I have received a lot of demands from people in Nairaland asking me that they want to learn swahili, I don't know why its hard to get an ebook online and learn then refer when you're stuck, maybe it's one of the human peculiarities that I'll never understand. Anyway, I've decided to create this thread for the same purpose, I do not know where to start, so it's by no means a comprehensive guide, nor do I promise that it will follow a chronological order such as the one taught in Kenyan/Tanzanian schools. My fellow Kenyan and Tanzanian forumers are welcome to contribute and correct me whenever I'm wrong.

We'll start with the history first. As many people were taught or have seen all over the internet, the prevailing story is that Swahili is a mixture of Arabic and Bantu languages, this is of course not true as that theory has already been debunked. The language has about 25-30% Arabic loan words in varying degrees depending on the dialects, that's it, the only thing Swahili has taken from Arabic is the loan words, the core, grammar, sentence structure, noun class, verb conjugation all that language structure is Bantu.

There're many types of Swahili, main ones can roughly be divided into three categories that's when you include all the accents and dialects. There's mainland Kenyan, Tanzanian and coastal Swahili (Kenyan/Tanzanian coast). Swahili came from the Kingozi dialect which developed in Lamu Island in Kenya, as it spread south, it changed to accommodate the Bantu populations in those areas. Standard Swahili however is the Zanzibar Unguja dialect which contains more Arabic morphology than the Kenyan northern dialects. Most people from the coast however speak their own dialects.

The coastal Swahili is the purest as many east africans say, it's very beautiful and poetic to hear especially if you grew up in the mainland. Also the coastal people use lots of proverbs, idioms and puzzles when speaking, so it's very entertaining when speaking to them. So you could say that the coastal people have full command of the language to the point that people from the mainland can get lost in the conversation when speaking to them since they use more archaic vocabulary.

In Kenya as you advance more into the mainland, it changes, every tribe in Kenya has their own accent (including the mzungus and the indians ) which is often the subject of much humour and comedy, when you get to Nairobi however you get Sheng' which is even more complicated, it is a mixture of English and almost all languages in Kenya. It changes rapidly so that if you spoke it in the 90's you wouldn't understand it now, it is very popular in Kenyan music, schools and movies, so we won't deal with it for now since only Nairobians understand it.

In mainland Tanzania they don't have as many accents as Kenyans do, they speak a more standard and nationalized form, they do however speak it more than Kenyans do since they do not depend on English as much. They do not understand Sheng' and blame Kenyans for degrading the beautiful language, there's a lot of conflict and disagreement on how both countries use the language with Tanzanians blaming Kenyans of not using polite language and Kenyans blaming Tanzanians of depending too much on the language and for using their own vocabulary when speaking to Kenyans.

Both countries use their own vocabulary (although a small subset of the whole language) native to them only for describing certain event/phenomena only found in their respective regions. But as musicians collabo and people move around east africa, the countries are beginning to understand each other better.

Swahili is as straightforward as they come, the way you see a word is the way you pronounce it, although it may be pronounced differently in different regions. There are five vowels in swahili, so nothing special there.

When it comes to the consonants, we don't have q and x, we do however have kh and dh which are mostly used in words of arabic origin. Also we have ny and ng'.

Examples:


For 'kh' coastal speakers use the arabic pronunciation, it's like k and h said in rapid succession

masalkheri (pronounced as masalheri) - good evening
shekhe(pronounced as shehe) - sheikh

For 'dh' coastal speakers who are mostly muslim use the arabic pronunciation, it's like d and h said in rapid succession
dhahabu(pronounced as thahabu as in the) - gold

For 'gh' coastal speakers who are mostly muslim use the arabic pronunciation, it's like g and h said in rapid succession
lugha(pronounced as luha/luga)

