Learn Hardcore Swahili: Kadiri tunavyofanya mazoezi ya Kiswahili kila siku, ndivyo tunavyojisikia kujiamini zaidi. - The more we practise Swahili every day, the more we feel more confident.

The first clause after kadiri describes something that increases or changes.
The second clause after ndivyo describes the corresponding increase/change in something else.

What does kadiri mean on its own, and is it always used like this?

Kadiri basically means “extent,” “degree,” or “as much as.”

In this sentence, kadiri introduces the first half of the “the more … the more …” pattern. But it can appear in other structures, such as:

Kadiri ya… = “approximately / about (a quantity)”
- Kadiri ya watu mia moja – about one hundred people
Kuliko kadiri nilivyofikiri – more than I thought / beyond what I had imagined

Here, though, kadiri is best understood as “to the extent that / the more that …” and it’s tightly linked to ndivyo in the second clause.

What exactly is ndivyo, and how is it different from ndiyo or sivyo?

Ndivyo is a focus word meaning roughly “(it is) in that way / thus / so.”

ndivyo – it is so / in that way
ndiyo – yes / it is (often used as “yes”)
sivyo – not so / it’s not like that

In the pattern Kadiri …, ndivyo …, ndivyo signals “that is the way it is (to that extent)”, which is why English usually renders it as “the more …” in the second half of the construction.

So:

Kadiri tunavyofanya …, ndivyo tunavyojisikia …
→ The more we do …, the more we feel …

Outside this pattern, ndivyo can answer a question by confirming manner:

Je, ndivyo ulivyofanya? – Is that how you did it?
Ndiyo, ndivyo nilivyofanya. – Yes, that’s exactly how I did it.

How is the verb tunavyofanya built up, and why not just tunafanya?

Tunavyofanya contains an extra -vyo- relative marker, so it’s more than just “we do.”

Breakdown:

tu- = we (subject)
-na- = present/continuous tense
-vyo- = relative marker meaning “in the way that / as / to the extent that”
-fanya = do

So tunavyofanya ≈ “as we are doing / in the way we do / to the extent that we do.”

In the kadiri … ndivyo … construction, this relative marker -vyo- is important because it connects the degree of the action (how much we do it) with the degree of the result (how much we feel confident).

tunafanya mazoezi – we do practice
tunavyofanya mazoezi – as / to the extent that we do practice

That “extent” nuance is what the sentence needs.

What about tunavyojisikia – how is that formed, and what does it literally mean?

Tunavyojisikia is another verb with -vyo- plus a reflexive marker -ji-.

Breakdown:

tu- = we (subject)
-na- = present/continuous
-vyo- = “in the way that / as / to the extent that”
-ji- = oneself (reflexive object: ourselves)
-sikia = feel, sense, (also hear, depending on context)

Literally, tunavyojisikia is something like:

“as we feel ourselves / to the extent that we feel (within ourselves)”

In natural English:

“we (come to) feel” or “we feel (in that way).”

In this sentence, it corresponds to “we feel (more confident).”

What is the difference between kujisikia and kujiamini here? Aren’t they both about feelings?

They are related but not the same:

kujisikia = to feel (a certain way) in oneself
- Ninajisikia vizuri. – I feel well.
- Ninajisikia vibaya. – I feel bad.
kujiamini = to be self-confident / to trust oneself
- Anajiamini sana. – She/he is very confident.

In the sentence:

… ndivyo tunavyojisikia kujiamini zaidi.

tunavyojisikia – we feel (within ourselves)
kujiamini – having confidence in ourselves

So a closer literal sense is:

“the more we practice Swahili every day, the more we feel (ourselves) to be confident.”

English collapses this into: “the more we practice, the more confident we feel.”

Why is kujiamini in the infinitive form (ku-), and what is inside this word?

Kujiamini is the infinitive (verbal noun) form: “to be self-confident / to trust oneself.”

Breakdown:

ku- = infinitive marker (“to …”)
-ji- = oneself (reflexive)
-amini = to believe, to trust

So kujiamini literally = “to believe in oneself / to trust oneself.”

In the sentence, kujiamini is the thing we feel more of:

tunavyojisikia kujiamini zaidi
→ we feel (that we) are more self-confident.

Why is there both -ji- in tunavyojisikia and -ji- in kujiamini? Isn’t that redundant?

