Siku za ziara yetu zimepangwa kwenye kalenda ya ukutani.

The days of our trip have been planned on the wall calendar.

Breakdown of Siku za ziara yetu zimepangwa kwenye kalenda ya ukutani.

• siku: the day
• yetu: our
• za: of
• kwenye: on
• ziara: the trip
• kupangwa: to be planned
• kalenda ya ukutani: the wall calendar

Questions & Answers about Siku za ziara yetu zimepangwa kwenye kalenda ya ukutani.

What does each word in Siku za ziara yetu zimepangwa kwenye kalenda ya ukutani literally mean?

Word by word:

• siku – day/days (here: days)
• za – of (linking word agreeing with siku)
• ziara – visit
• yetu – our
• zimepangwa – have been arranged/organized/scheduled
  
  • zi- – subject prefix for a plural N-class noun like siku
  • -me- – perfect aspect (have/has done)
  • -pang- – arrange/plan
  • -w- – passive (be arranged)
  • final -a – verb ending
• kwenye – in / on / at (general preposition)
• kalenda – calendar
• ya – of (agreeing with kalenda)
• ukutani – on the wall (literally a wall with the locative ending -ni)

A natural translation is: The days of our visit have been scheduled on the wall calendar.

Why is siku (days) not marked for plural? How do I know it’s plural here?

Siku belongs to the N-class of nouns, which usually has the same form for singular and plural.

So:

• siku – a day
• siku – days

You know it’s plural here mainly from agreement:

• siku → plural N-class, so it uses the plural concord zi-
• zimepangwa starts with zi-, so the verb agrees with siku as plural

If it were just one day, you’d expect:

• Siku ya ziara yetu imepangwa...
  
  • ya – for singular N-class
  • imepangwa – verb with i- for singular N-class

So the verb and the connecting word za tell you siku is plural.

What is the function of za in siku za ziara yetu? Is it like “of”?

Yes, za is an associative marker, often translated as of. It links two nouns, making a phrase like days of the visit.

It must agree with the first noun, here siku (plural N-class):

• plural N-class (e.g. siku, barua, habari) → za
• singular N-class (e.g. siku = day; barua = letter) → ya

So:

• siku za ziara yetu – the days of our visit
• siku ya ziara yetu – the day of our visit

The form za is chosen because siku is treated as plural here.

Why is it ziara yetu and not ziara yetu with something in between? Where does “our” go in Swahili noun phrases?

In Swahili, the basic noun phrase order is:

[head noun] + (associative like za/ya) + [second noun] + [possessive]

In this sentence:

• siku za ziara yetu
  
  • siku – head noun (days)
  • za – of
  • ziara – visit
  • yetu – our

So literally: days of visit our → the days of our visit.

The possessive yetu follows the noun it possesses (ziara), not the head noun siku.

How is the verb zimepangwa formed, and what exactly does it express?

Zimepangwa is a passive perfect verb form:

• zi- – subject prefix for plural N-class noun (here siku)
• -me- – perfect aspect → have/has (been)
• -pang- – verb root meaning arrange/plan
• -w- – passive marker → be arranged
• -a – final vowel

So zimepangwa means: they have been arranged / have been scheduled.

In context: Siku ... zimepangwa → The days … have been scheduled. The sentence does not name who scheduled them; the passive focuses on the result, that the days are now arranged.

Could I say siku za ziara yetu zimepanga instead of zimepangwa?

No.

• kupanga – to arrange/plan
• kupangwa – to be arranged (passive)

In this sentence, the days are not doing the arranging; they are the thing being arranged. So you must use the passive:

• zimepangwa – have been arranged (correct)
• zimepanga – have arranged (would mean the days arranged something, which is wrong here)

So zimepangwa is the correct form.

What does kwenye mean here? Does it mean “in”, “on”, or “at”?

Kwenye is a general locative preposition that can mean in, on, at depending on context. It often corresponds to English on or in where English chooses more specific prepositions.