For ny pronounced like when you say Kenya and not Kenia
nyama - meat

For ng' pronounced as in dung
ng'ombe - cow

I thin those are the hard ones, we also have

aa, ee, ii, oo, uu for the long vowels

Mbaazi - peas
Zee - old
kiini - core
choo - toilet
upuuzi - foolishness

mb mp bw pw mbw mpw These you just pronounce in rapid succession, practice till you get it

mboga - vegetable
mpira - ball
bweka - bark
pwani - coast
mbwa - dog
mpwa - niece/nephew

nt Same rapid succession

nta - wax

nj ng Same rapid succession

njaa - hunger
ngamia - camel

nd Same rapid succession

ndama - calf

nz Same rapid succession

nz - housefly

sh ch Same as in English

shamba - farm
chama - club/group/association

sw Same rapid succession

swara - gazelle/antelope

tw chw Same rapid succession

twiga - giraffe pronounce as tuiga with a subtle w sound

uchwara - worthless/bogus

fy vy mv Same rapid succession

fyata - close/squeeze although you can pronounce it as fiata with a subtle y sound

vyote - all

mvua - rain

For 'kh' coastal speakers use the arabic pronunciation, it's like k and h said in rapid succession

masalkheri (pronounced as masalheri) - good evening
shekhe(pronounced as shehe) - sheikh

For 'dh' coastal speakers who are mostly muslim use the arabic pronunciation, it's like d and h said in rapid succession
dhahabu(pronounced as thahabu as in the) - gold

For 'gh' coastal speakers who are mostly muslim use the arabic pronunciation, it's like g and h said in rapid succession
lugha(pronounced as luha/luga)

For 'ny' pronounced like when you say Kenya and not Kenia
nyama - meat

For " ng' " pronounced as in dung
ng'ombe - cow

I think those are the hard ones, we also have

aa, ee, ii, oo, uu for the long vowels

Mbaazi - peas
Zee - old
kiini - core
choo - toilet
upuuzi - foolishness

mb mp bw pw mbw mpw These you just pronounce in rapid succession, practice till you get it

mboga - vegetable
mpira - ball
bweka - bark
pwani - coast
mbwa - dog
mpwa - niece/nephew

nt Same rapid succession

nta - wax

nj ng Same rapid succession

njaa - hunger
ngamia - camel

Nafuatilia,
Kazi kwako,

Let me leave my mark here too

Kuja- come
Enda- go
Nyumbani- home

Ninakuja - I'm coming.
Ninakuja nyumbani- I'm coming home.
Ninakuja Nairobi - I'm coming to Nairobi.

Ninaenda- I'm going
Ninaenda nyumbani- I'm going home.
Ninaenda Nairobi- I'm going to Nairobi.

Ni- represents the first person singular (I)
Na- used in present tense

Sometimes people drop the "ni" and start with "na"e.g

Naenda Lagos- Am going to Lagos.

I'm back people Somebody should really do something about that annoying spambot, I mean it should specify the number or length of characters that are allowed before it is alerted, @Fulaman198 @Seun please do something about this, it is restricting information flow on this site

For the first lesson on vowels and consonants please refer to the third post, the others were made confusedly after the spambot banned me.

So today we learn about nouns - nomino and their noun classes - ngeli. As with any other Bantu language, noun classes are one of the most prevalent characteristics in these languages, almost everything depends on them, verb conjugation, order and semantic of adjectives, etc. If you do not master your ngeli then you cannot master Swahili or any other Bantu language for that matter.

Bantu languages don't use articles (definite/indefinite - a/the) so we'll use the determiner/pronoun/adverb - this, it'll be used since it's different in every ngeli, in Swahili it's called kiashiria cha karibu meaning, a determiner/pronoun/adverb describing nouns that are close by, in contrast to that (which we'll see has two forms and we'll describe later) which is a determiner/pronoun/adverb describing nouns a little far off.

There are 13 noun classes in Swahili:

Ngeli (noun class)

1. Ngeli ya A-WA

Aina za nomino husika
(Types of nouns used)

Animals (humans, fish,
insects, mammals, etc)

umoja (singular)...........wingi (plural)

mtu huyu.............watu hawa
(this person)........(these people)

2. Ngeli ya U-I

General nouns including
trees, nouns starting with
m and their plural
with mi

mti huu.........................miti hii(trees)
(this tree).....................(these trees)

3. Ngeli ya LI-YA

Most nouns take the form
ji for singular and
ma for plural

jani hili........................majani haya
(this leaf)...................(these leaves)

4. Ngeli ya KI-VI

Used in nouns that start
with ki/ch singular and
vi/vy in plural

kiti hiki ........................ viti hivi
(this chair)........................ (these chairs)

choo hiki ........................ vyoo hivi
(this toilet) ........................ (these toilets)

