Mara nyingi, babu huwasimulia wajukuu wake hadithi za ajabu kabla ya usingizi.

Often, grandfather usually tells his grandchildren amazing stories before sleep.

Breakdown of Mara nyingi, babu huwasimulia wajukuu wake hadithi za ajabu kabla ya usingizi.

• kabla ya: before
• za: of
• usingizi: the sleep
• mara nyingi: often
• hadithi: the story
• wake: his
• mjukuu: the grandchild
• babu: the grandfather
• kusimulia: to tell (a story)
• ajabu: amazing

Questions & Answers about Mara nyingi, babu huwasimulia wajukuu wake hadithi za ajabu kabla ya usingizi.

What does mara nyingi literally mean, and is it the same as “often”?

Literally, mara nyingi is “many times.”

In actual use, it corresponds very closely to English “often / frequently.”

So:

• Mara nyingi, babu huwasimulia…
  = “Often, grandfather tells…”

You can also put mara nyingi later in the sentence:

• Babu huwasimulia wajukuu wake hadithi za ajabu mara nyingi.
  (Grandfather often tells his grandchildren amazing stories.)

Both positions are fine; putting it at the beginning is a bit more emphatic, like English “Very often, Grandpa…”

Why is there a comma after mara nyingi? Is it required?

The comma is not grammatically required, but it’s common and natural.

Mara nyingi is an adverbial phrase (“often”) placed at the start, and the comma just signals a small pause, like in English:

• “Often, grandfather tells his grandchildren stories…”

You could also write:

• Mara nyingi babu huwasimulia wajukuu wake…

That’s still correct; it just feels slightly “flatter” in writing. Speech rhythm will be the same: you’d normally pause a bit after mara nyingi.

What is the hu- in huwasimulia, and how is it different from anawasimulia?

hu- marks a habitual/generic action (something that usually or regularly happens), without a specific time frame.

• Babu huwasimulia wajukuu wake hadithi…
  → “Grandfather (usually / often) tells his grandchildren stories.”

• Babu anawasimulia wajukuu wake hadithi…
  → “Grandfather is telling / is in the process of telling his grandchildren stories (now / around now).”

So:

• hu- = general habit, regular behavior, “he tends to do this.”
• ana- = present progressive or current ongoing action.

Also note: with hu-, you do not add a subject prefix (a-):

• ✅ babu huwasimulia…
• ❌ babu ahuwasimulia… (ungrammatical)

Can I just say babu husimulia instead of babu huwasimulia? What does the wa- do?

huwasimulia can be broken down as:

• hu- = habitual marker
• -wa- = object marker “them” (for people in noun class 2, like wajukuu)
• simulia = tell/narrate (a story)

So huwasimulia = “(he) habitually tells them.”

If you say:

• Babu husimulia wajukuu wake hadithi za ajabu…

that is still grammatical and understandable. It means “Grandfather tells amazing stories to his grandchildren.”

However, in standard Swahili:

• When the object is specific and especially human, it’s very common (and often preferred) to include the object marker:
  Babu huwasimulia wajukuu wake… (“Grandfather tells them…”)

Leaving out -wa- is possible, but huwasimulia sounds more “complete” and natural for “tells them (stories).”

Isn’t it redundant to have both huwa-simulia (“tell them”) and wajukuu wake (“his grandchildren”)?

It may feel redundant in English, but in Swahili it’s perfectly normal to use both:

• hu- + -wa- signals that the action is directed to them (3rd person plural)
• wajukuu wake names exactly who those “them” are

This is like English:

• “Grandfather tells them stories, his grandchildren.”

But in Swahili it doesn’t sound heavy or repetitive; using an object marker plus a full noun phrase is a very standard pattern, especially for people and definite objects:

• Aliwaona marafiki zake. = “He saw them, his friends.”
• Nilimpa mwalimu kitabu. = “I gave him/her, the teacher, a book.”

Where is the subject marker for babu? Shouldn’t it be a- somewhere in huwasimulia?

With the habitual marker hu-, Swahili normally drops the subject prefix in the 3rd person:

• Mtoto hula matunda. = The child (usually) eats fruit.
• Babu huwasimulia… = Grandfather (usually) tells them…

So you don’t say:

• ❌ babu ahuwasimulia…
• ❌ babu huawasimulia…

You just use hu- directly before the verb stem (and any object marker):

• hu-
  • -wa-
    • simulia → huwasimulia

What exactly does wajukuu wake mean, and why is it wake and not zake?

wajukuu wake = “his/her grandchildren.”

