Tulikunywa maji kutoka chemchemi hiyo asubuhi.

Tulikunywa can be divided like this:

• tu- = we
• -li- = past tense marker
• kunywa = to drink

So tulikunywa means we drank.

This is very typical Swahili verb structure:

subject prefix + tense marker + verb stem

For example:

• nilikunywa = I drank
• ulikunywa = you drank
• alikunywa = he/she drank
• tulikunywa = we drank

In Swahili, the subject is usually built into the verb itself. That means you often do not need a separate pronoun.

So instead of saying something like sisi tulikunywa for every sentence, Swahili normally just says tulikunywa.

You can add sisi (we) for emphasis, but it is not necessary:

• Tulikunywa maji = We drank water
• Sisi tulikunywa maji = We drank water / We, specifically, drank water

Maji usually means water, and it behaves like a mass noun, similar to English water.

In practice:

• maji = water

Even though maji looks plural in form historically, in modern usage it usually just means water as a substance. You do not normally change it for singular the way you would with countable nouns.

Examples:

• Ninakunywa maji = I am drinking water
• Maji ni baridi = The water is cold

So in this sentence, maji simply means water.

Here, kutoka means from.

So:

• maji kutoka chemchemi hiyo = water from that spring

Be aware that kutoka can also be used as a verb meaning to come from or to leave/depart, depending on context.

Examples:

• Ninatoka Kenya = I come from Kenya
• Alitoka nyumbani = He/she left home
• maji kutoka chemchemi = water from a spring

In your sentence, it is functioning like from.

Chemchemi means spring, as in a natural water source.

So:

• chemchemi = spring
• chemchemi hiyo = that spring

It does not mean spring as in the season here. Context makes it clear that it is the water source.

In Swahili, demonstratives like this/that must agree with the noun class of the noun they describe.

Chemchemi belongs to the ki-/vi- noun class (or behaves with that agreement pattern), so the appropriate that form here is hiyo.

So:

• chemchemi hiyo = that spring

This agreement system is very important in Swahili. The form of this/that, adjectives, and some other words changes depending on the noun class.

In Swahili, demonstratives usually come after the noun.

So where English says:

• that spring

Swahili says:

• chemchemi hiyo

This noun-first pattern is normal in Swahili:

• mtu huyu = this person
• kitabu hicho = that book
• chemchemi hiyo = that spring

Asubuhi means morning or in the morning.

In this sentence:

• asubuhi = in the morning

Swahili often places time expressions at the beginning or end of the sentence. So this is natural:

• Tulikunywa maji kutoka chemchemi hiyo asubuhi
• Asubuhi, tulikunywa maji kutoka chemchemi hiyo

Both are fine, though the emphasis may shift slightly.

Not completely. Swahili has a fairly flexible word order compared with English, although some orders sound more natural than others.

The basic sentence here is:

• Tulikunywa maji kutoka chemchemi hiyo asubuhi

You could also say:

• Asubuhi tulikunywa maji kutoka chemchemi hiyo

This puts more focus on in the morning.

However, you should keep closely connected parts together:

• maji kutoka chemchemi hiyo = water from that spring

So while Swahili allows some flexibility, it is still important to keep related words in a sensible order.

Yes, depending on context, it can.

Swahili does not use articles like a, an, and the in the same way English does. So maji can be understood as:

• water
• the water

Context tells you which meaning is intended.

Because chemchemi hiyo means that spring, the whole phrase often naturally suggests:

• we drank water from that spring or
• we drank the water from that spring

English forces you to choose more precisely than Swahili sometimes does.

Swahili can use an object marker inside the verb, but it is not always required.

Here, the sentence simply uses the full noun after the verb:

• Tulikunywa maji = We drank water

That is perfectly normal.

An object marker is more likely when the object is specific, already known, or being referred back to:

• Tulikunywa = We drank
• Tuliyanywa = We drank them / it (for a noun like maji, using the appropriate agreement pattern in context)

For a learner, the key point is: with a normal full object noun like maji, leaving out the object marker is very common and natural.

Yes, in the right context, but the meaning becomes less explicit.

• Tulikunywa maji kutoka chemchemi hiyo asubuhi = We drank water from that spring in the morning
• Tulikunywa kutoka chemchemi hiyo asubuhi = We drank from that spring in the morning

Without maji, the focus is more on the act of drinking from the spring, and water is understood from context.

Including maji makes the sentence clearer and more complete, especially for learners.

A few useful points:

• Tulikunywa: pronounce all vowels clearly: tu-li-ku-nywa
• maji: ma-ji
• kutoka: ku-to-ka
• chemchemi: the ch sounds like English ch in church
• hiyo: roughly hee-yo
• asubuhi: a-su-bu-hi

Swahili pronunciation is usually quite regular. Each vowel is normally pronounced clearly:

• a, e, i, o, u

Also, stress in Swahili usually falls on the second-to-last syllable:

• tu-li-ku-nywa
• chem-che-mi
• a-su-bu-hi