Kesho asubuhi, nitasema ukweli kwa mwalimu.

Nitasema can be divided like this:

• ni- = I
• -ta- = future tense marker, will
• -sema = say / speak

So nitasema means I will say.

This is a very common Swahili pattern:

• nitasema = I will say
• utasema = you will say
• atasema = he/she will say
• tutasema = we will say

Kesho asubuhi means tomorrow morning.

Swahili often puts time expressions near the beginning of the sentence, especially when setting the scene. So:

• Kesho asubuhi, nitasema ukweli kwa mwalimu.

literally feels like:

• Tomorrow morning, I will tell the truth to the teacher.

This is very natural in Swahili. You could also hear time expressions elsewhere in a sentence, but sentence-initial position is extremely common.

Each word contributes part of the meaning:

• kesho = tomorrow
• asubuhi = morning

Together, kesho asubuhi means tomorrow morning.

Compare:

• kesho = tomorrow
• asubuhi = in the morning / morning
• leo asubuhi = this morning / today in the morning
• jana asubuhi = yesterday morning

So Swahili builds this phrase very transparently.

Ukweli means truth.

In this sentence, kusema ukweli means to tell the truth or literally to say the truth.

This is a common expression:

• sema ukweli = tell the truth
• anasema ukweli = he/she is telling the truth
• nilisema ukweli = I told the truth

English uses tell the truth, but Swahili uses say truth with sema.

Swahili often uses -sema for things English expresses with say or sometimes tell.

So:

• nitasema ukweli = I will tell the truth

Even though English prefers tell the truth, Swahili naturally says say truth.

There is also -ambia, which means tell someone / inform someone / say to someone. That means a learner may also come across something like:

• nitamwambia mwalimu ukweli

This also means I will tell the teacher the truth.

So both patterns can work, but they are built differently:

• nitasema ukweli kwa mwalimu = I will say the truth to the teacher
• nitamwambia mwalimu ukweli = I will tell the teacher the truth

Kwa mwalimu means to the teacher.

• kwa is a preposition that can mean to, for, at, from, depending on context.
• mwalimu = teacher

So:

• nitasema ukweli kwa mwalimu = I will tell the truth to the teacher

In this sentence, kwa marks the person receiving what is said.

Yes, that would also be a very natural sentence.

• Nitamwambia mwalimu ukweli = I will tell the teacher the truth

Breakdown:

• ni- = I
• -ta- = will
• -mw- = him/her
• -ambia = tell / say to

This form is often very natural when you want to emphasize telling something to someone directly.

So a learner should know that Swahili has more than one way to express this idea.

Swahili does not have articles like English a, an, and the.

So mwalimu can mean:

• a teacher
• the teacher
• teacher

The exact meaning depends on context.

In this sentence, English translates it as the teacher because that is what sounds most natural in context, but Swahili itself does not use a separate word for the.

The plural of mwalimu is walimu.

So:

• mwalimu = teacher
• walimu = teachers

Examples:

• kwa mwalimu = to the teacher
• kwa walimu = to the teachers

This is part of the common m-/wa- noun class pattern for people.

The comma is mostly a writing choice, not a special grammar rule of the spoken language.

It helps show that Kesho asubuhi is a time expression setting up the rest of the sentence:

• Kesho asubuhi, nitasema ukweli kwa mwalimu.

You may also see it written without a comma:

• Kesho asubuhi nitasema ukweli kwa mwalimu.

Both are fine. In speech, the pause may be slight or absent.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

• Kesho = KEH-sho
• asubuhi = ah-soo-BOO-hee
• nitasema = nee-ta-SEH-ma
• ukweli = oo-KWEH-lee
• kwa = kwa
• mwalimu = mwa-LEE-moo

A few helpful points:

• Swahili vowels are usually pronounced clearly:
  • a as in father
  • e as in bed but cleaner
  • i as in machine
  • o as in told but pure
  • u as in flute
• Stress often falls near the second-to-last syllable:
  • a-su-BU-hi
  • ni-ta-SE-ma
  • u-KWE-li
  • mwa-LI-mu

Yes, to some extent. Swahili word order is fairly flexible, especially with time expressions.

For example, these are possible:

• Kesho asubuhi, nitasema ukweli kwa mwalimu.
• Nitasema ukweli kwa mwalimu kesho asubuhi.

Both mean essentially the same thing.

However, putting Kesho asubuhi first is especially natural if you want to emphasize when it will happen.

Usually -sema means say, speak, or state, but in context it can be used in broader ways, including giving information or expressing something verbally.

In kusema ukweli, it means to tell the truth.

Some examples:

• anasema Kiswahili = he/she speaks Swahili
• alisema ndiyo = he/she said yes
• sema ukweli = tell the truth

So the exact English translation depends on context, even though the core idea is say/speak.