In this sentence:

• kwenye kalenda ya ukutani – on the wall calendar / in the wall calendar

Natural English is on the wall calendar, but Swahili uses the same kwenye for many spatial relations.

Other examples:

• kwenye meza – on the table
• kwenye nyumba – in the house
• kwenye shule – at school

The exact English preposition depends on the noun and natural usage, not on a change in kwenye.

Why is it kalenda ya ukutani and not kalenda za ukutani or kalenda ya ukuta?

Two separate issues: agreement, and the form of ukuta/ukutani.

1. Agreement (ya vs za)

   • kalenda is an N-class noun (same form singular/plural).
   • As singular N-class, it takes ya in associative phrases:
     
     • kalenda ya ukutani – calendar of the wall → wall calendar
   • za would be used if kalenda were plural:
     
     • kalenda za ukutani – calendars of the wall(s)

   Since we mean one specific wall calendar, ya is correct.

2. Ukuta vs ukutani

   • ukuta – wall
   • ukutani – at/on the wall (locative form, using -ni)

Kalenda ya ukutani literally feels like the calendar that is at the wall / on the wall, which is equivalent to the wall calendar in English.

Kalenda ya ukuta would sound more like calendar of the wall (less natural), while ya ukutani directly encodes the idea placed on the wall.

What is the role of -ni in ukutani?

The suffix -ni is a locative ending. It turns a place noun into something like in/at/on X.

• ukuta – wall
• ukutani – on the wall / at the wall

Other examples:

• nyumba – house → nyumbani – at home
• shule – school → shuleni – at school
• dari – ceiling → darini – in/on the ceiling

So ukuta + -ni → ukutani, meaning on the wall.

Could I say simply kwenye ukuta instead of ukutani? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can say kwenye ukuta, but it feels a bit more neutral/descriptive than the built-in locative ukutani. Both can be understood as on the wall.

• kwenye ukuta – on the wall (using the preposition kwenye)
• ukutani – on/at the wall (using the locative -ni)

In many cases they are interchangeable. Using -ni often sounds slightly more idiomatic or compact when talking about typical locations (home, school, wall, etc.).

So:

• kwenye kalenda ya ukutani – on the calendar that is on the wall
• kwenye kalenda ya ukuta – on the calendar of the wall (less natural)

Ukutani is the better choice for “wall (as a place)”.

Why is the word order siku za ziara yetu zimepangwa and not something closer to English like ziara yetu siku zimepangwa?

Swahili noun phrases are head-first, and basic sentence order is S–V–(place/time):

1. Noun phrase structure:

   • [head noun] [associative] [modifier noun] [possessive]
   • siku (head) za (of) ziara (visit) yetu (our)
     → days of visit our = the days of our visit

2. Sentence structure:

   • [subject phrase] [verb] [locative/complement]
   • Siku za ziara yetu – subject
   • zimepangwa – verb
   • kwenye kalenda ya ukutani – where

So the order is natural Swahili:

• Siku za ziara yetu zimepangwa kwenye kalenda ya ukutani.
  The days of our visit have been scheduled on the wall calendar.

Putting ziara yetu before siku would change what is the “head” of the phrase and sound ungrammatical in this meaning.

If I wanted to say “Our visit days have already been scheduled on the wall calendar”, how would I add “already”?

You add tayari (already), usually before the verb or at the start of the sentence:

• Siku za ziara yetu tayari zimepangwa kwenye kalenda ya ukutani.
• Or: Tayari siku za ziara yetu zimepangwa kwenye kalenda ya ukutani.

Both are natural and mean:
The days of our visit have already been scheduled on the wall calendar.

How would I change the sentence to say “The days of our visit are being scheduled on the wall calendar” (ongoing action)?

Use the progressive marker -na- instead of -me-:

• Siku za ziara yetu zinapangwa kwenye kalenda ya ukutani.

Here:

• zina- = zi- (they, for siku) + -na- (present continuous)
• -pang- – arrange
• -w- – passive
• -a – final vowel

So zinapangwa = are being arranged / are being scheduled.