Learn Hardcore Swahili: Tunaweza kukutana mahali popote mjini, kwa sababu ninajua barabara zote. - We can meet anywhere in town, because I know all the streets.

In Swahili, when you use a verb like -weza (“to be able, can”) before another verb, the second verb stays in the infinitive form, with ku-:

tunaweza kukutana = we can meet
ninaanza kusoma = I am starting to read
anapenda kuimba = he/she likes to sing

You normally don’t conjugate that second verb again.
So tunaweza tunakutana is not correct here; it would be like saying “we can we-are-meeting.”

What does kukutana mean exactly? Does it already include “each other”?

Yes. kukutana means “to meet (each other)”, with a built‑in reciprocal idea.

tukutane kesho = let’s meet tomorrow
walikutana sokoni = they met at the market

If you want to be explicit, you can say kukutana na mtu (“to meet with a person”), but the idea of “each other” is already inside kutana/kukutana in most contexts.

What does mahali popote mean, and could we just say popote?

mahali = place
popote = anywhere / at any place (literally “whichever place (here)")

So mahali popote literally means “any place whatsoever” and is often translated as “anywhere.”

You can often drop mahali and just say:

Tunaweza kukutana popote mjini. = We can meet anywhere in town.

Including mahali makes the phrase a bit more explicit and sometimes slightly more emphatic, but in many everyday sentences popote alone is fine.

Why is it mjini and not mji?

mji = town / city (the noun itself).
mjini = in town / in the city, with -ni added.

The suffix -ni is a common locative marker in Swahili. It often means “in/at/on” when attached to a noun:

nyumba → nyumbani = house → at home
kanisa → kanisani = church → at church
mji → mjini = town → in town / in the city

So mjini in the sentence is best understood as “(anywhere) in town / in the city.”

What does kwa sababu mean, and is it the only way to say “because”?

kwa sababu means “because” (literally “for reason”).

In the sentence:

… kwa sababu ninajua barabara zote.
= “… because I know all the roads.”

Other common ways to say “because” include:

kwa kuwa = because
maana = because / since (more conversational)
sababu by itself in some casual speech

But kwa sababu is very common, neutral, and always safe to use.

Why is it ninajua instead of najua, and are both correct?

ninajua is built from:

ni- = “I”
-na- = present tense
jua = know

So ninajua = “I know.”

In spoken Swahili, people very often drop the first vowel in forms like this, so:

ninajua → najua
ninala → nala
ninasoma → nasoma

Both ninajua and najua are understood and commonly used.
In more formal writing or careful speech, ninajua is preferred; in casual speech you’ll hear najua all the time.

What does barabara zote mean, and how does zote work here?

barabara = road / street (class 9/10; singular and plural look the same)
zote = all (of them), agreeing with a class 9/10 plural noun

So:

barabara zote = all the roads / every road

Swahili has no word for “the,” so barabara zote can be understood as “all (the) roads.”
The word zote shows plural and the noun class (9/10), not definiteness, but in context it usually translates as “all the roads.”

How does word order work with kwa sababu? Could we put the “because” part first?

Yes, the because-clause can go either after or before the main clause:

Tunaweza kukutana mahali popote mjini, kwa sababu ninajua barabara zote.
= We can meet anywhere in town, because I know all the roads.
Kwa sababu ninajua barabara zote, tunaweza kukutana mahali popote mjini.
= Because I know all the roads, we can meet anywhere in town.

Both are grammatical. The choice is mostly about emphasis and style, just like in English.

How would this change if I wanted to say “We will be able to meet anywhere in town…” instead of “We can meet…”?

You would change the tense of -weza from present -na- to future -ta-:

Tutaweza kukutana mahali popote mjini, kwa sababu ninajua barabara zote.
= We will be able to meet anywhere in town, because I know all the roads.

Breakdown:

tu- = we
-ta- = future
weza = be able
→ tutaweza = we will be able (to).