Learn Hardcore Swahili: Leo watoto wenyewe wamepanga meza na kuweka sahani zote sawasawa. - Today the children themselves have set the table and placed all the plates evenly.

watoto wenyewe = the children themselves
Often with the nuance: the children (and not someone else) did it, or they did it by themselves, without help.

So the sentence contrasts, for example, the children with the parents or a house helper: today, the children themselves are the ones who set the table.

Why is the tense wamepanga used instead of walipanga?

Both are past, but they have different nuances:

wamepanga = present perfect / completed now
- Focuses on a completed action whose result is relevant now.
- With leo (“today”), it suggests: Today, they have set the table (and the table is now set).
walipanga = simple past
- Neutral past action, more “then it happened” and less about the present result.
- Leo watoto wenyewe walipanga meza would sound more like a report of something that happened earlier today, without focusing on the current state.

In this sentence, wamepanga nicely fits the idea: “Today the children themselves have set the table (so it’s set now).”

Why do we say wamepanga meza na kuweka sahani... instead of wamepanga meza na wakaweka sahani...?

Both are grammatically possible, but they feel a bit different:

wamepanga meza na kuweka sahani zote sawasawa
- na kuweka uses the infinitive kuweka.
- It links two actions with the same subject and same time, almost as one combined activity:
  - They have set the table and (also) put all the plates evenly.
- Very natural in descriptions of a combined task.
wamepanga meza na wakaweka sahani zote sawasawa
- wakaweka is a full verb form with its own subject/tense marker (wa-...-ka-...).
- Feels more narrative / step‑by‑step:
  - They set the table and then they put the plates evenly.

So na kuweka is more compact and treats panga meza + weka sahani as one overall action.

How does sahani zote show that “plates” is plural?

The noun sahani (plate / plates) belongs to the N class (9/10), where the singular and plural look the same.

Plural is shown by agreement, not by a different noun form:

sahani = plate / plates (form is the same)
zote = “all” agreeing with a class 10 (N-class plural) noun
- For people (class 2) it would be wote: watoto wote (all the children)
- For sahani (class 10) it’s zote: sahani zote (all the plates)

So sahani zote clearly means “all the plates” because zote is the plural agreement form.

What exactly does sawasawa mean here? Is it just “well” like vizuri?

Sawasawa literally has the idea of “equally, evenly, in a balanced way, just right.”

In this sentence:

sahani zote sawasawa = all the plates (are placed) evenly / symmetrically / uniformly.

It’s a bit more specific than vizuri:

vizuri = well, nicely (general quality)
sawasawa = evenly, uniformly, matching, “just right” (more about equality / levelness / regular spacing)

So the sentence implies that the children put the plates in a neat, even arrangement, not just “nicely” in a vague sense.

Why is sahani the same form for singular and plural?

Sahani is an example of a noun in the N class (noun classes 9/10 in textbooks):

Many nouns in this class have identical singular and plural forms.
You tell singular vs plural from:
- Context
- Numbers: sahani moja (one plate), sahani tatu (three plates)
- Agreement words (adjectives, quantifiers, etc.):
  - sahani moja nzuri – one nice plate
  - sahani zote nzuri – all the nice plates

So there is no separate “plural ending” added to sahani; the word itself stays the same, and you read plural from the words around it.

Can I change the word order, for example move leo or wenyewe to a different position?

You have some flexibility, but not everywhere.

Position of “leo”
- Leo watoto wenyewe wamepanga meza...
- Watoto wenyewe wamepanga meza leo...
- Both are correct.
- Leo at the beginning places extra emphasis on “today”.
Position of “wenyewe”
- Normal: watoto wenyewe (emphasis after the noun)
- You don’t normally say *wenyewe watoto.
- You can sometimes move it for emphasis:
  - Watoto wamepanga meza wenyewe.
    = The children have set the table themselves.

So: noun/pronoun + wenyewe is the basic pattern, but leo can move quite freely to the beginning or end of the clause.

Is there another way to say “the children themselves / on their own” in Swahili?

Yes. The two most common ways are:

Using wenyewe (as in your sentence):
- watoto wenyewe
  = the children themselves; the children (and not others)
Using peke yao:
- watoto peke yao
  = the children on their own / by themselves (without anyone else)

Nuance:

watoto wenyewe – often highlights which people did it
(the children themselves, not the adults).
watoto peke yao – highlights the lack of others / help
(the children, on their own, with no one else involved).

In many contexts they overlap, and both could be translated “by themselves.”

How is wenyewe used with other pronouns and nouns?

With personal pronouns, you usually put wenyewe right after the pronoun:

mimi mwenyewe – I myself
wewe mwenyewe – you yourself (singular)
yeye mwenyewe – he himself / she herself
sisi wenyewe – we ourselves
ninyi wenyewe – you yourselves (plural)
wao wenyewe – they themselves

With nouns, it follows the noun and agrees in noun class (the most common surface form is still -enyewe):

mtoto mwenyewe – the child himself/herself
watoto wenyewe – the children themselves
kiti chenyewe – the chair itself
viti vyenyewe – the chairs themselves
sahani yenyewe – the plate itself
sahani zenyewe – the plates themselves

In all these cases, it adds emphasis: that specific one(s), themselves / itself.

Does kupanga meza specifically mean “to set the table”?

Yes, kupanga meza is a natural way to say “to set/lay the table”.

The verb panga has a general meaning “to arrange, to put in order, to organize, to line up”. Examples:

kupanga vitabu – to arrange books
kupanga nyumba – to organize/tidy the house
kupanga ratiba – to plan/arrange a schedule

So in the context of a meal:

kupanga meza = arrange/set the table (putting things in order on it)

You might also hear kuandaa meza (“prepare the table”), which is similar, but kupanga meza is very common for “setting the table” in the sense used in your sentence.