Jogoo wetu huwika alfajiri kila siku.

Our rooster crows at dawn every day.

Breakdown of Jogoo wetu huwika alfajiri kila siku.

• kila: every
• siku: the day
• wetu: our
• alfajiri: at dawn
• jogoo: the rooster
• kuwika: to crow

Questions & Answers about Jogoo wetu huwika alfajiri kila siku.

What does each word in Jogoo wetu huwika alfajiri kila siku literally mean?

Word by word:

• jogoo – rooster / cockerel (adult male chicken)
• wetu – our
• huwika – (he/it) crows (habitually, as something that normally happens)
• alfajiri – at dawn / very early morning, just before or around sunrise
• kila siku – every day

So the sentence literally means: “Rooster our crows dawn every day.” Swahili word order allows that to be natural, but in English we reorder it: “Our rooster crows at dawn every day.”

What noun class is jogoo, and how do I make it plural?

• jogoo belongs to the JI/MA noun class (sometimes listed as class 5/6), but like many animals and people it’s often treated a bit irregularly in everyday speech.
• Singular: jogoo – rooster
• Plural: most commonly majogoo – roosters

In real usage, you’ll hear both:

• jogoo wetu – our rooster
• majogoo wetu – our roosters

Grammatically it behaves like many animals where the plural often takes ma-, even if the singular doesn’t clearly show a ji- prefix.

How does wetu work? Why is it jogoo wetu and not something like jogoo yetu?

Swahili possessives agree with the noun class of the thing possessed, not with the person who possesses it.

• The base form for “our” is -etu.
• To attach it, you add a class marker in front of -etu.

Relevant patterns:

• Class 1/2 (person: mtu / watu) → wetu (our person/people)
• Class 3/4 (trees, some animals) → wetu too, when the noun takes the m-/mi- pattern
• Some nouns like jogoo also take wetu by convention.

So you get:

• jogoo wetu – our rooster
• mtoto wetu – our child
• mti wetu – our tree

You would not say jogoo yetu; yetu is used with nouns of other classes (e.g. chakula chetu, gari letu, meza yetu, nyumba yetu).

What exactly does hu- in huwika mean? How is it different from anawika?

hu- is a habitual tense/aspect marker. It expresses something that happens regularly, as a general habit or fact, not just right now.

• huwika = hu- (habitual marker) + -wika (crow)
  → “(he/it) usually crows / crows as a habit.”

Compare:

• Jogoo wetu huwika alfajiri kila siku.
  → Our rooster (by nature / regularly) crows at dawn every day.

• Jogoo wetu anawika alfajiri.
  → Our rooster is crowing at dawn (this time / around now).

So:

• hu- = general, timeless habit or tendency
• -na- (as in anawika) = present/progressive (“is crowing”)

Why doesn’t huwika have a subject prefix like a-? Why not *ahuwika?

With the habitual hu-, you do not use a subject prefix on the verb. The pattern is simply:

hu- + verb stem

So:

• huwika – (he/she/it) crows (habitually)
• husoma – (he/she/it) reads/studies (habitually)
• hula – (he/she/it) eats (habitually)

You should not say:

• ahuwika
• anahuwika

Those are ungrammatical. The subject is clear from context or from an explicit noun:

• Jogoo wetu huwika… – Our rooster crows…
• Yeye huwika… – He (the rooster) crows…

Can huwika also mean “I crow” or “you crow,” or is it only “he/she/it crows”?

In form, hu- + stem is the same for all persons:

• huwika can mean I/you/he/she/it/we/they crow (habitually).

The person is understood from:

1. The subject noun:
   
   • Jogoo wetu huwika… – Our rooster crows…
2. A pronoun:
   
   • Mimi huwika… – I crow (habitually).
   • Wewe huwika… – You crow (habitually).

In practice, this tense is used mostly for general statements (facts, habits, nature), often with third person subjects (people in general, animals, things, etc.).

Could I say Jogoo wetu anawika alfajiri kila siku instead? Is that wrong?

It’s grammatical, but the nuance shifts slightly.

• Jogoo wetu huwika alfajiri kila siku.
  Emphasizes a general habit/nature: “Our rooster (as a rule) crows at dawn every day.”

• Jogoo wetu anawika alfajiri kila siku.
  Grammatically: “Our rooster is crowing at dawn every day.”
  This can still be understood as a regular action, but -na- focuses more on what is happening in the present time frame, not timeless habit.

In everyday conversation, people sometimes use -na- loosely even for habitual actions, but if you want clean textbook Swahili, hu- is the clearest marker of a habitual/general truth.

What’s the difference between alfajiri and asubuhi?

Both relate to morning, but they’re not the same:

• alfajiri – dawn / very early morning, roughly before or around sunrise (e.g. ~4–6 a.m.).
• asubuhi – the morning in general, from early morning until around midday.

So:

• Jogoo wetu huwika alfajiri.
  → Our rooster crows at dawn (very early).

• Ninaamka asubuhi.
  → I wake up in the morning (not necessarily at dawn).

You could say Jogoo wetu huwika asubuhi, but it’s less precise and sounds more like “in the morning” rather than “right at dawn.”

Is the order alfajiri kila siku fixed, or can I move those time expressions around?

You can move them around quite freely. All of these are natural:

• Jogoo wetu huwika alfajiri kila siku.
• Jogoo wetu huwika kila siku alfajiri.
• Kila siku jogoo wetu huwika alfajiri.
• Alfajiri, jogoo wetu huwika kila siku. (with a comma in writing)

Swahili allows flexible placement of time expressions for emphasis. The meaning stays essentially the same; what changes is which part you emphasize in speech.

What does kila siku mean exactly, and can I just say kila on its own?

• kila = every / each
• siku = day

Together:

• kila siku = every day

You cannot normally use kila by itself to mean “every day.” You need a noun after it:

• kila siku – every day
• kila wiki – every week
• kila mwezi – every month
• kila mwaka – every year

Just kila alone would sound incomplete.

How would I say the negative: “Our rooster does not crow at dawn every day”?

You don’t negate hu- directly. Instead, you use the normal present negative:

Pattern for 3rd person singular negative present: > ha- + verb stem + -i

For wika:

• Affirmative habitual: huwika
• Negative present: hawiki

So:

• Jogoo wetu hawiki alfajiri kila siku.
  → Our rooster does not crow at dawn every day.

Here you’ve switched from the special habitual hu- to the general present tense with ha-…-i in the negative.

How do I pronounce Jogoo wetu huwika alfajiri kila siku?

Swahili spelling is very phonetic. Syllable by syllable:

• Jogoo – jo-go-o (three syllables; j like English jam; both o’s as in more)
• wetu – we-tu ( e as in bet)
• huwika – hu-wi-ka (h is breathed, u as in put but a bit clearer, wi like wee)
• alfajiri – al-fa-ji-ri (j as in jam, all vowels clear and short)
• kila – ki-la
• siku – si-ku (s always like in see, u like oo in food but shorter)

Stress is usually on the second-to-last syllable:

• jo-GO-o
• WE-tu
• hu-WI-ka
• al-fa-JI-ri
• KI-la
• SI-ku

Putting it together smoothly:
jo-GO-o WE-tu hu-WI-ka al-fa-JI-ri KI-la SI-ku.