this vocabulary today” without mentioning the condition?

You can simply use the same conditional form without the kama-clause:

Tungelikumbuka msamiati huu leo.
– We would remember this vocabulary today.

Or, more simply (and very common):

Tungekumbuka msamiati huu leo.

If the context already makes the missing condition obvious (e.g. “…if only we had read yesterday”), listeners will naturally understand that it’s an implied condition.