Questions & Answers about Leo hakuna mtihani darasani.
Leo means today.
In Swahili, time expressions like leo, jana (yesterday), kesho (tomorrow) very often come at the beginning of the sentence for emphasis and clarity, so Leo hakuna mtihani darasani is the most natural word order.
You can also put leo later, for example:
- Hakuna mtihani darasani leo. – Still correct; it slightly emphasizes “no exam in class” first, then “today”.
Both orders are acceptable; the change is more about emphasis than grammar.
Swahili often does not use a separate word for “there is” the way English does.
The word kuna itself already means “there is/there are”, and hakuna means “there is not / there are not”. So:
- Kuna mtihani darasani. – There is an exam in class.
- Hakuna mtihani darasani. – There is no exam in class.
You don’t need to add another word for “there” or “is”; kuna / hakuna covers that whole idea.
Hakuna is written as one word and functions as a single unit meaning “there is no / there are no”.
It’s historically formed from ha- (a negative prefix) + kuna (there is/are). In practice, you just learn:
- kuna = there is, there are
- hakuna = there is not, there are not
Examples:
- Kuna maji hapa. – There is water here.
- Hakuna maji hapa. – There is no water here.
Hakuna doesn’t change for singular vs plural; context tells you whether it means “there is no X” or “there are no Xs”.
Yes. To ask a yes/no question, Swahili often just uses statement word order with questioning intonation:
- Leo kuna mtihani darasani? – Is there an exam in class today?
You can also add je at the beginning for clarity, especially in writing:
- Je, leo kuna mtihani darasani?
Both are natural. To answer negatively, you’d use your original sentence:
- Leo hakuna mtihani darasani. – Today there is no exam in class.
You might hear alternative word orders in speech, but the most natural and clear pattern for this kind of sentence is:
- [Time] + hakuna + [thing] + [place]
→ Leo hakuna mtihani darasani.
Reordering like “Mtihani hakuna leo darasani” is unusual and can sound marked or poetic, not neutral everyday speech. For normal conversation, keep hakuna right before the thing that does not exist:
- Hakuna mtihani leo.
- Leo hakuna mtihani darasani.
Mtihani means exam, test, or examination.
It belongs to the m-/mi- noun class (class 3/4). The plural is:
- mtihani → mitihani (exams / tests)
So:
- Leo hakuna mtihani darasani. – Today there is no exam in class.
- Leo hakuna mitihani darasani. – Today there are no exams in class.
Notice that hakuna stays the same in both sentences; it doesn’t change for singular vs plural.
Swahili does not have separate words for “a/an” and “the”. The noun mtihani on its own can mean:
- a(n) exam/test
- the exam/test
Context tells you which one is meant.
In most teaching or school contexts, Leo hakuna mtihani darasani will usually be understood as:
- Today there is no exam in class (we are not having the exam we expected / planned).
- darasa = class, classroom, or sometimes course/grade, depending on context.
- darasani = in (the) class / in (the) classroom / during class.
Darasani is darasa + -ni, where -ni is a locative suffix meaning “in/at/on” in many cases.
So:
- niko darasani – I am in class / in the classroom.
- tunajifunza darasani – We are learning in class.
In your sentence, darasani tells you the location / context of the exam: in class / in the classroom.
You could, and it would still be understood, but it sounds less natural in everyday speech.
- darasani is the most common, compact way to say “in the class / in the classroom”.
- katika darasa literally means “inside the class(room)” and is more explicit but also more formal or heavy for this simple sentence.
So learners should usually prefer:
- Leo hakuna mtihani darasani.
You only need to make mtihani plural:
- Leo hakuna mitihani darasani.
Swahili does not change hakuna for plural. Only the noun shows the plural:
- mtihani → mitihani
- kitabu → vitabu
- gari → magari, etc.
So the structure Leo hakuna [plural noun] [place] works generally:
- Leo hakuna wanafunzi darasani. – Today there are no students in class.
For the past tense of “there is/are”, Swahili uses kulikuwa (“there was/were”) and hakukuwa na (“there was not / there were not”). One natural way to say it:
- Leo hakukuwa na mtihani darasani.
– Literally: Today there was not with an exam in class. (idiomatic: There was no exam in class today.)
You can also move leo:
- Hakukuwa na mtihani darasani leo.
Both are correct; the difference is only in emphasis/order.
In many everyday situations, hakuna and hamna are used almost interchangeably to mean “there is no / there are no”:
- Hakuna maji.
- Hamna maji.
Both: There is no water.
Subtle points:
- Hakuna is a bit more standard and is what you’ll see in most textbooks.
- Hamna is very common in informal speech in many regions.
For learning purposes, you can safely use hakuna here:
- Leo hakuna mtihani darasani.
In context, Leo hakuna mtihani darasani will usually be understood as:
- We are not having an exam in class today
or - There isn’t (the expected) exam in class today.
Grammatically, though, it is a pure existential statement: “Today there is no exam in class.”
If you specifically want to mention “we” and the activity, you can say:
- Leo hatufanyi mtihani darasani. – Today we are not doing an exam in class.
But in a school setting, your original sentence already communicates the idea clearly and naturally.