Moyo wa babu hufurahi kila mara anaposimulia safari zake za baharini.

Grandfather’s heart rejoices whenever he tells about his sea journeys.

Breakdown of Moyo wa babu hufurahi kila mara anaposimulia safari zake za baharini.

• kila: every
• wa: of
• za: of
• safari: the journey
• zake: his
• mara: the time
• babu: the grandfather
• moyo: the heart
• baharini: at sea
• kufurahi: to rejoice
• anaposimulia: whenever he tells

Questions & Answers about Moyo wa babu hufurahi kila mara anaposimulia safari zake za baharini.

Why does the sentence say Moyo wa babu (“grandfather’s heart”) instead of just Babu (“grandfather”)?

Using moyo wa babu focuses specifically on the inner feelings or emotional state of the grandfather, not just the person as a whole.

• Babu hufurahi… would mean “Grandfather is happy / becomes happy…”
• Moyo wa babu hufurahi… is more like “Grandfather’s heart rejoices…”, which sounds a bit more emotional or poetic.

So the choice of moyo highlights that it is his heart, his emotions, that are reacting when he tells the stories of his sea journeys.

Why is it moyo wa babu and not moyo ya babu or moyo la babu?

This is about agreement with noun classes in Swahili.

• moyo belongs to noun class 3 (m-/mi-), whose connective (genitive) is wa.
• Therefore, “heart of grandfather” = moyo wa babu.

Some examples of connectives for comparison:

• Class 1 (mtu) → wa: mtu wa Tanzania (person of Tanzania)
• Class 3 (moyo) → wa: moyo wa babu (heart of grandfather)
• Class 5 (tunda) → la: tunda la embe (fruit of mango)
• Class 9 (chai) → ya: chai ya asubuhi (morning tea)

So ya and la are used with different noun classes. For moyo, the correct one is wa.

What exactly does the hu- in hufurahi mean?

The prefix hu- on a verb usually marks a habitual or general action, something that happens regularly or as a rule.

So:

• furahi = be happy / rejoice
• hufurahi = is usually happy, tends to be happy, rejoices (whenever this happens)

In this sentence:

• Moyo wa babu hufurahi…
  → “Grandfather’s heart rejoices / is gladdened (as a general, repeated reaction)…”

It does not mean future; future is marked with -ta-, e.g. atafurahi = “he will be happy.”

Also, hu- here takes the place of the tense marker (like -na-, -li-, -ta-), not in addition to it. So you do not say anahufurahi; you simply say hufurahi.

Why doesn’t hufurahi have a subject marker like u- or a- in front of it?

With the habitual marker hu-, standard Swahili normally drops the subject prefix on the verb:

• Mimi hufanya kazi. – I usually work. (not mimi *n*hufanya)
• Mtoto hula saa saba. – The child usually eats at one.

In your sentence:

• The subject is clearly expressed as a noun: Moyo wa babu.
• Because the verb uses the hu- habitual, it appears simply as hufurahi, without an extra subject prefix.

So the pattern is:

• [Full noun subject] + hu- + verb
  → Moyo wa babu hufurahi…

Could we say Moyo wa babu anafurahi instead of hufurahi? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can say Moyo wa babu anafurahi, but the meaning changes slightly:

• Moyo wa babu hufurahi…
  → His heart tends to rejoice / is made happy (whenever this happens) — habitual, repeated.
• Moyo wa babu anafurahi…
  → His heart is (right now) becoming happy / is being happy — present, more specific to a current situation.

In the original sentence, because we’re talking about every time he tells the stories, the habitual hufurahi fits best: it suggests this is something that happens regularly, as a rule.

What does kila mara mean exactly, and could we replace it with something else?

kila mara literally means “every time”.

• kila = every
• mara = time / occasion / instance

So:

• kila mara → “each time / every time / whenever”

You could replace kila mara with other time expressions, depending on nuance:

• kila wakati – every time / all the time / always
• wakati wowote anaposimulia… – at any time when he tells…

But kila mara is very natural in this pattern kila mara anaposimulia… → “every time (that) he tells…”

How is anaposimulia formed, and what does the -po- part do?

anaposimulia is a relative verb form meaning roughly “when(ever) he tells” or “as he tells”.