It sounds redundant from an English perspective but is perfectly natural in Swahili.

tunavyo-ji-sikia – we feel ourselves (how we feel internally)
ku-ji-amini – to trust ourselves

So the structure is basically:

we feel ourselves (to be) trusting ourselves more

English usually only marks this once (“we feel more confident”), but Swahili marks reflexivity separately in each verb that involves “oneself.” Hence two -ji- markers.

Why is it mazoezi ya Kiswahili and not some other combination? What is the role of ya here?

Mazoezi means “exercises / practice” (plural of zoezi).

mazoezi – class 6 noun (ma-), “exercises, practices”

To say “Swahili exercises / Swahili practice,” you use the genitive/of construction with -a, which agrees with the head noun (mazoezi):

Class 6 (ma-) takes ya for “of.”
So: mazoezi ya Kiswahili – exercises of Swahili → Swahili practice.

The agreement is with mazoezi, not with Kiswahili, so you get ya, not cha or something else.

What does kila siku add, and could it be placed in another position?

Kila siku means “every day.”

In the sentence:

Kadiri tunavyofanya mazoezi ya Kiswahili kila siku, …

it specifies how often the practice happens.

You could place kila siku in slightly different positions without changing the meaning much, for example:

Kadiri tunavyofanya mazoezi ya Kiswahili kila siku, …
Kadiri tunavyofanya mazoezi ya Kiswahili, kila siku ndivyo tunavyojisikia kujiamini zaidi. (now “every day” is emphasized with the second part)

However, the original is the most natural: it attaches kila siku directly to the practicing: practicing Swahili every day.

Could this idea be expressed without the Kadiri …, ndivyo … pattern, in a simpler way?

Yes. You can say the same idea more simply, for example:

Tukifanya mazoezi ya Kiswahili kila siku, tutajisikia kujiamini zaidi.
- If/when we practice Swahili every day, we will feel more confident.

Or, using a general statement:

Tukifanya mazoezi ya Kiswahili kila siku, tunajiamini zaidi.
- If/when we practice Swahili every day, we are more confident.

The Kadiri …, ndivyo … structure is more elegant and emphasizes the gradual, proportional relationship: “the more X, the more Y.”

Why not simply say tunajiamini zaidi instead of tunavyojisikia kujiamini zaidi?

You could say:

Kadiri tunavyofanya mazoezi ya Kiswahili kila siku, ndivyo tunajiamini zaidi.

This would mean:

The more we practice Swahili every day, the more we trust ourselves / the more confident we are.

The original, tunavyojisikia kujiamini zaidi, adds the nuance of “how we feel internally”:

tunajiamini zaidi – we are more self-confident (a state)
tunavyojisikia kujiamini zaidi – we feel ourselves to be more self‑confident (focus on the feeling)

Both are correct; the original just highlights the internal feeling of confidence.

How would this sentence change if I wanted to say “I” instead of “we”?

You mainly change the subject marker tu- (“we”) to ni- (“I”):

Kadiri ninavyofanya mazoezi ya Kiswahili kila siku, ndivyo ninavyojisikia kujiamini zaidi.

Breakdown of the changed parts:

tunavyofanya → ninavyofanya (we do → I do)
tunavyojisikia → ninavyojisikia (we feel → I feel)

Everything else stays the same. The structure of the sentence is unchanged.

Can you briefly summarize the structure of the whole sentence piece by piece?

Yes, piece by piece:

Kadiri
- The more / to the extent that …
tunavyofanya
- tu- (we) + -na- (present) + -vyo- (as/to the extent that) + -fanya (do)
  → as we do / to the extent that we do
mazoezi ya Kiswahili
- practice/exercises of Swahili
kila siku
- every day

Comma / pause

ndivyo
- (it is) in that way, thus → the more …
tunavyojisikia
- tu- (we) + -na- (present) + -vyo- (as/to the extent that) + -ji- (ourselves) + -sikia (feel)
  → as we feel ourselves / we (come to) feel
kujiamini
- ku- (to) + -ji- (oneself) + -amini (believe, trust)
  → to be self-confident
zaidi
- more

Putting it all together:

Kadiri tunavyofanya mazoezi ya Kiswahili kila siku, ndivyo tunavyojisikia kujiamini zaidi.
The more we practice Swahili every day, the more confident we feel.