Breakdown:

• wajukuu

  • singular: mjuku = grandchild
  • plural: wajukuu = grandchildren
  • This is noun class 1/2 (people: m-/wa-).

• wake is the possessive “his/her” that agrees with a class 1/2 plural noun (wajukuu).
  Pattern: wa- (for class 2) + -ake (possessive stem) → wake

zake is for nouns in the N- class (like hadithi, safari, nguo), not for wajukuu.

Compare:

• wajukuu wake = his/her grandchildren
• hadithi zake = his/her stories (because hadithi is N-class)

Does wake mean “his” or “her”? How do I know which one?

wake is gender-neutral in Swahili. It can mean:

• his
• her
• their (in some contexts: “belonging to that person / those people”)

Swahili doesn’t grammatically distinguish male vs female in possessives.

In this sentence, the English translation uses “his” because we already know babu = “grandfather,” which is male in English. In Swahili itself, wake is just “belonging to that person” – no gender encoded.

Why is it hadithi za ajabu and not hadithi ya ajabu or hadithi wa ajabu?

Two points: noun class and singular vs plural.

1. Noun class of hadithi

   • hadithi (story / stories) is in the N-class (same form for singular and plural).
   • The genitive/“of” agreement for N-class is ya (singular) and za (plural).

2. Plural here:

   • The context is “stories” in the plural (many stories), so we use za:

     • hadithi za ajabu = amazing/strange stories
     • hadithi ya ajabu = an amazing/strange story (singular)

So:

• za agrees with hadithi as plural (“stories”).
• We would never use wa here; wa belongs with class 2 plurals like wajukuu → wajukuu wa ajabu (“amazing grandchildren”).

What nuance does za ajabu have? Is it “amazing” or “strange”?

ajabu can cover a range of meanings depending on context:

• amazing / wonderful / marvelous
• strange / unusual / extraordinary

In hadithi za ajabu, the most natural English translations are:

• “amazing stories”
• “fantastical stories”
• “extraordinary stories”

It could also carry a hint of “strange, magical, out-of-the-ordinary” – think fairy tales, legends, or stories full of surprising events.

Why is it kabla ya usingizi and not something like kabla wa usingizi?

Prepositions like kabla ya (“before”) and baada ya (“after”) are mostly fixed expressions:

• kabla ya X = before X
• baada ya X = after X

The ya here behaves like a general linker and doesn’t change with the noun class of the following noun.

So we say:

• kabla ya usingizi = before sleep
• baada ya kazi = after work
• kabla ya mvua = before the rain

Using wa (kabla wa usingizi) would be ungrammatical in standard Swahili.

What is the difference between kabla ya usingizi and kabla ya kulala?

Both can be translated “before sleep” / “before going to sleep,” but they focus slightly differently:

• kabla ya usingizi

  • Literally “before sleep (the state).”
  • Sounds like a set time or routine: “before (bed)time.”

• kabla ya kulala

  • Literally “before sleeping / before to-sleep.”
  • Emphasizes the action of going to sleep.

In practice, both could be used in this sentence:

• Mara nyingi, babu huwasimulia wajukuu wake hadithi za ajabu kabla ya usingizi.
• Mara nyingi, babu huwasimulia wajukuu wake hadithi za ajabu kabla ya kulala.

Both are natural; the first sounds a bit more like a bedtime routine.

Why is usingizi a noun and not just the verb kulala?

Swahili often uses a noun to describe states or times:

• usingizi = sleep (as a thing/state)
• kulala = to sleep (verb / infinitive)

So:

• kabla ya usingizi = before sleep (before the time of sleep)
• wakati wa usingizi = the time of sleep
• ameanguka usingizini = he has fallen into sleep

Both noun and infinitive constructions are common in Swahili. Here, using the noun usingizi nicely matches the idea of a regular “bedtime” routine.

Can I move kabla ya usingizi earlier in the sentence?

Yes, Swahili word order is fairly flexible with time expressions. For example:

• Babu huwasimulia wajukuu wake hadithi za ajabu kabla ya usingizi mara nyingi.
• Kabla ya usingizi, babu huwasimulia wajukuu wake hadithi za ajabu.

All remain understandable.
The most neutral and natural-sounding, though, is very close to the original:

• Mara nyingi, babu huwasimulia wajukuu wake hadithi za ajabu kabla ya usingizi.

which mirrors English “Often, grandfather tells his grandchildren amazing stories before sleep.”