5. Ngeli ya I-ZI

Used in nouns that remain the
same even in plural form but
takes the kiashiria ending
with i when singular and
zi when plural. Nouns usualy
start with /u/, /ng/, /ny/, /mb/
sounds.

nyumba hii ........................ nyumba hizi
(this house)........................ (these houses)

6. Ngeli ya U-ZI

Used in nouns whose
kiashiria ends with (this wall) (these walls)
u in singular form
and with zi in plural

ukuta huu ........................ kuta hizi
(this wall) ........................ (these walls)

7. Ngeli ya U-YA

Comprises of very few
words, those whose
kiashiria ends with u
in singular and ya
in plural

uyoga huu ........................ mayoga haya
(this mushroom) ........................ (these mushrooms)

8. Ngeli ya I-I

Nouns whose kiashiria
ends with[i]i[/i] both in
singular and plural form.
Nouns are usually those
that are uncountable

sukari hii ........................ sukari hii
(this sugar) ........................ (this/these sugar)

9. Ngeli ya YA-YA

Nouns whose kiashiria
ends with ya both in
singular and plural form.
Most nouns start with ma and
are usually thosereferring to
liquids and uncountable
quantities.

maji haya ........................ maji haya
(this water) ........................ (this water)

10. Ngeli ya U-U

These nouns have no plural and
usually start with /u/ or /m/
sounds.

unga huu ........................ unga huu
(this flour) ........................ (this flour)

Ngeli za mahali za PA KU MU/ PO KO MO (Noun classes representing places)

11. Ngeli ya PA-PA

Used in nouns referring to
specific places.

mahali hapa ........................ mahali hapa
(this place) ........................ (this place)

12. Ngeli ya KU-KU

Used in nouns referring to
general places.

shuleni huku/huku shuleni ........................ shuleni huku/huku shuleni
(this school/in this school) ........................ (this school/in this school)

13. Ngeli ya MU-MU

Used in nouns referring to
places located in the interior
of something bigger.

humu shimoni/shimoni humu ........................ humu shimoni/shimoni humu
(inside this holw) ........................ (inside this hole)

humu chumbani ........................ humu chumbani
(inside this room) ........................ (inside this room)

I hope you the pattern used to name these ngeli.

Tomorrow we learn about determiner/pronoun/adverb - that and its two forms and the various prepositions unique to each ngeli.

Ngeli has always confused me. No one has ever told me you know the right Ngeli by the kiashiria¡¡¡

muafrika:
Ngeli has always confused me. No one has ever told me you know the right Ngeli by the kiashiria¡¡¡

Yeah it's confusing for many people too, if you find it confusing try using the kiashiria and see if it makes sense.

So we learn about the kiashiria that, in Swahili it takes two forms: kiashiria cha mbali kidogo and kiashiria cha mbali kabisa (this has no english equivalent so we'll leave it blank) which means that the kiashiria describes nouns that are a little far off and those are too far off respectively.

Like I said everything is ngeli cause all nouns in Swahili belong to different ngeli

The format we'll take is:

Ngeli
kiashiria cha mbali kidogo
kiashiria cha mbali kabisa


1. Ngeli ya A-WA

mtu huyo.............watu hawo
(that person)........(those people)

mtu yule.............watu wale


2. Ngeli ya U-I

mti huo.........................miti hiyo(trees)
(that tree).....................(those trees)

mti ule.........................miti ile

3. Ngeli ya LI-YA

jani hilo........................majani hayo
(that leaf)...................(those leaves)

jani lile.......................majani yale

4. Ngeli ya KI-VI

kiti hicho ........................ viti hivyo
(that chair)........................ (those chairs)

kiti kile.............................viti vile

choo hicho ........................ vyoo hivyo
(that toilet) ........................ (those toilets)

choo kile.............................vyoo vile

5. Ngeli ya I-ZI

nyumba hiyo ........................ nyumba hizo
(that house)........................ (those houses)

nyumba ile...........................nyumba zile

6. Ngeli ya U-ZI

ukuta huo ........................ kuta hizo
(that wall) ........................ (those walls)

ukuta ule..........................kuta zile

7. Ngeli ya U-YA

uyoga huo ........................ mayoga hayo
(that mushroom) ........................ (those mushrooms)

uyoga ule.........................mayoga yale

8. Ngeli ya I-I

sukari hiyo ........................ sukari hiyo
(that sugar) ........................ (that sugar)

sukari ile...........................sukari ile

9. Ngeli ya YA-YA

maji hayo ........................ maji hayo
(that water) ........................ (that water)

maji yale..........................maji yale

10. Ngeli ya U-U

unga huo ........................ unga huo
(that flour) ........................ (that flour)

unga ule..........................unga ule

Ngeli za mahali za PA KU MU/ PO KO MO (Noun classes representing places)

