Breakdown of Wakati wa mkutano wa familia, wazazi wote huwa wanauliza maoni ya watoto wao.
Questions & Answers about Wakati wa mkutano wa familia, wazazi wote huwa wanauliza maoni ya watoto wao.
Wakati wa literally means the time of and in practice often translates as during or when.
Structure:
- wakati = time
- wa = the possessive/connector meaning of (agreeing with wakati)
So:
- wakati wa mkutano wa familia = the time of the family meeting → during the family meeting
You will see this pattern a lot:
- wakati wa kazi = during work / at work time
- wakati wa mvua = during the rains / rainy season
So wakati wa + noun is a very common way to say during X or at the time of X.
Yes, both wa are the same grammatical item: the associative (possessive) marker meaning of. It appears twice because there are two “of” relationships:
wakati wa mkutano
- the time of the meeting
mkutano wa familia
- the meeting of the family → the family meeting
So the structure is:
- wakati wa [mkutano wa familia]
- time of [meeting of family]
Each wa agrees with the noun it belongs to:
- wakati (time) → takes wa
- mkutano (meeting) → also takes wa
So you end up with two wa in a row, each linking its own pair of nouns.
Because the connector (the “of” word) agrees with the head noun of the phrase, which is mkutano.
- Head noun: mkutano (meeting), class 3 (m-/mi-)
- For class 3, the associative marker (of) is wa
So:
- mkutano wa familia = meeting of (the) family
Even though familia belongs to a different noun class, the connector does not agree with familia; it agrees with mkutano, the head.
Some parallel examples:
- mti wa embe = mango tree (literally: tree of mango)
- mji wa Nairobi = the city of Nairobi
Always check which noun is the main one (the thing being described). That noun controls the form of -a (here: wa).
Huwa here expresses habitual or usual action – something that generally or regularly happens, not just once.
wazazi wote wanauliza maoni ya watoto wao
→ the parents ask their children’s opinions (plain statement about now / generally)wazazi wote huwa wanauliza maoni ya watoto wao
→ the parents usually / generally / tend to ask their children’s opinions
So huwa is roughly like usually, generally, or tend to in English. It makes it clear that this is a regular pattern during family meetings, not a single event.
Yes, you can say it without huwa, and the sentence is still grammatically correct:
- Wazazi wote wanauliza maoni ya watoto wao.
Meaning difference:
With huwa: emphasizes habit / routine
- All the parents usually/typically ask for their children’s opinions.
Without huwa: more neutral present
- Can mean they ask (now) or they ask (as a general fact); the habitual idea is possible but not highlighted.
In many contexts, the version without huwa would still be understood as a general habit, especially with time expressions like kila wiki (every week) or kila mwaka (every year). Huwa just makes that habitual sense very explicit.
Wanauliza is made of:
- wa- = subject prefix for they (class 2, plural humans, matching wazazi)
- -na- = present tense marker (often called the present continuous or present habitual)
- -uliza = verb root ask
So:
- wanauliza = they are asking / they ask
In context with huwa, it is understood as a habitual present:
- huwa wanauliza = they usually ask / they are in the habit of asking
Wote means all here:
- wazazi wote = all the parents
The reason it has this form is agreement:
- wazazi is plural humans (noun class 2, wa- class)
- The word for all is based on -ote, but it takes a class prefix
- For class 2, the prefix is w-, so we get wote
Compare:
- mtoto wote (class 1) – the whole child / the entire child (usually context will change wording)
- watoto wote (class 2) – all the children
- vitabu vyote (class 8) – all the books
- chakula chote (class 7) – all the food / the whole food
So wote is simply the class-2 form of all, agreeing with wazazi.
Maoni means opinions, views, or feedback.
Grammatically:
- It belongs to the ma- class (class 6)
- It is formally plural (the singular base is oni, which you hardly ever see in everyday language)
In practice, maoni can behave a bit like an English mass noun:
- It can refer to one opinion or several opinions, depending on context
- It is often translated just as opinion or feedback
In this sentence, maoni ya watoto wao naturally reads as their children’s opinions (possibly more than one).
Both wao and zao can mean their, but they agree with different noun classes.
wao is the possessive form used with class 1/2 (human) nouns:
- mtoto wake / watoto wao = his/her child / their children
- mwalimu wake / walimu wao = his/her teacher / their teachers
zao is used with class 10 (N-class plural, often animals/things) and some other classes:
- paka zao = their cats
- nguo zao = their clothes
In maoni ya watoto wao:
- watoto is class 2 (human plural), so it takes the class-2 possessive wao, not zao.
So:
- watoto wao = their children (correct)
- watoto zao would be incorrect in standard Swahili.
Again, the connector -a agrees with the head noun of the phrase, which here is maoni.
- Head noun: maoni (class 6, ma- class)
- For class 6, the associative marker of is ya
So:
- maoni ya watoto wao = the opinions of their children
Even though watoto is class 2, it does not control the form of -a; maoni does, because maoni is what is being possessed or qualified.
Some parallel examples with class 6:
- maziwa ya ng'ombe = cow’s milk (milk of cows)
- majina ya wanafunzi = the names of the students
In each case, ya is chosen because the head noun (maziwa, majina, maoni) is in the ma- (class 6) group.
Yes, Swahili word order is fairly flexible for adverbial time phrases like this.
Your original sentence:
- Wakati wa mkutano wa familia, wazazi wote huwa wanauliza maoni ya watoto wao.
You can also say:
- Wazazi wote huwa wanauliza maoni ya watoto wao wakati wa mkutano wa familia.
Both are grammatical and natural.
- Putting wakati wa mkutano wa familia at the beginning highlights the time frame first: As for during the family meeting…
- Putting it at the end is a bit more neutral, just adding the time information after the main statement.
In spoken Swahili, both orders are common.
In Swahili, uliza normally takes a direct object for what is being asked, without a preposition:
- aliuliza swali = he/she asked a question
- waliuliza jina lako = they asked (for) your name
Similarly:
- wanauliza maoni ya watoto wao
- literally: they ask opinions of their children
- natural English: they ask for their children’s opinions
English requires a preposition (ask for), but Swahili does not; the verb uliza directly governs the thing requested.
If you want to show who is being asked, you usually add that noun phrase with kwa or just as another object depending on structure, e.g.:
- walimu waliuliza wanafunzi maoni (less common structure)
- walimu waliuliza maoni kwa wanafunzi = the teachers asked the students for opinions
In the given sentence, the focus is on what is asked (maoni) and whose opinions they are (ya watoto wao), so no extra preposition is needed.