Learn Hardcore Swahili: Vijana wengine wanaogopa vita. - Some young people are afraid of war.

It often refers to teenagers and people in their twenties, sometimes early thirties, depending on context.
It is not limited to males. It can include both young men and young women.
If you specifically want young men, you could say vijana wa kiume; for young women, vijana wa kike.

So vijana is best translated in most contexts as “young people” or “youths.”

Why is the plural vijana instead of something like majana or wanajana?

Kijana / vijana follows a common Swahili noun-class pattern:

Singular: kijana (class 7, prefix ki-)
Plural: vijana (class 8, prefix vi-)

This ki-/vi- pair is very common (e.g. kitabu / vitabu, kisu / visu), and kijana / vijana is simply one of the nouns in that pattern.

So:

kijana = one young person / a youth
vijana = young people / youths

If vijana has the prefix vi-, why does the verb start with wa- (wanaogopa) instead of vi- (vinaogopa)?

This is a very important (and very common) exception.

Although kijana/vijana belong morphologically to the ki-/vi- noun class (7/8), when they refer to people, they usually take agreement like class 1/2 (m-/wa-), not like objects.

So you say:

Kijana anaogopa vita. – The youth is afraid of war.
Vijana wanaogopa vita. – The youths are afraid of war.

You do not normally say:

✗ Vijana vinaogopa vita. (sounds wrong / non-native in standard Swahili when referring to human youths)

Reason: Swahili tends to use m-/wa- agreement for humans, even when the noun form is from another class like ki-/vi-. This also happens with a few other human nouns.

What does wengine mean here, and how is it different from mwingine?

Wengine comes from the root -ngine, meaning other / another / some other.

mwingine – singular, human (class 1)
- kijana mwingine – another youth / the other youth
wengine – plural, human (class 2)
- vijana wengine – other youths / some youths

So in Vijana wengine wanaogopa vita:

vijana = youths
wengine = others / some (of them)

Hence the natural translation is “Some youths are afraid of war” or “Other youths are afraid of war”, depending on context.

Is there any difference in meaning or emphasis between vijana wengine and wengine vijana?

Yes, there is a difference in typical usage:

Vijana wengine is the normal, natural order and means:
- some youths, other youths (as a group)
Wengine vijana is unusual and can sound odd or ungrammatical in standard Swahili in most contexts.

In Swahili, adjectives and similar words usually follow the noun:

mtu mzuri – a good person
kitabu kipya – a new book
vijana wengine – other youths

So stick to vijana wengine.

How is wanaogopa built up, and what does each part mean?

Wanaogopa can be broken down like this:

wa- – subject prefix for they (class 2, humans; agrees with vijana)
-na- – present tense marker (present / present habitual)
ogopa – verb root meaning fear / be afraid

So:

wanaogopa literally = they-fear (now/usually)
Translation: they are afraid / they fear

Compare:

anaogopa – he/she is afraid
ninaogopa – I am afraid
tunaogopa – we are afraid

Why is it wanaogopa and not wanaoogopa? Aren’t there two o sounds coming together?

In writing, Swahili normally does not double the vowel when a prefix ending in a vowel is followed by a verb root starting with the same vowel.

So:

wa- + -na- + ogopa → wanaogopa, not wanaoogopa
Similarly: kula (to eat) + na (and) → na kula, not na kulaa

In speech, you will naturally produce a slightly longer o when saying wanaogopa, but orthographically it remains a single “o”.

Why is it vita without any preposition? In English we say “afraid of war.”

In Swahili, many verbs that take a preposition in English take a direct object instead.

English: afraid of X
Swahili: kuogopa X (literally fear X)

So:

wanaogopa vita – they fear war / they are afraid of war
anaogopa mbwa – he/she is afraid of dogs

You don’t say:

✗ wanaogopa kwa vita
✗ wanaogopa ya vita

You simply put the thing feared directly after kuogopa as its object.

What exactly does vita mean here: “war” or “wars”? Is it singular or plural?

Vita is a bit tricky:

Morphologically, vita belongs to a class where singular and plural often look the same, and historically it’s linked to a plural form (from Arabic).
In modern Swahili usage, vita often behaves like an uncountable noun in English:
- vita = war (as a general concept)
- wanaogopa vita – they are afraid of war / warfare (in general)

If you need to be explicit:

vita hii – this war (a particular war)
vita vile – those wars

But in many contexts, vita simply means “war” in general, and that’s what’s happening in this sentence.

How would I say “The other youth is afraid of war” (singular) using the same pattern?

You would switch to the singular noun and singular verb agreement:

Kijana mwingine anaogopa vita.

Breakdown:

kijana – youth (singular)
mwingine – the other / another (singular, human)
anaogopa – he/she is afraid (a- subject prefix for class 1)
vita – war

So:

Kijana mwingine anaogopa vita. – The other youth is afraid of war.