Learn Hardcore Swahili: Dada yangu hufanya zoezi la kukimbia kila asubuhi. - My sister does a running exercise every morning.

Dada yangu anafanya zoezi la kukimbia kila asubuhi.
this is also correct, and often still means a regular habit, but it is grammatically just the normal present tense (is doing / does).

So:

hufanya – highlights the idea of habitual / usually does.
anafanya – is doing / does (present); context then tells you it’s a habit if you add kila asubuhi (“every morning”).

In everyday speech, many people use anafanya for habits too, but hufanya is the “classic” habitual marker.

Why doesn’t hufanya have a subject prefix like anafanya (a-)?

With the habitual marker hu-, you don’t use a separate subject prefix on that same verb.

Normal present: a-na-fanya (a- = he/she, -na- = present)
Habitual: hu-fanya (single prefix hu- covering the habitual idea; the subject is understood from context or stated as a full noun phrase)

So you say:

Dada yangu hufanya… (not Dada yangu ahufanya…)

The subject is clear from Dada yangu, so you do not add a- to the verb when using hu-.

Could I say “Dada yangu anafanya zoezi la kukimbia kila asubuhi” instead? Does that change the meaning?

You can absolutely say that, and it’s completely natural.

Dada yangu hufanya zoezi la kukimbia kila asubuhi.
Dada yangu anafanya zoezi la kukimbia kila asubuhi.

Both can be understood as “My sister runs (for exercise) every morning.”

Nuance:

hufanya: explicitly presents it as a habit / routine.
anafanya: grammatically just present tense; with kila asubuhi (“every morning”), listeners will still interpret it as a habitual routine.

In practice, many speakers use anafanya more often in casual conversation, even for habits.

What does “zoezi la kukimbia” literally mean? Why not just say “runs”?

Literally, zoezi la kukimbia is:

zoezi – exercise (singular)
la – of (agreement for this noun class)
kukimbia – running (the verb kimbia “run” turned into a verbal noun / infinitive)

So the phrase is “exercise of running”, or more naturally “running exercise” / “running workout.”

If you just say:

Dada yangu hukimbia kila asubuhi.
= My sister runs every morning.

that focuses simply on the action of running.

Using zoezi la kukimbia emphasizes that she is doing it as exercise, as a workout, not just as a way of getting somewhere.

Why is it “zoezi la kukimbia” and not “zoezi ya kukimbia”?

The word zoezi belongs to noun class 5/6 (often paired with zoezi / mazoezi).

The associative “of” connector -a (written as wa, ya, la, cha, etc.) has to agree with the noun class of the head noun:

Class 5 (e.g. zoezi) takes la.
- zoezi la kukimbia – the exercise of running.

For comparison:

Class 6 (plural mazoezi) would take ya:
- mazoezi ya kukimbia – running exercises / running workouts.

So la is correct because zoezi is class 5.

Is “zoezi” singular and “mazoezi” plural? Why use the singular here?

Yes:

zoezi – a single exercise (class 5)
mazoezi – exercises or exercise (in general) (class 6 plural, but often used like an uncountable noun: “training, workout”)

In practice:

kufanya mazoezi – to exercise / to work out (very common)
zoezi la kukimbia – a running exercise / running as an exercise

Your sentence uses the singular zoezi, which sounds like “the exercise of running” as a specific type of exercise. Very many speakers also say:

Dada yangu hufanya mazoezi ya kukimbia kila asubuhi.
= My sister does running exercises every morning / works out by running every morning.

Both are acceptable; mazoezi ya kukimbia is probably more common in the sense of “workout.”

What exactly is kukimbia? Is that an infinitive?

Yes. kukimbia is the infinitive / verbal noun form of the verb kimbia (to run).

Formation:

Basic verb: kimbia – run
Infinitive: ku- + kimbia → kukimbia – (to) run / running

This ku- form behaves like a noun in many structures, including after -a (of):

zoezi la kukimbia – exercise of running
kabla ya kula – before eating (from kula – to eat)

So in this sentence, kukimbia is like saying “running” (as a gerund).

Why is it “dada yangu” and not “dada wangu”?

Possessive adjectives in Swahili (-angu, -ako, -ake, etc.) must agree with the noun class of the noun they describe.

dada (sister) is in noun class 9/10.
In class 9/10, “my” is yangu, not wangu.

So:

dada yangu – my sister
rafiki yangu – my friend (rafiki is also often class 9)

By contrast:

mtu wangu – my person (mtu = class 1; “my guy / my person”)
mwalimu wangu – my teacher (class 1)

So dada wangu is grammatically wrong in standard Swahili; it should be dada yangu.

Does dada mean older sister, younger sister, or just “sister”?

In Swahili, dada by itself just means “sister”, without specifying older or younger.

If you want to be more specific, you can say:

dada mkubwa – older/big sister
dada mdogo – younger/little sister

In many contexts, dada yangu is enough, and if age matters, the speaker will add mkubwa or mdogo, or explain it another way.

Why is it “kila asubuhi” and not something like “kila masubuhi”? Doesn’t “every” usually go with a plural in English?

The word kila means “every / each”, and in Swahili:

kila is invariable (it doesn’t change form), and
the noun that follows it always appears in the singular.

So you say:

kila asubuhi – every morning
kila siku – every day
kila mtoto – every child

You do not pluralize the noun after kila, so “kila masubuhi” is incorrect. Even though English uses a plural (“every mornings” in sense), Swahili keeps the noun singular.

Why is the word order “dada yangu” and not “yangu dada” like in English “my sister”?

In Swahili, possessive adjectives come after the noun:

dada yangu – my sister
kitabu changu – my book
rafiki wako – your friend

So the pattern is:

Noun + Possessive

This is the regular order for possessives (and most adjectives) in Swahili, unlike English, where “my/my” etc. usually come before the noun.