Nunua unachotaka sokoni.

Buy what you want at the market.

Breakdown of Nunua unachotaka sokoni.

• kwenye: at
• soko: the market
• kununua: to buy
• unachotaka: which you want

Questions & Answers about Nunua unachotaka sokoni.

What does each word in Nunua unachotaka sokoni literally mean?

Breakdown:

• nunua – buy (imperative: a command to you)
• unachotaka – literally you that‑which want → what you want
  • u- = you (singular subject marker)
  • -na- = present tense marker
  • -cho- = relative marker meaning that which / what (thing)
  • -taka = want
• sokoni – at the market
  
  • soko = market
  • -ni = locative ending meaning in/at/on

So the whole sentence is: Buy what you want at the market.

Why isn’t there a separate word for “what” in this sentence?

Swahili often expresses “what / that which” with a relative marker inside the verb, not with a separate word.
In unachotaka, the -cho- part means “that which / what (thing)”.

So instead of something like “ununua kitu ambacho unataka”, Swahili can compress it to unachotaka:

• nunua unachotaka ≈ buy (the thing) that you want → buy what you want.

How exactly is unachotaka built up, grammatically?

unachotaka is one word made of several pieces:

• u- – subject marker for you (singular)
• -na- – present tense (you *are … / you do …*)
• -cho- – relative marker meaning that which / what (thing)
• -taka – verb root want

So a literal gloss would be: you-PRES-REL-want → what you want / the thing that you want.

Why is there a present tense marker -na- in unachotaka if English just says “what you want”?

In Swahili, normal relative clauses still take a regular tense marker.
unachotaka is really a shortened relative clause: (kitu) unachotaka = (the thing) that you want.

The -na- shows ordinary present tense, roughly “you (now) want” or “you generally want”.
English usually doesn’t show this tense separately inside “what you want”, but Swahili keeps the tense marking there.

Why isn’t there a separate word for “you” like wewe?

Swahili normally builds the subject into the verb using a subject marker, rather than using a separate pronoun.
In unachotaka, the u- at the beginning already means “you (singular)”.

A separate wewe is only used for emphasis or contrast, e.g.

• Wewe nunua unachotaka sokoni – You (as opposed to others), buy what you want at the market.
  In the neutral sentence, wewe is simply omitted.

Is nunua a command, and how would I make it more polite?

Yes. nunua here is an imperative, a direct command to one person: “Buy …!”

To sound more polite, you can:

• Add tafadhali (please):
  
  • Tafadhali nunua unachotaka sokoni.
• Use the polite/honorific -e form with u- (sometimes taught as “polite command”):
  
  • Ununue unachotaka sokoni, tafadhali.
    In everyday speech, adding tafadhali to the plain imperative is very common.

How would I say this to more than one person (plural “you”)?

Change the verb forms to plural you:

• nunua → nunuenI (2nd person plural imperative)
• unachotaka → mnachotaka (you-plural present)

So for you (plural):

• NunuenI mnachotaka sokoni. – You (all) buy what you want at the market.

In fast speech people may drop the final -i: nunuen / nunuenI, but in writing nunuenI is standard.

Can I change the word order, like Nunua sokoni unachotaka?

The most natural order is what you see:

• Nunua unachotaka sokoni.

Putting sokoni earlier is not wrong grammatically, but it can sound less natural or slightly marked:

• Nunua sokoni unachotaka. – understandable, but not the default rhythm.

In Swahili, the typical pattern is verb + object/relative phrase + place/time, so it’s best to keep sokoni at the end here.

What does -ni in sokoni do, and how is that different from saying katika soko?

-ni is a locative suffix meaning in, at, on.
So:

• soko – market
• sokoni – in/at the market

You could also say:

• katika soko – in the market

sokoni is shorter and very common for typical places (market, shop, house, etc.).
katika soko is a bit more neutral/formal; sokoni is the normal everyday way to say at the market.

Can unachotaka be used on its own as “what you want” in other sentences?

Yes. unachotaka functions as a noun-like phrase meaning what you want / the thing that you want. For example:

• Nitakupa unachotaka. – I will give you what you want.
• Usifanye unachotaka tu. – Don’t just do what you want.

The same pattern works with other persons:

• anachotaka – what he/she wants
• wanachotaka – what they want

How would I say “Buy whatever you want” versus “Buy the thing you want”?

Context and small additions do this:

1. Buy whatever you want (very free choice):

   • Nunua chochote unachotaka sokoni.
     
     • chochote = anything / whatever (thing)

2. Buy the thing you want (more specific thing already in mind):

   • Nunua kile unachotaka sokoni.
     
     • kile = that thing / the thing (over there / already known)

Plain Nunua unachotaka sokoni is closer to “Buy what you want”, and can lean either way depending on context.