Learn Hardcore Swahili: Ingawa leo ni siku ya mapumziko, mimi bado nitasoma maswali machache ya biolojia. - Although today is a rest day, I will still study a few biology questions.

It introduces a contrast between two ideas, just like English although.
It usually comes at the beginning of the clause it introduces, as in the example:

Ingawa leo ni siku ya mapumziko, mimi bado nitasoma…

You can also find it in the middle of a longer sentence, but the pattern Ingawa X, Y… is very common and natural.

Other near-synonyms you might see are ijapokuwa, ingawaje, and in looser contrast, hata kama (“even if”), though that one is more hypothetical.

Why do we say “leo ni siku ya mapumziko” instead of just “leo ni mapumziko”?

Literally, leo ni siku ya mapumziko is “today is a day of rest/holiday.”

leo – today
ni – is
siku – day
ya – of
mapumziko – rest / break / holiday

You can say leo ni mapumziko, and people will understand, but:

siku ya mapumziko is the more natural, standard expression for “a day off / holiday”, especially in more careful or written Swahili.
mapumziko on its own often means “rest / break / vacation” in a more general sense, not specifically “a whole day off”.

So leo ni siku ya mapumziko emphasizes that today is a full holiday/day off, not just “there is some rest today.”

What exactly does bado mean here, and where does it go in the sentence?

In this sentence, bado means “still” (as in “I will still study…”).

mimi bado nitasoma = “I will still study” / “I’m still going to study”

Position:

It normally comes before the verb phrase:
- Bado nitasoma. – I will still study.
- Bado nina kazi. – I still have work.

If you put bado at the end (nitasoma bado), it can sound odd or change the rhythm/meaning. The natural place is before the verb (often right after the subject):

mimi bado nitasoma
bado nitasoma (if you drop mimi)

How is the verb nitasoma built, and why is it “I will study” instead of “I study”?

nitasoma breaks down as:

ni- – subject prefix for “I” (1st person singular)
-ta- – future tense marker
-soma – verb root “read / study / learn”

So:

nitasoma = ni- + -ta- + soma = “I will study / I will read”

Compare with other tenses of soma:

ninasoma – I am reading / I study (present, continuous or habitual)
nimesoma – I have read / I have studied (perfect)
nilisoma – I read / I studied (past)

Note: soma can mean “read” or “study” depending on context, just like many languages use one word for both.

Why is the pronoun mimi used if ni- in nitasoma already means “I”?

The ni- in nitasoma already marks the subject as “I”, so grammatically mimi is not necessary.

Nitasoma maswali machache… – correct and complete
Mimi nitasoma maswali machache… – also correct

When you add mimi, it usually gives emphasis:

Mimi bado nitasoma… – I (personally) will still study…
- Maybe contrasting with others who are not studying.
- Similar to stressing “I will still study” in English.

So mimi here is for focus/emphasis, not for basic grammar.

What does maswali machache mean literally, and why machache and not something else?

maswali machache literally means “a few questions”.

maswali – questions (plural of swali, question)
machache – a few / not many (an adjective)

Why machache?

Swahili adjectives agree with the noun class.
swali/maswali is in the JI/MA class:

singular: swali
plural: maswali

The adjective -chache (“few”) takes different forms depending on the class:

JI/MA class plural: machache → maswali machache (a few questions)
N class plural: (e.g. siku, days) → siku chache
M/WA plural (people): watu wachache (a few people)

So machache is the correct agreeing form for maswali.

Why do we say “maswali machache ya biolojia” and not “maswali ya biolojia machache”?

The usual, natural order in Swahili is:

Noun
Adjective(s)
“of” phrase (ya/wa/za/... + noun)

So:

maswali machache ya biolojia
- maswali – questions
- machache – a few
- ya biolojia – of biology

Putting the adjective after the ya biolojia phrase:

maswali ya biolojia machache

is grammatically unusual and sounds off to native speakers.
Keep adjectives close to the main noun they describe:

maswali machache ya biolojia – a few biology questions

What does ya mean in “siku ya mapumziko” and “maswali machache ya biolojia”, and why is it ya and not wa or la?

ya here is the associative/possessive marker, roughly meaning “of”.

Swahili uses different forms (ya, wa, la, cha, vya, za, etc.) depending on the noun class of the first noun.

siku ya mapumziko
- siku – day (class N)
- For class N singular, the associative is ya → siku ya ... = day of ...
maswali machache ya biolojia
- maswali – questions (class JI/MA, plural)
- For JI/MA plural, the associative is also ya → maswali ya ... = questions of ...

Examples with other classes:

mtu wa… (person of…) – M/WA class uses wa
kitabu cha… (book of…) – KI/VI class uses cha
vitabu vya… (books of…) – KI/VI plural uses vya

So ya is chosen because siku and maswali are in noun classes that take ya in this construction.

Is biolojia just the English word “biology” in Swahili, and does it have any special grammar?

Yes, biolojia is a loanword from European languages (via English or others) and means “biology”.

Grammatically:

It behaves like many abstract N-class nouns:
- no change in form for singular vs plural in normal use
- it often takes ya in associative phrases because it’s treated like an N-class noun.

Examples:

maswali ya biolojia – biology questions
kitabu cha biolojia – a biology book
mwongozo wa biolojia – a biology guide

It is usually not capitalized in Swahili unless it begins a sentence or is in a title, just like other common nouns.

Is the comma after Ingawa leo ni siku ya mapumziko required in Swahili?

In practice, yes, a pause (usually written as a comma) is natural there.

Ingawa leo ni siku ya mapumziko, mimi bado nitasoma…

This matches spoken rhythm: you naturally pause after the “although” clause.

In informal writing, people sometimes skip commas, but in good standard writing, separating the Ingawa-clause from the main clause with a comma is normal and helps clarity, just like in English:

“Although today is a holiday, I will still study…”

How would I say the same idea using a present tense instead of future, like “I’m still studying a few biology questions”?

You would change the verb tense from future (-ta-) to present (-na-).

Original:

mimi bado nitasoma maswali machache ya biolojia
– I will still study a few biology questions.

Present:

Ingawa leo ni siku ya mapumziko, mimi bado ninasoma maswali machache ya biolojia.
– Although today is a holiday, I am still studying a few biology questions.

Breakdown of ninasoma:

ni- – I
-na- – present tense marker
soma – read/study

How would I make the second part negative, like “I still won’t study any biology questions”?

You need the negative future of soma.

Pattern for “I will not verb”:

si- (negative “I”) + -ta- (future) + verb root

So:

sitasoma – I will not study / I will not read

To say, “Although today is a holiday, I still won’t study any biology questions”:

Ingawa leo ni siku ya mapumziko, mimi bado sitasoma maswali yoyote ya biolojia.

Notes:

sitasoma – I will not study
maswali yoyote – any questions (yoyote = any; agreeing with maswali)
bado here keeps the meaning “still (even so)” in a slightly stubborn or insistent sense, depending on tone.