Breakdown of Kila wikendi, wajukuu wa bibi huandika shajara fupi kuhusu siku yao.
Questions & Answers about Kila wikendi, wajukuu wa bibi huandika shajara fupi kuhusu siku yao.
The prefix hu- on a verb in Swahili marks a habitual or general action (things that usually / regularly happen).
- huandika = (they) habitually write / (they) usually write / (they) write (as a general routine)
- It does not take a subject prefix, so you do not say *wahuandika.
- The subject is understood from context and word order: wajukuu wa bibi huandika → Grandmother’s grandchildren habitually write…
If you wanted a normal present tense (not specifically “habitual”), you would use the subject prefix:
- wajukuu wa bibi wanaandika shajara fupi
= The grandchildren are writing / write (now / these days).
So:
- huandika → special “habitual” tense, no subject prefix.
- wanaandika → normal present tense, with subject prefix wa- for class 2 (wajukuu).
Yes, you can say:
- Kila wikendi, wajukuu wa bibi wanaandika shajara fupi kuhusu siku yao.
This is grammatically correct. The nuance:
- huandika: emphasizes a habit or routine, almost like saying “they make a point of writing every weekend”.
- wanaandika: more neutral present, could just describe what generally happens, or what is happening around now.
With kila wikendi, both are acceptable, but many speakers prefer huandika because kila (“every”) already implies a habit, and hu- matches that nicely.
The wa here is the “of” connector (associative marker) that agrees with the noun class of the first noun.
- Head noun: wajukuu (grandchildren), noun class 2 (plural of mjukuu).
- For class 1/2 (people), the associative “of” is wa.
So:
- wajukuu wa bibi = the grandchildren of grandmother / grandmother’s grandchildren.
You use different forms of “of” depending on the noun class of the first noun:
- mtoto wa bibi (child of grandmother) – class 1 → wa
- wajukuu wa bibi (grandchildren of grandmother) – class 2 → wa
- siku ya kazi (day of work) – class 9 → ya
So ya would be wrong with wajukuu, because ya doesn’t match class 2; wa does.
- mjukuu = grandchild (singular)
- wajukuu = grandchildren (plural)
This is a typical class 1/2 (M-/WA-) noun pattern for people:
- Singular prefix: m- → mjukuu
- Plural prefix: wa- → wajukuu
Other similar examples:
- mtoto (child) → watoto (children)
- mwalimu (teacher) → walimu (teachers)
So when you see people nouns with m- in singular and wa- in plural, they’re usually in this class.
Position:
In Swahili, descriptive adjectives usually come after the noun:- shajara fupi = short diary
- mtoto mzuri = good / nice child
- kitabu kipya = new book
Agreement / form:
shajara is in the N-class (9/10), whose adjectives often have no visible prefix; they just use the bare root:- shajara fupi (short diary)
- siku ndefu (long day)
- habari njema (good news)
So fupi doesn’t change shape here; it already matches the noun class in its “bare” form.
- shajara: a diary or journal—a book where you write entries about your experiences, thoughts, or daily events.
- daftari: a notebook in general—used for school notes, lists, exercises, etc.
So in this sentence:
- shajara fupi = a short diary / short journal entry
(not just any notebook, but something like a diary or journal-style writing).
kuhusu is a preposition meaning about / concerning:
- kuhusu siku yao = about their day.
You can say:
- juu ya siku yao
This literally means “on/top of their day”, but idiomatically can also mean “about their day”. However, kuhusu is usually more straightforward and natural for “about (a topic)”.
So:
- For “about a topic”: kuhusu is the default.
- juu ya can also mean “about”, but it’s more literally “on / on top of / regarding” and is a bit more physical or figurative in many contexts.
Both yao and zao are “their”, but they agree with different plural noun classes.
- siku belongs to class 9/10, where:
- Singular “their”: yake → yao
- Plural “their”: zake → zao
So:
- siku yao = their day (one day, possessed by “them”).
- siku zao = their days (several days, possessed by “them”).
Because the sentence is talking about each weekend and a diary entry about that day, we interpret siku yao as their (single) day.
Note: the form siku is the same for singular and plural, so you know from the possessive:
- yao → treating siku as singular
- zao → treating siku as plural
Swahili normally shows possession with a possessive adjective that agrees with the possessed noun, not by adding “of them” after it.
- Possessed noun: siku (class 9)
- 3rd person plural “their” for class 9 singular: yao
So:
- siku yao = their day
Forms like siku ya wao or siku wa wao are not natural here. The pattern is:
- siku yake (his / her day)
- siku yao (their day)
You only separate with ya/wa/za… + pronoun in certain emphatic or different structures, not in basic possession like this.
The possessive yao does not agree with the owners; it agrees with the noun being owned.
- Owners: wajukuu (they, the grandchildren)
- Owned thing: siku (day), class 9
Class 9 uses ya- (for singular) in possessives:
- siku yake = his/her day
- siku yao = their day
So:
- wao is the independent pronoun “they / them”.
- yao is the possessive “their” matching siku’s noun class.
That’s why we say siku yao, not siku wao.
Yes, kila (“every / each”) is normally followed by a singular noun, even if the meaning is repetitive:
- kila siku = every day
- kila wiki = every week
- kila mtoto = every child
- kila wikendi = every weekend
So even though you mean many weekends over time, the noun stays in the singular form after kila.
You might also hear:
- kila mwisho wa wiki = every weekend (literally “every end of the week”),
but kila wikendi is shorter and very common in modern usage.