11. Ngeli ya PA-PA

mahali hapo ........................ mahali hapo
(that place) ........................ (that place)

mahali kule..........................mahali kule

12. Ngeli ya KU-KU

shuleni huko/huko shuleni ........................ shuleni huko/huko shuleni
(that school/in that school) ........................ (that school/in that school)

shuleni kule/kule shuleni..............................shuleni kule/kule shuleni.


13. Ngeli ya MU-MU

humo shimoni/shimoni humo ........................ humo shimoni/shimoni humo
(inside that hole) ........................ (inside that hole)

mle shimoni/shimoni mle.................... mle shimoni/shimoni mle


humo chumbani ........................ humo chumbani
(inside that room) ........................ (inside that room)

mle chumbani............................mle chumbani

I hope you see the pattern.

I know all this ngeli stuff is boring but it's the foundation of a lot of what we are going to learn. So we are going to diverge a little from the topic and learn about the different types of swahili greetings (maamkizi) all over Kenya.

In mainland Kenya (excluding the coast) most people use the same form of greeting throughout the day.

Habari yako/mambo? and you answer mzuri/poa sana which literally means how's your news and you answer it's great

In Nairobi sheng':

Niaje? and you answer poa sana Niaje means: how is it or in proper notation is how from the words ni(is) and aje(how)

Is vipi/how?..................Is poa/fiti
Vipi/aje means how

In proper coastal Swahili :

In the morning/mid-day: Asubuhi/adhuhuri
Sabalkheri.....................Sabalnuri/akheri

In the afternoon: Jioni/alasiri
Masalkheri.....................Masalnuri/akheri

In the evening/night when saying goodbye: usiku wakati wa kuagana
Alamsiki........................binuru

And the general greetings for any time/anywhere is the Islamic/greeting:
Assalaam alaikum.................Alaikum (as)salaam

Hi, nice, I came to pay my dues. I need your help, may I pm you?

HumbledbYGrace:
Hi, nice, I came to pay my dues. I need your help, may I pm you?

Ok, you do that.

So we learn about the preposition of, because of ngeli it'll be different in each case but will make things easier for the other prepositions. These prepositions also act as conjuctions (and) and prefixes to certain nouns in plural form.

1. Ngeli ya A-WA

We use wa for both singular and plural

mtu huyu wa Naijeria...........watu hawa wa Naijeria
This person of Nigeria.................These people of Nigeria

2. Ngeli ya U-I

We use wa for singular and ya for plural

mti huu wa uhai .........................miti hii ya uhai(trees)
(this tree of life).....................(these trees of life)

3. Ngeli ya LI-YA

Here we use la in singular and ya in plural so li-ya see the pattern?

jani hili la kijani........................majani haya ya kijani
(this leaf of green (colour))...................(these leaves of green (colour))

4. Ngeli ya KI-VI

Here we use cha for singular and vya for plural

kiti hiki cha mbao ........................ viti hivi vya mbao
(this wooden chair)........................ (these wooden chairs)

5. Ngeli ya I-ZI

We use ya singular and za for plural

nyumba hii ya Rais ........................ nyumba hizi za Rais
(this president's house/these house of the president)...................(these president's houses/these houses of the president)

6. Ngeli ya U-ZI

We use wa singular and za for plural

ukuta huu wa mawe ........................ kuta hizi za mawe
(this stone wall/this wall of stone) ........................ (these stone walls/these walls of stone)

7. Ngeli ya U-YA

We use wa for singular and ya for plural same as in U-I

uyoga huu wa kupika ........................ mayoga haya ya kupika
(this cooking mushroom) ........................ (these cooking mushrooms)

