Learn Hardcore Swahili: Kila mtoto anapokuja kwetu, tunamhimiza aulize swali lolote bila woga. - Whenever a child comes to our place, we encourage them to ask any question without fear.

In Swahili, kila is followed by a singular noun, even though in English we might translate the whole phrase as “every child” (which is conceptually plural):

kila mtoto = every/each child
kila mtu = everyone / each person
kila siku = every day

So you don’t say ~kila watoto~; it’s always kila + singular noun.
The verb and object agreement then refer to that singular noun (e.g. mtoto … tunamhimiza “we encourage him/her”).

How is anapokuja formed, and what nuance does it have?

anapokuja roughly means “whenever (a child) comes” / “when (a child) comes.”

Morphologically you can think of it as:

a- = subject prefix for “he/she”
-na- = present/habitual marker
-po- = “when / where” (a relative/locative marker)
-kuja = verb root “come”

These combine and contract into a-na-po-kuja → anapokuja.

Functionally, anapokuja introduces a “whenever / each time” kind of clause:

Kila mtoto anapokuja kwetu…
“Every child, whenever they come to us…”

It suggests a repeated or habitual situation, not just a one‑off future event.

What does kwetu mean literally, and how is it different from just “to us”?

kwetu literally means “at/to our place” or more loosely “to us”.

It’s built from:

kwa- = “to/at (someone’s place / with someone)”
-etu = “our”

So:

kwetu = at/to our place
kwangu = at/to my place
kwako = at/to your place
kwake = at/to his/her place
kwenu = at/to your (pl.) place
kwao = at/to their place

In this sentence:

anapokuja kwetu = “when he/she comes to our place / when they come to us”

You could say anapokuja nyumbani kwetu for “when they come to our home,” but kwetu alone is very common and natural.

What does tunamhimiza mean, and how is it broken down?

tunamhimiza means “we encourage him/her” or “we urge him/her.”

Breakdown:

tu- = subject prefix for “we”
-na- = present/habitual tense marker
-m- = object prefix for “him/her” (class 1/2 human)
himiza = verb stem meaning “encourage / urge / prompt”

So:

tu-na-m-himiza → tunamhimiza
“we (habitually) encourage him/her”

Because the subject in the sentence is kila mtoto (“each child”), the -m- object marker refers to that child in a generic singular sense (equivalent to English “we encourage them (each child)”).

Why is aulize used instead of anauliza or auliza?

aulize is in the subjunctive mood, not the normal present tense.

a- = subject prefix “he/she”
uliz- = verb root “ask”
-e = subjunctive ending

So aulize literally means “that he/she ask” (not “he/she is asking”).

We use the subjunctive in Swahili when expressing:

wishes
commands (especially indirect ones)
intentions
things someone is being told or encouraged to do

Here:

tunamhimiza aulize…
= “we encourage him/her to ask …”
(literally “we encourage him/her that he/she ask …”)

If you said anauliza, it would mean “he/she is asking / asks,” which doesn’t match the idea of encouragement.

What does swali lolote mean, and why is it lolote and not yo yote or something else?

swali lolote means “any question (at all)”.

swali = question (noun class 5)
lolote = any (for class 5 nouns)

lolote is built from:

-ote = “all / any (of them)”
a class 5 agreement piece lo-
→ lo + -ote = lolote

For other noun classes, -ote changes form:

mtu yeyote = any person (class 1, “yeyote”)
kitu chochote = anything (class 7, “chochote”)
maswali yoyote = any questions (class 6 plural, “yoyote”)

So for swali (class 5), the correct “any” form is lolote:

aulize swali lolote = “(that) he/she ask any question at all.”

What does bila woga mean, exactly? Is woga positive or negative?

bila woga means “without fear / without being afraid.”

bila = without
woga = fear, timidity, cowardice

woga is negative; it refers to fearfulness or lack of courage.
So:

bila woga = without fear / fearlessly
bila wasiwasi = without worry
bila shaka = without doubt (certainly)

In the sentence, bila woga describes how the child should ask:

aulize swali lolote bila woga
= “(that) he/she ask any question without fear.”

Why is the sentence order “Kila mtoto anapokuja kwetu, tunamhimiza aulize …” and not the other way round?

Swahili often places the condition / time clause first, then the main clause, similar to English.

Structure here:

Kila mtoto anapokuja kwetu,
“Every child, whenever they come to us,”
→ time/condition clause
tunamhimiza aulize swali lolote bila woga.
“we encourage them to ask any question without fear.”
→ main clause

You could reverse the order:

Tunamhimiza kila mtoto anapokuja kwetu aulize swali lolote bila woga.

This is still grammatical, but the original order (subordinate clause first) is very natural and slightly emphasizes the “whenever they come” part.

Is anapokuja the same as akija? Could I say Kila mtoto akija kwetu…?

They are related but not identical in nuance.

anapokuja
– built with the -na- present/habitual marker
– often suggests repeated / habitual “whenever”
– “whenever he/she comes / every time he/she comes”
akija
– uses aki- (subordinate form with -ki-)
– more often used for a specific future or conditional “when/if”
– “when/if he/she comes (on that occasion)”

In this sentence:

Kila mtoto anapokuja kwetu…
nicely matches the idea “every time any child comes (to us), we habitually do X.”

Kila mtoto akija kwetu, tunamhimiza… is understandable and not wrong, but it leans a bit more toward “when a child comes (on an occasion)…” rather than the clearly habitual, almost rule‑like sense.

Why does tunamhimiza have a singular object -m- if we are talking about “every child” (which is many children)?

Even though kila mtoto refers to many children in total, it treats them one at a time, individually.

So grammatically, Swahili uses singular agreement:

kila mtoto = each child (singular)
tunamhimiza = “we encourage him/her”

This matches how English often works with “each/every”:

“Every child comes in. We encourage him/her to ask questions.”
(Or modern, more neutral:) “We encourage them to ask questions.”

Swahili sticks with the grammatical singular here: mtoto … -m-.