Breakdown of Mama anapenda kupangusa meza baada ya chakula.
Questions & Answers about Mama anapenda kupangusa meza baada ya chakula.
Anapenda can be broken down into three parts:
- a- = subject prefix for he/she (3rd person singular, noun class 1 – people, like mama).
- -na- = present tense marker (often “is …ing” or “does” in English).
- -penda = verb root meaning like / love.
So anapenda literally means “he/she likes” or “he/she loves”, and here it refers back to mama, so: “Mother likes / loves …”
In Swahili, when you use a verb as “to do something” (the infinitive), you normally put ku- before the verb root.
- pangusa = verb root wipe
- kupangusa = to wipe
After verbs like penda (to like/love), you use the infinitive:
- anapenda kupangusa meza = she likes to wipe the table
Without ku- (anapenda pangusa) it sounds ungrammatical, because pangusa by itself needs its own subject and tense markers, like anapanguza (“she wipes”), alipanguza (“she wiped”), etc.
Anapenda can mean both “likes” and “loves”, depending on context. Swahili doesn’t separate them as clearly as English does.
In everyday, neutral contexts (food, activities, habits), anapenda is usually understood as “likes”:
- Mama anapenda kupangusa meza → Mom likes to wipe the table.
In emotional or personal contexts, it can be closer to “loves”:
- Anampenda mume wake → She loves her husband.
So in your sentence, English “likes” is the more natural translation, but “loves” is not wrong in a very literal sense.
Both are possible, but they have slightly different structures:
kupangusa meza
- No object prefix in the verb.
- Literally: to wipe table
- This is the usual, simple way to say it when the object is right after the verb.
kuipangusa meza
- -i- is an object prefix for class 9/10 nouns (like meza).
- Literally: to wipe it, the table
- More natural if “the table” is already known and emphasized, or if the noun comes later or is omitted:
- Mama anapenda kuipangusa. → Mom likes to wipe it (the table).
In your sentence, kupangusa meza is straightforward and very natural.
Meza means “table”.
It belongs to noun class 9/10, where singular and plural often look the same:
- meza = table (singular)
- meza = tables (plural)
You know from context whether it’s one table or several:
- Mama anapenda kupangusa meza.
→ Usually understood as “the table” (one table) in a typical household context. - Mama anapenda kupangusa meza zote.
→ Mom likes to wipe all the tables. (here zote = “all (of them)” shows plural)
Swahili does not have separate words for “a” or “the”. The noun by itself can be interpreted as definite or indefinite, depending on context:
- meza = table / the table / a table
- chakula = food / the food / a meal
Context tells you what is meant:
- In your sentence, meza is naturally understood as “the table” and chakula as “the meal / the food” because they are specific in a household routine.
If you really need to specify, you use other words, such as:
- ile meza = that table
- meza moja = one table / a single table
- chakula kile = that food / that meal
Baada ya chakula literally means “the after of food” → “after the food / after the meal”.
- baada = after
- ya = possessive connector “of” that agrees with baada (class 9)
- chakula = food / meal
In Swahili, when a word like baada (“after”), kabla (“before”), katika (“in”), etc. connects to a noun, it often uses a possessive-like connector that agrees with the first word’s noun class. For baada (class 9), the connector is ya.
So:
- baada ya chakula = after the meal
- baada ya kazi = after work
- baada ya shule = after school
They are related but not the same:
- kula = to eat (verb infinitive)
- chakula = food, meal (noun)
chakula is formed from the verb kula with the noun prefix cha-, which usually marks noun class 7.
Some related examples:
- kunywa (to drink) → kinywaji (a drink, beverage)
- kulala (to sleep) → malazi (lodging, sleeping place) – different pattern but same idea of verb → noun.
In your sentence:
- baada ya chakula = after the food / the meal
- If you said baada ya kula, that would mean “after eating” (after the act of eating).
Yes, you can say baada ya kula, and both are correct, but they focus on slightly different things:
baada ya chakula
- Literally: after the meal / after the food
- Focuses on the event or time of the meal as a thing.
baada ya kula
- Literally: after eating
- Focuses on the action of eating.
In everyday use, they often overlap and can both be translated as “after eating” in English. In your sentence, either would sound natural:
- Mama anapenda kupangusa meza baada ya chakula.
- Mama anapenda kupangusa meza baada ya kula.
The given word order is the most natural and neutral:
- [Subject] [verb] [object] [time expression]
→ Mama anapenda kupangusa meza baada ya chakula.
But Swahili does allow some flexibility for emphasis. You could say:
- Mama baada ya chakula anapenda kupangusa meza.
This is still grammatical but sounds slightly more marked, putting more emphasis on “after the meal” as a contrastive time (“as for after the meal, that’s when mom likes to wipe the table”).
So:
- Neutral, everyday style: Mama anapenda kupangusa meza baada ya chakula.
- Emphatic on time: Baada ya chakula, mama anapenda kupangusa meza.
Yes, you can use kufuta, and the meaning is very close:
- kupangusa meza = to wipe / wipe down the table, usually with a cloth, often implying a bit more thorough cleaning or rubbing.
- kufuta meza = to wipe / erase / remove from the table, slightly more general – futa is also used for erasing writing, removing marks, etc.
In daily speech, many speakers might use them interchangeably here:
- Mama anapenda kupangusa meza baada ya chakula.
- Mama anapenda kufuta meza baada ya chakula.
Both can be understood as “Mom likes to wipe the table after the meal.”