Learn Hardcore Swahili: Nilipokuwa kijijini, nilipenda kuangalia machweo. - When I was in the village, I liked to watch the sunset.

Nilipokuwa kijijini = When I was in the village
- It introduces a time frame for something else that happened.
- It’s incomplete on its own; you expect a second clause:
  Nilipokuwa kijijini, nilipenda kuangalia machweo.
Nilikuwa kijijini = I was in the village
- This is a normal past statement, complete by itself.
- It does not automatically mean “when I was in the village…”; it just locates you there in the past.

So:

Nilipokuwa kijijini, nilipenda kuangalia machweo.
= When I was in the village, I liked to watch the sunsets.
Nilikuwa kijijini. Nilipenda kuangalia machweo.
= I was in the village. I liked to watch the sunsets.
(Two separate past facts, not explicitly “when … then …”)

What does the -po- in Nilipokuwa do, and are there similar forms?

The -po- here is a relative/locative marker that often carries the sense of:

when / at the time that
sometimes also where / at the place that (in other contexts)

In verb structures like nilipokuwa, -po- links the verb to a time or place and makes it function like “when (I) was …”.

There are related markers:

-po-: definite place/time (where/when something actually is/was)
-ko-: general or unspecified place
-mo-: inside something

But in patterns like alipokuja (“when he came”), nilipokuwa (“when I was”), learners mostly meet -po- as “when” attached inside the verb:

Alipokuja, tulianza kula.
When he came, we started eating.

So Nilipokuwa kijijini is parallel to Alipokuja:

Nili-po-kuwa kijijini – When I was in the village
A-li-po-kuja – When he came

Why is it kijijini and not something like katika kijiji or kwenye kijiji?

Kijijini is the noun kijiji (village) plus the locative suffix -ni:

kijiji = village
kijiji + -ni → kijijini = in the village / at the village

In Swahili, adding -ni to a place noun is a very natural way to say in/at that place, often more natural than using a separate preposition.

You can say:

katika kijiji – in the village
kwenye kijiji – in/at the village

Those are grammatically fine, but:

kijijini is shorter and very idiomatic.
It often sounds more native in sentences like this.

So:

Nilipokuwa kijijini
is the smooth, standard way of saying
When I was in the village.

Why is it nilipenda kuangalia and not just nilipenda angalia?

After many verbs like kupenda (to like/love), kutaka (to want), kuanza (to start), Swahili normally uses the infinitive form of the following verb, marked with ku-:

kupenda ku-…
kutaka ku-…
kuanza ku-…

So:

nilipenda kuangalia = I liked to watch / I enjoyed watching

Saying nilipenda angalia is ungrammatical; angalia alone is a finite verb form (an imperative-like stem), not an infinitive.

Think of kuangalia as the equivalent of English “to watch” or “watching” after verbs like like, love, want:

English: I like to watch / I like watching sunrises.
Swahili: Napenda kuangalia machweo.

What’s the nuance of kupenda here? Does Nilipenda kuangalia mean “I liked” or “I enjoyed”? Is kufurahia better for “enjoy”?

In everyday Swahili:

kupenda covers both to like and to love and often also to enjoy.
The exact nuance depends on context and sometimes on adverbs (like sana = very much).

In this sentence:

Nilipenda kuangalia machweo.
can be understood as:
- I liked watching sunsets, or
- I loved watching sunsets, or
- I enjoyed watching sunsets.

If you want to be more explicit about enjoyment, you can use:

kufurahia = to enjoy, to take pleasure in

For example:

Nilifurahia kuangalia machweo.
= I enjoyed watching the sunsets.

But using nilipenda is completely natural and commonly used in this meaning. The translation “I enjoyed watching the sunsets” is a good, natural rendering of the Swahili.

What is the difference between kuangalia and other verbs like kutazama or kuona for “to watch”?

These verbs overlap, but there are preferences:

kuangalia
- to look at, to watch, to check
- very common, general-purpose
- used for watching TV, watching people, looking at something beautiful, etc.
- Nilipenda kuangalia machweo. is completely natural.
kutazama
- to look at, to observe, to watch (often a bit more deliberate)
- also works here:
  - Nilipenda kutazama machweo. (also correct)
kuona
- to see
- focuses more on the experience of seeing, not so much the deliberate act of watching.
- Nilipenda kuona machweo. would be understood as:
  - I liked seeing sunsets / I liked getting to see sunsets.