8. Ngeli ya I-I

sukari hii ya chai ........................ sukari hii ya chai
(this tea's sugar/this sugar of tea) ........................ (this tea's sugar/this sugar of tea)

9. Ngeli ya YA-YA

maji haya ya kuoga ........................ maji haya ya kuoga
(this water of bathing/this bathing water) ........................ (this water of bathing/this bathing water)


10. Ngeli ya U-U

unga huu wa chapati ........................ unga huu wa chapati
(this flour of(cooking) chapati) ........................ (this flour of(cooking) chapati)

Ngeli za mahali za PA KU MU/ PO KO MO (Noun classes representing places)

11. Ngeli ya PA-PA

Here we use pa for both singular and plural

mahali hapa pa kukulia ........................ mahali hapa pa kukulia
(this eating place) ........................ (these eating places)

12. Ngeli ya KU-KU

Wu use kwa for both singular and plural

shuleni huku kwa kufundisha ........................ shuleni huku kwa kufundisha
(this teaching school/this school for teaching) ........................ (this teaching school/this school for teaching)

13. Ngeli ya MU-MU

We use mwa for both singular and plural

humo shimoni mwa kisima ........................ humo shimoni mwa kisima
(inside this well hole) ........................ (inside this well hole)

As you can see, Swahili has no possessive case as in Dad's car it's like in French where you say la voiture de papa in this case we say gari(li-ya) la baba

Next we learn about conjuctions, here they are all the same for every ngeli:

and - na
or - ama/au
but - lakini/ila
if - ikiwa/kama

Also I forgot to mention that here-hapa and there-pale/kule since those viashiria describe positions and places

Also for the other prepositions, since we are talking about positions, we'll use the prepositions referring to ngeli of places i.e PA KU MU

in - ndani (ya/kwa/mwa)
from - kutoka (kwa)
under - chini (ya/pa/mwa)
beside/across - kando (ya/mwa)
at - kwa/kwenye/katika

Mostly when describing places people don't use the prepositions above coz there's a shorter route where you add the suffix -ni to the place, e.g
shambani from the noun shamba (farm), so Niko shambani means I'm in the farm, This form is however limited to general places so you can't say Niko kenyani or Niko Nairobini, it's for general nouns e.g nchini from nchi (country), mjini from mji(town), nyumbani from nyumba(home/house).

We conclude this week's topic with verb conjugation and tenses, then you can enjoy your weekend.

the state or verb to be is very important and is often used to introduce verb conjugation in all language classes so we'll do the same:

is represents the state to be and in Swahili it's ni

So we conjugate for I, He/She, we, you, they. Fortunately/unfortunately Swahili doesn't have gender so he and she are the same. Note we don't have it in Swahili since different nouns are in different ngeli

Pronouns:

I - mimi/mie/mi
He/she - yeye/ye
we - sisi/sie/si
you - wewe/we
you (plural) - nyinyi/nyie
they - hawo/wale

I am going home - Mimi ninaenda nyumbani
He/she is going home - Yeye anaenda nyumbani
We are going home - Sisi tunaneda nyumbani
You are going home - Wewe unaenda nyumbani
You people are going home - Nyinyi watu mnaenda nyumbani
They are going home - Hawo/Wale wanaenda nyumbani

In the above ni didn't appear since we were using another verb going, so we use it here instead:

I am good - Mimi ni mzuri
He/she is good - Yeye ni mzuri
We are good - Sisi ni wazuri
You are good - Wewe ni mzuri
You are good - Nyinyi ni wazuri
They are good - Hawo/wale ni wazuri

In the first example, as @ladyx already highlighted in an earlier post, here -enda is the verb root which means go (note kuenda means to go, so to is ku) and -na is the tense prefix in the present tense :

I - ni-(tense prefix)-(verb root)

He/she - a-(tense prefix)-(verb root)

We - tu-(tense prefix)-(verb root)

You - u-(tense prefix)-(verb root)

You(plural) - m-(tense prefix)-(verb root)

They - wa-(tense prefix)-(verb root)

So whenever you want to conjugate a verb (express a verb using all the pronouns/tenses) remember those prefixes, also most speakers don't include the pronouns in their speech, so you'll usually hear Ninakupenda or Nakupenda which also means I love you or Ninakuja (I'm coming)

Next week we look at all the tenses and how their prefixes apply in the above forms.

