Breakdown of Siku za karibuni, mimi nimekuwa nikijifunza Kiswahili kila jioni.
Questions & Answers about Siku za karibuni, mimi nimekuwa nikijifunza Kiswahili kila jioni.
Literally, Siku za karibuni means “the days of nearness” or more naturally “the recent days” → “recently / in recent days.”
- siku = day / days
- za = of (possessive for this noun class)
- karibuni = near / recent / soon
You will also hear hivi karibuni meaning “recently / soon / in the near future.”
In many contexts Siku za karibuni and hivi karibuni overlap and both can mean “recently,” but Siku za karibuni feels a bit more like “in the past few days,” while hivi karibuni can be past or near future depending on context.
The form of “of” in Swahili depends on the noun class. Siku belongs to noun class 9/10 (often called the N-class), and for this class the “of” word (associative/possessive) is ya in the singular and za in the plural.
Here, siku is being treated as plural (“days”), so we use za:
- siku za karibuni = (the) recent days
If it were a singular N-class noun like nyumba (house), you’d say nyumba ya…, but with plural siku it becomes siku za…
Yes. You could say:
Hivi karibuni, mimi nimekuwa nikijifunza Kiswahili kila jioni.
This is still natural and would usually be understood as “Recently, I have been learning Swahili every evening.”
Siku za karibuni subtly emphasizes “in these last few days,” while hivi karibuni is a bit more general “recently” and in other contexts can also mean “soon.” In this specific sentence, either works fine.
Yes, the subject prefix ni- in nimekuwa already means “I.” So grammatically, Mimi is not required; you could simply say:
Siku za karibuni, nimekuwa nikijifunza Kiswahili kila jioni.
Adding mimi adds emphasis, like saying “As for me, I have been learning Swahili…” or “I myself have been…”. In speech and writing, native speakers often drop mimi unless they want that extra emphasis or contrast (e.g. “Mimi najifunza, yeye hasomi.” – I study, but he doesn’t).
In Swahili, when you use “have been doing X” with kuwa (“to be”), the second verb usually appears in the -ki- continuous form, not in the infinitive. So:
- nimekuwa nikijifunza ≈ “I have been learning”
- ni-me-kuwa ni-ki-ji-funz-a
Using nimekuwa kujifunza is ungrammatical in this meaning; kujifunza there would sound like a bare infinitive (“to learn”) attached in the wrong way. The -ki- form (nikijifunza) expresses an ongoing action during that period of kuwa (“being”), which matches the English present perfect continuous.
- ninajifunza Kiswahili = “I am learning Swahili / I learn Swahili (ongoing, present).”
- nimejifunza Kiswahili = “I have learned Swahili / I have studied Swahili” (focus on the completed result or experience).
- nimekuwa nikijifunza Kiswahili = “I have been learning Swahili” (focus on a continuous activity over a period up to now).
So nimekuwa nikijifunza is the closest to English “have been learning”, emphasizing duration and ongoing effort in recent days, not just a completed action or a simple present.
nikijifunza can be broken down like this:
- ni- = I (subject prefix)
- -ki- = continuous/“while” aspect
- -ji- = reflexive (“oneself”)
- -funz- = root “teach”
- -a = final vowel
So kujifunza literally means “to teach oneself”, i.e. “to learn.”
In this construction, nikijifunza is “while I am learning / as I learn,” and paired with nimekuwa it yields “I have been learning.”
Yes.
- Ninajifunza Kiswahili kila jioni = “I learn / I am learning Swahili every evening.”
This is perfectly natural and a bit simpler.
However, Siku za karibuni, nimekuwa nikijifunza… adds the extra nuance of “have been (recently, over a stretch of time)”, which is slightly closer to English “Lately I’ve been learning Swahili every evening,” emphasizing a recent change in habit or a new routine.
In Swahili, names of languages usually belong to noun class 7 and take the prefix ki-:
- Kiingereza – English
- Kiswahili – Swahili
- Kifaransa – French
For many peoples, the pattern is:
- Mswahili – a Swahili person (singular)
- Waswahili – Swahili people (plural)
- Kiswahili – the Swahili language
So Ki- here marks “the language of that people.”
In English, we always capitalize names of languages, so Swahili is capitalized. When Swahili is written using the Latin alphabet, many writers follow the same convention and capitalize language names: Kiswahili, Kiingereza, Kifaransa.
You will also encounter Swahili written with all lower-case (kiswahili, kiingereza), especially in informal contexts. For learners and in most teaching materials, capitalizing language names is standard and perfectly fine.
In Swahili, many time expressions appear without a preposition. kila jioni literally is “every evening”; you don’t need a word for “in.”
Some common patterns:
- asubuhi – in the morning
- mchana – in the afternoon
- jioni – in the evening
- usiku – at night
Adding kila (“every”) just makes it “every evening.” So kila jioni naturally means “every evening” without a separate preposition.
Yes, time expressions are fairly flexible in Swahili. All of these are acceptable, with slight differences in emphasis:
- Siku za karibuni, mimi nimekuwa nikijifunza Kiswahili kila jioni.
- Siku za karibuni, kila jioni nimekuwa nikijifunza Kiswahili.
- Kila jioni, siku za karibuni, nimekuwa nikijifunza Kiswahili.
Usually, you’ll put broader time first (Siku za karibuni) and then the more specific routine (kila jioni) later, as in the original sentence.
The comma is more about writing style than grammar. It mirrors English punctuation when you front a time phrase:
- “Recently, I have been learning…”
You can write it with or without the comma:
- Siku za karibuni, nimekuwa nikijifunza…
- Siku za karibuni nimekuwa nikijifunza…
Both are correct; many writers do use the comma to mark the pause in speech.