Log inSign up

Tutakaporudi nyumbani jioni, tutakunywa chai pamoja.

Tutakaporudi nyumbani jioni, tutakunywa chai pamoja.
When we return home in the evening, we will drink tea together.
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Swahili grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning Swahili now

Questions & Answers about Tutakaporudi nyumbani jioni, tutakunywa chai pamoja.

What does tutakaporudi literally mean, and how is it built?

Tutakaporudi can be broken down into smaller pieces:

  • tu- = we
  • -ta- = future tense marker (will)
  • -kapo- = when (in the future; a kind of relative/temporal marker)
  • -rudi = return / go back

So tutakaporudi literally means something like “when we will return” or more naturally “when we return (in the future)”.

This is different from tutarudi (“we will return”), which is a simple future statement, not a “when…” clause.

Does tutakaporudi mean “when we return” or “if we return”? What’s the nuance?

Tutakaporudi normally means “when we return”, not “if we return.”

  • It assumes that the action (returning) will happen; the speaker is treating it as a real, expected future event.
  • If you wanted a more conditional, “if/whenever we return” sense, you could use tukirudi instead:
    • Tukirudi nyumbani jioni, tutakunywa chai pamoja. = If/when we return home in the evening, we’ll drink tea together.

So:

  • tutakaporudi → a specific, expected time in the future (“when we return that time”)
  • tukirudi → more “if/whenever we return” (more open, conditional or habitual)
What is the difference between nyumba and nyumbani? Why is nyumbani used here?
  • nyumba = house (basic noun)
  • nyumba + -ni → nyumbani

The suffix -ni often makes a locative form: “at/in/to [place]”.

So nyumbani can mean:

  • at home / in the house
  • home(wards), depending on the verb

In Tutakaporudi nyumbani, the verb kurudi (“to return”) already means “go back,” so nyumbani is understood as “home” / “(to) home”. You don’t need another preposition like “to.”

Compare:

  • Niko nyumbani. = I am at home.
  • Ninarudi nyumbani. = I am going back home.
Where does jioni (“in the evening”) normally go in the sentence? Could it go somewhere else?

In the sentence:

Tutakaporudi nyumbani jioni, tutakunywa chai pamoja.

jioni is at the end of the first clause:

  • literally: “When we return home in the evening, we will drink tea together.”

In Swahili, time expressions like asubuhi (in the morning), jioni (in the evening), kesho (tomorrow) are quite flexible. You could say, for example:

  • Jioni tutakaporudi nyumbani, tutakunywa chai pamoja.
    → In the evening, when we return home, we’ll drink tea together.

or even:

  • Tutakaporudi nyumbani, jioni tutakunywa chai pamoja.
    (Less common, but possible depending on emphasis.)

The original position (after nyumbani) is very natural, because it keeps all the “when/where” information together: when we return home in the evening…

How is tutakunywa formed from kunywa (“to drink”)?

The dictionary form is kunywa = “to drink.”

For the future tense, first-person plural (“we will drink”), Swahili does:

  • tu- = we
  • -ta- = future
  • kunywa = drink

So: tu + ta + kunywa → tutakunywa = we will drink.

Two extra notes:

  1. kunywa is slightly irregular because it’s based on a very short root (-nywa), but for learners it’s usually easiest just to remember the whole stem kunywa and plug it in:

    • ninakunywa = I drink / I am drinking
    • tutakunywa = we will drink
    • walikunywa = they drank

  2. There is no separate word for “will”; the idea of future is carried by the tense marker -ta- attached to the verb.

Why isn’t there a separate word for “we” in the sentence? How does Swahili show the subject?

Swahili normally shows the subject inside the verb using a subject prefix, rather than as a separate pronoun.

  • tu- = we
  • ta- = future
  • tutakunywa = we will drink (the we is built in)

So:

  • Tutakaporudi = When we return
  • tutakunywa = we will drink

You can add the independent pronoun sisi for emphasis:

  • Sisi tutakaporudi nyumbani jioni, tutakunywa chai pamoja.
    → WE (as opposed to others), when we return home in the evening, will drink tea together.

But it’s not required in normal, neutral sentences.

How does pamoja (“together”) work here? Could it go in a different place?

In:

tutakunywa chai pamoja

we have:

  • tutakunywa = we will drink
  • chai = tea
  • pamoja = together

So the meaning is “we will drink tea together.”

Typical positions for pamoja:

  • After the object:
    • Tutakunywa chai pamoja. (very natural)
  • With a preposition, slightly more formal/emphatic:
    • Tutakunywa chai kwa pamoja. (we will drink tea together / collectively)

Putting pamoja before the verb (Pamoja tutakunywa chai) is possible but usually sounds like a special emphasis or slightly poetic, not the neutral everyday pattern.

Pamoja chai tutakunywa or tutakunywa pamoja chai is unusual and not recommended for learners. Stick with:

  • tutakunywa chai pamoja
  • or tutakunywa chai kwa pamoja
Does chai only mean “tea” (the drink), or can it refer to something broader in Swahili?

Literally, chai means “tea” (the beverage).

Culturally, chai can also imply a tea time or light snack taken with tea, a bit like “tea” in British English can sometimes mean “a light meal.” Context decides:

  • Ninakunywa chai. = I am drinking tea.
  • Tulikuwa kwenye chai ya asubuhi. = We were at (our) morning tea / tea break.

In your sentence, chai most naturally means tea as a drink, possibly with whatever is normally eaten with it in that context.

Could the order of the two clauses be reversed, like in English: “We will drink tea together when we return home in the evening”?

Yes. Both orders are possible in Swahili:

  1. Tutakaporudi nyumbani jioni, tutakunywa chai pamoja.
    → When we return home in the evening, we’ll drink tea together.

  2. Tutakunywa chai pamoja tutakaporudi nyumbani jioni.
    → We’ll drink tea together when we return home in the evening.

In writing, a comma is usually placed after the first clause if it comes first (as in the original), but commas are more flexible in Swahili than in English.

Both word orders are grammatical; the choice is mostly about which part you want to emphasize first (the “when” situation or the main action).

Could we use a different tense in the second clause, like tunakunywa instead of tutakunywa?

You might see variations, but the most natural and typical pattern for a future “when…” clause is:

  • Future in the “when” clause (tutakaporudi)
  • Future in the main clause (tutakunywa)

So:

  • Tutakaporudi nyumbani jioni, tutakunywa chai pamoja. ✅

If you said:

  • Tutakaporudi nyumbani jioni, tunakunywa chai pamoja.

it would sound odd in most contexts, because tunakunywa is present/progressive (“we drink / we are drinking”). You would usually only mix tenses like that if you had a very specific, narrative or stylistic reason. For clear, standard future meaning, keep both verbs in the future.

Is there a simpler way to say this without the -kapo- construction?

Yes. You can use wakati (“when/while/time”) with a normal future verb:

  • Wakati tutarudi nyumbani jioni, tutakunywa chai pamoja.

However:

  • The version with -kapo- (Tutakaporudi nyumbani jioni…) is more idiomatic and more compact.
  • Using the relative form (tutakaporudi) is what most native speakers would prefer in this kind of sentence.

So for natural Swahili, it’s better to get used to this pattern:

[Subject + -ta- + -kapo- + verb], [subject + -ta- + verb].

like:

  • Watakapofika kesho, tutaanza mkutano.
    → When they arrive tomorrow, we’ll start the meeting.