Solid lessons, finally!! I'm bookmarking this. Please continue

Niajeni watu wangu wikendi yenu ilikuwaje?
(How are you my people, how was your weekend?) and you answer poa tu ama(or) njema

Today we continue with tenses(nyakati)
We'll use the English model, in this case not all cases will be translatable.

Past Tenses

Simple Past tense - Wakati (U-Zi) uliopita

Here we use -li-

I went home - Mimi nilienda nyumbani
He/she went home - Yeye alienda nyumbani
We went home - Sisi tulienda nyumbani
You went home - Wewe ulienda nyumbani
You people went home - Nyinyi watu mlienda nyumbani
They went home - Hawo/Wale walienda nyumbani

Past progressive tense

I was going home - Mimi nilikuwa ninaenda nyumbani
He/she was going home - Yeye alikuwa anaenda nyumbani
We were going home - Sisi tulikuwa tunaenda nyumbani
You were going home - Wewe ulikuwa unaenda nyumbani
You people were going home - Nyinyi watu mlikuwa mnaenda nyumbani
They were going home - Hawo/Wale walikuwa wanaenda nyumbani

Past perfect tense

I had gone home - Mimi nilikuwa nimeenda nyumbani
He/she had gone home - Yeye alikuwa ameenda nyumbani
We had gone home - Sisi tulikuwa tumeenda nyumbani
You had gone home - Wewe ulikuwa umeenda nyumbani
You had gone going home - Nyinyi watu mlikuwa mmeenda nyumbani
They had gone home - Hawo/Wale walikuwa wameenda nyumbani


Past perfect progressive tense
This is the same as past progressive tense

An example sentence in English:
I had been going home



Simple present tense - Wakati wa mazoea

Here we use -hu-

I go home - Mimi huenda nyumbani
He/she goes home - Yeye huenda nyumbani
We had go home - Sisi huenda nyumbani
You go home - Wewe huenda nyumbani
You go going home - Nyinyi watu huenda nyumbani
They go home - Hawo/Wale huenda nyumbani


Present progressive tense - Wakati uliopo

This we've already addressed in the previous post, we use -na-


Present perfect tense - Wakati timilifu

Here we use -me-

I have gone home - Mimi nimeenda nyumbani
He/she has gone home - Yeye ameenda nyumbani
We have gone home - Sisi tumeenda nyumbani
You have gone home - Wewe umeenda nyumbani
You have gone going home - Nyinyi mmeenda nyumbani
They have gone home - Hawo/Wale wameenda nyumbani

Present perfect progressive tense

I have been going home - Mimi nimekuwa nikienda nyumbani
He/she has been going home - Yeye amekuwa akienda nyumbani
We have been going home - Sisi tumekuwa tukienda nyumbani
You have been going home - Wewe umekuwa ukienda nyumbani
You have been going home - Nyinyi mmekuwa mkienda nyumbani
They have been going home - Hawo/Wale wamekuwa wakienda nyumbani

Simple future tense - Wakati ujao

Here we use -ta-

I will go home - Mimi nitaenda nyumbani
He/she will go home - Yeye ataenda nyumbani
We will go home - Sisi tutaenda nyumbani
You will go home - Wewe utaenda nyumbani
You will go home - Nyinyi mtaenda nyumbani
They will go home - Hawo/Wale wataenda nyumbani

Future progressive tense

I will be going home - Mimi nitakuwa nikienda nyumbani
He/she will be going home - Yeye atakuwa akienda nyumbani
We will be going home - Sisi tutakuwa tukienda nyumbani
You will be going home - Wewe utakuwa ukienda nyumbani
You will be going home - Nyinyi mtakuwa mkienda nyumbani
They will be going home - Hawo/Wale watakuwa wakienda nyumbani

Future perfect tense

I will have gone home - Mimi nitakuwa nimeenda nyumbani
He/she will have gone home - Yeye atakuwa ameenda nyumbani
We will have gone home - Sisi tutakuwa tumeenda nyumbani
You will have gone home - Wewe utakuwa umeenda nyumbani
You will have gone home - Nyinyi mtakuwa mmeenda nyumbani
They will have gone home - Hawo/Wale watakuwa wameenda nyumbani

Future perfect progressive tense

Same as Future progressive tense
Example:

