Bibi huombea wajukuu wake kila usiku.

In this sentence, bibi means grandmother or grandma.

A useful note: bibi can also mean an old lady in some contexts, so the exact meaning depends on the sentence. Here, because of wajukuu wake (her grandchildren), grandmother is the natural reading.

hu- is a marker of habitual action in Swahili. It shows that something happens regularly, customarily, or as a habit.

So huombea suggests:

• she prays for them regularly
• she does it every night
• it is part of her routine

That fits well with kila usiku (every night).

A key grammar point: with this habitual form, Swahili usually uses hu- without the normal subject prefix. So you get:

• Bibi huombea... = Grandma habitually prays...
• not Bibi anaombea... in this habitual sense

This is a very common question.

• omba = to pray / to ask for
• ombea = to pray for someone / to pray on someone’s behalf

The ending -ea is an applicative extension. It often adds the idea of doing the action for, to, or on behalf of someone.

So:

• kuomba = to pray, to ask
• kuombea mtu = to pray for someone

In this sentence, huombea wajukuu wake means she prays for her grandchildren, not just she prays in general.

wajukuu is the plural form meaning grandchildren.

The singular is:

• mjukuu = grandchild
• wajukuu = grandchildren

This is part of the m-/wa- noun class for people:

• m- often marks singular
• wa- often marks plural

So if there were only one grandchild, you could say:

• Bibi huombea mjukuu wake kila usiku.

wake means his/her here, so wajukuu wake means her grandchildren.

Why wake? Because Swahili possessives agree with the noun being possessed, not with the owner.

Here, the possessed noun is wajukuu, which is in the wa- plural class. So the possessive takes the matching form:

• wangu = my
• wako = your
• wake = his/her
• wetu = our
• wenu = your (plural)
• wao = their

And with wa- class nouns, you get forms like:

• watoto wake = his/her children
• wajukuu wake = his/her grandchildren

So it is wake because it agrees with wajukuu.

Grammatically, wake can mean either his or her. Swahili does not usually mark gender in this possessive form.

So wajukuu wake could mean:

• his grandchildren
• her grandchildren

In this sentence, because bibi means grandmother, English naturally translates it as her grandchildren.

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

So bibi can mean:

• grandmother
• the grandmother
• grandma

And wajukuu wake can mean:

• her grandchildren
• the grandchildren of hers

English requires an article or some other determiner more often, but Swahili usually does not.

kila usiku means every night.

• kila = every / each
• usiku = night / at night

Together, they express repeated time: every night.

You can think of it as showing when the action happens regularly.

It is at the end because that is a very natural place in Swahili for a time expression.

So the structure is:

• Bibi = subject
• huombea = verb
• wajukuu wake = object/beneficiary
• kila usiku = time expression

This order is very normal: Subject + Verb + Object + Time

Swahili word order is somewhat flexible, but this version sounds natural and straightforward.

Yes, but the meaning changes slightly.

• Bibi huombea wajukuu wake kila usiku.
  = Grandma prays for her grandchildren every night.
  This emphasizes a habit or regular action.

• Bibi anaombea wajukuu wake.
  = Grandma is praying for her grandchildren / Grandma prays for her grandchildren.
  This can sound more like a present or ongoing action, depending on context.

Because the sentence already includes kila usiku, the habitual hu- is especially appropriate.

Not exactly in the same way as in English. With ombea, the people being prayed for are the ones the action is done for or on behalf of.

That is why the applicative form -ea is used:

• kuomba = to pray
• kuombea wajukuu wake = to pray for her grandchildren

So wajukuu wake is the noun phrase connected to that for meaning built into the verb.

In pure grammar terms, -ea can often carry meanings like for, to, or on behalf of. But in this sentence, the normal meaning is simply:

Grandma prays for her grandchildren every night.

That is the most natural interpretation. English learners should usually understand huombea mtu as pray for someone unless context clearly suggests something more specific.