Learn Hardcore Swahili: Vitumbua vitapikwa kesho asubuhi na shangazi yetu. - The rice cakes will be cooked tomorrow morning by our aunt.

vitumbua vitapikwa = the rice cakes will be cooked
If the subject were singular (kitumbua), you would say:
kitumbua kitapikwa = the rice cake will be cooked

Can you break down the verb vitapikwa morphologically?

Yes. vitapikwa is made up of several parts:

vi- = subject prefix for class 8 (they – referring to vitumbua)
-ta- = future tense marker (will)
-pik- = verb root meaning cook
-w- = passive suffix (shows that something is done to the subject)
-a = final vowel (normal for many Swahili verb forms)

So vitapikwa literally means they-will-cook-be → they will be cooked.

Why is the passive used here (vitapikwa) instead of an active form?

The passive focuses on what happens to the vitumbua, rather than on who is doing the action.

Passive: Vitumbua vitapikwa kesho asubuhi na shangazi yetu.
Focus: the vitumbua and the fact that they will be cooked.
Active equivalent: Shangazi yetu atapika vitumbua kesho asubuhi.
Focus: our aunt and what she will do.

Both are correct; the passive just matches the English passive “will be cooked” and emphasizes the rice cakes.

How does na shangazi yetu mean by our aunt if na usually means with?

In Swahili, na has several related uses, including:

with (in company with, using): Ninaenda na rafiki yangu. (I’m going with my friend.)
and: Juma na Asha (Juma and Asha)
by (agent in a passive sentence): Vitabu vimeandikwa na mwalimu. (The books were written by the teacher.)

In passive constructions like your sentence, na introduces the doer of the action:

vitapikwa na shangazi yetu = will be cooked by our aunt

Context (passive verb + person) makes na naturally understood as by here.

What does shangazi yetu mean exactly? Is it any aunt?

Shangazi means paternal aunt (your father’s sister) in traditional usage.

So:

shangazi yetu = our (paternal) aunt

However, in everyday modern use, many speakers use shangazi more loosely for aunt in general, especially in urban contexts, even if strictly speaking it’s on the father’s side.

Grammatically:

shangazi = aunt (class 9 noun)
yetu = our (possessive agreeing with class 9: y-etu)
Word order is always noun + possessive: shangazi yetu, rafiki yetu, nyumba yetu

Why is it shangazi yetu and not something like wetu?

The possessive form must agree with the noun class of the noun it describes.

Shangazi is class 9, and the class 9/10 possessives use the y- prefix:

my aunt: shangazi yangu
your (sg.) aunt: shangazi yako
his/her aunt: shangazi yake
our aunt: shangazi yetu
your (pl.) aunt: shangazi yenu
their aunt: shangazi yao

So yetu is the correct possessive form for shangazi. You would see wetu with class 1/2 people nouns, e.g. rafiki wetu, mwalimu wetu.

Can the time phrase kesho asubuhi be placed elsewhere in the sentence?

Yes, Swahili word order is fairly flexible for time expressions. All of these are acceptable:

Vitumbua vitapikwa kesho asubuhi na shangazi yetu.
Kesho asubuhi vitapikwa vitumbua na shangazi yetu.
Kesho asubuhi, vitumbua vitapikwa na shangazi yetu.

The most natural is often the original: subject + verb + time + agent. Moving kesho asubuhi to the beginning can add emphasis to the time.

Is there a difference between kesho asubuhi and asubuhi ya kesho?

Both can mean tomorrow morning, but they feel slightly different:

kesho asubuhi – very common and natural; literally “tomorrow morning”.
asubuhi ya kesho – literally “the morning of tomorrow”; also correct but a bit more formal or emphatic.

In everyday speech, kesho asubuhi is what you’ll hear most often.

Could you also say asubuhi kesho, and would it still mean tomorrow morning?

You can hear asubuhi kesho, and it would be understood as tomorrow morning, but it sounds less standard than kesho asubuhi.

Natural patterns:

kesho asubuhi – preferred
asubuhi ya kesho – fine, a bit more formal
asubuhi kesho – understood, but less common

Why isn’t there a word for will in the sentence? How does Swahili show future tense?

Swahili doesn’t use a separate word for will. Instead, it uses a tense marker inside the verb.

In vitapikwa:

-ta- is the future tense marker → will

Compare:

vinapikwa = they are being cooked now (-na- = present)
vilipikwa = they were cooked (-li- = past)
vitapikwa = they will be cooked (-ta- = future)

How would you say Our aunt will cook vitumbua tomorrow morning in an active sentence?

You would switch from passive to active:

Shangazi yetu atapika vitumbua kesho asubuhi.

Breakdown:

shangazi yetu = our aunt (subject)
a- = she (class 1 subject prefix)
-ta- = future
-pik- = cook
-a = final vowel
→ atapika = she will cook

So passive:

Vitumbua vitapikwa kesho asubuhi na shangazi yetu.
Active:
Shangazi yetu atapika vitumbua kesho asubuhi.

How would you make the sentence negative, like The vitumbua will not be cooked tomorrow morning by our aunt?

You need the negative future form with ha-…-ta- and the appropriate subject prefix.

For class 8 (vi-), the negative subject prefix becomes havi-:

havi- = negative + they (for class 8)
-ta- = future
-pik- = cook
-w- = passive
-a = final vowel

So:

Vitumbua havitapikwa kesho asubuhi na shangazi yetu.
= The vitumbua will not be cooked tomorrow morning by our aunt.