I will have been going home

In addition we have other tenses that aren't translatable in English

Wakati usiodhihirika literally meaning tense that isn't known/confirmed

We can however translate it to the Simple progressive tense

I am going home - Mimi naenda nyumbani
He/she is going home - Yeye aenda nyumbani
We are going home - Sisi twaenda nyumbani
You are going home - Wewe waenda nyumbani
You people are going home - Nyinyi watu mwaenda nyumbani
They are going home - Hawo/Wale waenda nyumbani

Then we have Wakati usiodhihirika timilifu which is used in telling (kusimulia) hadithi/ngano (stories/narration)
This one although also not directly translatable, we can use Simple past tense

He/she went home - Yeye akaenda nyumbani
We went home - Sisi tukaenda nyumbani
You went home - Wewe ukaenda nyumbani
You people went home - Nyinyi watu mkaenda nyumbani
They went home - Hawo/Wale wakaenda nyumbani


Also there's another one that's not really standard, but is still used in speech, here you use all the tenses (not applicable to future tenses) but you have to add already

I have already gone home - Mimi nishaenda nyumbani
I already went home - Mimi nilishaenda nyumbani

Tenses in Swahili are already(no pun intended) complicated as it is, no need to add already and repeat everything again, which is what you should do but not now. We still have more tenses mind you, it would be too confusing to outline all of them now though.

We learn the basic msamiati (vocabulary) so that you can understand and make basic sentences.

Numbers - Nambari
0 - sufuri
1 - moja
2 - mbili
3 - tatu
4 - nne
5 - tano
6 - sita
7 - saba
8 - nane
9 - tisa
10 - kumi
11- kumi na moja
12- kumi na mbili

20 - ishirini
21 - ishirini na moja

30 - thelathini
40 - arubaini
50 - hamsini
60 - sitini
70 - sabini
80 - themanini
90 - tisini
100 - mia/mia moja
200 - mia mbili
1000 - elfu/elfu moja
100,000 - laki/laki moja
1000,000 - milioni moja
1000,000,000 - bilioni moja

Days of the week - Siku za wiki

Sunday - Jumapili
Monday - Jumatatu
Tuesday - Jumanne
Wednesday - Jumatano
Thursday - Alkhamisi
Friday - Ijumaa
Saturday - Juma/Jumamosi

Road - barabara (I-ZI)
path - njia (I-ZI)
car - gari (LI-YA)
computer - kompyuta/tarakilishi (I-ZI)
book - kitabu (KI-VI)
pencil - kalamu (I-ZI)
internet - mtandao (I-I)
website - tovuti (I-ZI)
bathroom - bafu (I-ZI)
chair - kiti (KI-VI)
tea - chai (I-I)
food - chakula (KI-VI)
coffee - kahawa (I-I)
phone - rununu/simu (I-ZI)
keys - kifunguo (KI-VI)
cow - ng'ombe (A-WA)
goat - mbuzi (A-WA)
sheep - kondoo (A-WA)
dog - mbwa (A-WA)
cat - paka (A-WA)
rat - panya (A-WA)
music - wimbo (I-ZI)/ngoma(I-ZI)/mziki (U-U)
drum - ngoma (I-ZI)
TV - televisheni/runinga (I-ZI)
disease - ugonjwa (LI-YA)
business - biashara (I-ZI)
debt - deni (LI-YA)
room - chumba (KI-VI)
town - mji (U-I)
city - jiji (LI-YA)
country - nchi (I-ZI)
nation - taifa (LI-YA)
plane -ndege (I-ZI)
airport - kituo cha ndege (KI-VI)
money - pesa(I-ZI)/hela(I-ZI)/fedha(I-ZI)
general love - upendo (U-U)
romantic love - mapenzi (YA-YA)
joy/happiness - furaha (I-I)
peace - imani(I-I)/usalama (U-U)
elimu - education (I-I)
ndoto - dream (I-ZI)
wazo - thought (LI-YA)
maisha - life (YA-YA)
usingizi - sleep (U-U)
daktari - doctor (A-WA)
soko - market (I-ZI)
jua - sun (I-I)
maji - water (YA-YA)
maziwa - milk (YA-YA)
mkate - bread (U-I)
nywele - hair (I-ZI)