In your sentence, kuangalia is a very natural choice: it suggests actively looking at and appreciating the sunset.

Why is machweo plural? Wouldn’t “sunset” be singular here?

Machweo is a plural noun (class 6, with ma-). Literally it refers to sunsets (more than one).

In context:

Nilipokuwa kijijini, nilipenda kuangalia machweo.

This is describing a habitual action during that period. The idea is:

While I was in the village, I regularly watched the sunsets, over many days.

So plural machweo fits well because:

You did this repeatedly while you were there.
You’re talking about sunsets in general, not one specific, single sunset.

If you were talking about a single specific sunset on one day, you might expect a singular form, but in practice machweo is often used as the standard word for “sunset(s)”, and the singular (chweo) is rare in everyday speech.

What noun class is machweo, and is there a singular form?

Machweo behaves like a class 6 noun, marked by ma-, which is usually the plural of class 5 nouns. The pattern is like:

tunda (fruit, class 5) → matunda (fruits, class 6)
jicho (eye, class 5) → macho (eyes, class 6)
chweo (theoretically: a sunset) → machweo (sunsets)

In practice:

You mostly encounter machweo for “sunset(s)”.
The singular chweo is very uncommon; many speakers just talk about machweo even if they mean “the sunset” in a general or poetic sense.

For agreement:

As a class 6 noun, it would take ya in possessive constructions:
- machweo ya jua – sunsets of the sun / sunsets

Does Nilipokuwa kijijini, nilipenda kuangalia machweo describe a single event or a repeated/habitual action in the past?

The structure:

Nilipokuwa kijijini, nilipenda kuangalia machweo.

most naturally suggests a habitual action during a past period:

While I was (living/staying) in the village, I used to like watching sunsets.

Even though nilipenda is a simple past (I liked), in context it easily carries the meaning:

I would (regularly) like to watch sunsets.
I used to enjoy watching sunsets.

You could make the habitual sense slightly clearer by using a progressive structure:

Nilipokuwa kijijini, nilikuwa napenda kuangalia machweo.
(Literally: When I was in the village, I was liking / I used to like watching sunsets.)

But the original sentence is already perfectly fine and commonly used to express that kind of repeated past enjoyment.

Can I move the Nilipokuwa kijijini part to the end of the sentence?

Yes, that’s possible:

Nilipokuwa kijijini, nilipenda kuangalia machweo.
Nilipenda kuangalia machweo nilipokuwa kijijini.

Both are grammatically correct.

Differences:

Putting Nilipokuwa kijijini first makes the time setting prominent:
- First you set the scene, then say what you liked to do.
Putting it at the end can sound a bit more casual and keeps the focus first on what you liked:
- I liked watching sunsets (when I was in the village).

In many real-life contexts, both orders are acceptable, and the difference is mostly about slight emphasis and style.

Is the comma after kijijini necessary in Swahili?

Punctuation rules can be a bit flexible in Swahili, but:

It is common and recommended to use a comma after an initial dependent clause like Nilipokuwa kijijini.
So:
- Nilipokuwa kijijini, nilipenda kuangalia machweo.
  looks good and is easy to read.

You will certainly see such sentences without the comma in informal writing:

Nilipokuwa kijijini nilipenda kuangalia machweo.

This is still understandable, but adding the comma:

clarifies the sentence structure
matches standard writing practice better.

Could I say Wakati nilikuwa kijijini, nilipenda kuangalia machweo instead of Nilipokuwa kijijini, …? Is there any difference?

Yes, you can:

Wakati nilikuwa kijijini, nilipenda kuangalia machweo.
- Literally: At the time (when) I was in the village, I liked to watch sunsets.

Differences in feel:

Nilipokuwa kijijini:
- more compact and very typical Swahili structure
- the -po- already contains the idea of “when”, so you don’t need wakati.
Wakati nilikuwa kijijini:
- explicitly introduces wakati = time, moment
- slightly more “spelled out”, sometimes a bit heavier.

Both are correct. Many speakers would find Nilipokuwa kijijini, … the more natural and fluent choice in this kind of sentence.