Breakdown:

• a- – subject prefix for “he/she” (3rd person singular)
• -na- – present tense marker (is/does)
• -po- – relative marker meaning “when/where (specific time/place)”
• simulia – verb “to narrate, to tell (a story)”

So: a-na-po-simulia → anaposimulia = “when he is telling / whenever he tells”.

The -po- is the key part:

• With time expressions (like kila mara), -po- often means “when(ever)”.
• Compare with other relatives:
  • -po- – where/when (definite time/place)
  • -ki- – when/if (more conditional, like “if/when this happens…”)
  • -vyo- – how/as (“the way that…”)

So kila mara anaposimulia literally is “every time that he-is-when-telling” — i.e. “every time he tells”.

Isn’t it redundant to say both kila mara and anaposimulia? Don’t they both mean “when”?

They work together, but they are not exactly redundant.

• kila mara = “every time / each occasion”
• anaposimulia = “when he tells / as he is telling”

Together:

• kila mara anaposimulia
  → “every time (on each occasion) that he tells…”

Grammatically you could say:

• Moyo wa babu hufurahi anaposimulia safari zake za baharini.
  (drop kila mara)

or

• Moyo wa babu hufurahi kila mara anasimulia safari zake za baharini.
  (use anasimulia without -po-)

But kila mara anaposimulia is very idiomatic and emphasizes repetition: each time this telling happens, this emotional reaction follows.

In safari zake, how do we know that zake means “his”, and why does it start with z- instead of y-?

-ake is the base for the possessive “his/her”. The consonant at the start (z-, y-, w-, etc.) changes according to the noun class of the thing possessed.

• safari is noun class 9/10.
• In the singular (class 9), “his/her” would be yake.
• In the plural (class 10), “his/her” becomes zake (z- is the plural 10 agreement).

So:

• safari yake – his/her journey (one journey)
• safari zake – his/her journeys (more than one journey)

In the sentence, we have safari zake, so it clearly means “his journeys” (plural).

What’s the difference between safari zake and safari za babu?

Both show possession, but with a different style and focus.

• safari zake = “his journeys”
  
  • Using the possessive suffix -ake (here → zake for class 10).
  • The owner is understood from context (in this case, babu earlier in the sentence).
• safari za babu = “the journeys of grandfather / grandfather’s journeys”
  
  • Using the connective za
    • the noun babu.
  • Explicitly repeats babu as the possessor.

So:

• In your sentence, safari zake is natural because babu has just been mentioned, so zake clearly refers to him.
• You could also say safari za babu za baharini, but it would sound a bit heavier and more repetitive.

What does za baharini literally mean, and what does the -ni in baharini do?

Breakdown:

• bahari – sea / ocean
• baharini – at sea / in the sea / on the ocean (locative form)
• za – “of” for class 10 plural (agreeing with safari)

So:

• safari zake za baharini
  literally: “his journeys of-at-sea”
  more naturally: “his sea journeys”, “his journeys at sea”.

The -ni suffix is a locative marker meaning “in / at / on”. Adding it turns the bare noun into a place or location:

• nyumba → nyumbani – at home
• shule → shuleni – at school
• bahari → baharini – at/on the sea

So za baharini means “of (the ones) at sea.”

Is the word order safari zake za baharini fixed, or could we put za baharini somewhere else?

The most natural order is exactly what you see:

• [Noun] + [possessive] + [of + description]
  → safari zake za baharini

You could technically say:

• safari za baharini zake

but this sounds odd and is not how Swahili speakers normally phrase it. The normal pattern is:

1. Main noun: safari
2. Possessive: zake (his)
3. Further description with za: za baharini (of/at sea)

So safari zake za baharini is the natural and preferred order.

Who is the subject of anaposimulia? Is it babu or moyo?

The subject of anaposimulia is babu, not moyo.

• Moyo wa babu is the subject of hufurahi (“the heart … rejoices”).
• Then kila mara anaposimulia safari zake za baharini tells us when that heart rejoices.
• The person who tells (simulia) is naturally babu, since safari zake (his journeys) are his.

Swahili doesn’t repeat the noun babu there; it just uses a- (he/she) in anaposimulia, and we understand from context that it refers back to babu.