The #1 Easy List Of Swahili Prepositions

Prepositions play a major role in sentence formation. It is important to pay attention to them when learning a new language, alongside Swahili nouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives. Prepositions show a correlation between two objects and sometimes give meaning to sentences. In the Swahili language, Swahili prepositions, or Kihusishi in Swahili, are important.

That is why we are going through the important Swahili prepositions you must know to be able to formulate correct sentences and become a fluent speaker. With many examples listed here, we can ensure that you’ll understand this topic instantly. Without further ado, let’s get started in learning Swahili.

A Quick Intro To Swahili Grammar

The Swahili grammar is a Bantu language spoken mainly in Eastern Africa. With approximately 200 million speakers, the Swahili language is spoken alongside French and English in Tanzania, Kenya, the Congo Republic, and other eastern African countries. The Swahili grammar follows the subject-verb-object order in Swahili sentence structure and has a rich array of agglutination words, noun classes, and tenses.

Ideally, prepositions are placed before the noun or the pronouns, whether demonstrative or any pronoun. However, when it comes to some prepositions of location, it is added as a suffix when there is a proper noun in the sentence.

What Is A Preposition?

We’ve established that prepositions are an essential part of a sentence, but what exactly are they? A preposition is a word or group used before a noun or pronoun to show direction, place, location, or spatial relationship. In layman’s language, a preposition is simply a word that links words together or shows a relationship between both terms.

• The cat is under the table

The English preposition ‘under‘ shows the relationship between the cat and the table. Another quick example is My phone is in the car. You will realize that the phone and the car are linked together by the preposition ‘in.’

It is important to also know Swahili prepositions after you’ve said your introductions in Swahili. Now that we know what a preposition is and its importance, let’s look at the common prepositions you need to know in Swahili.

Common Swahili Prepositions You Need To Know

Swahili food ingredients, they’re above and beyond the usual cooking scene. See what I did there? Let’s look at the common Swahili prepositions essential for the smooth flow of your learning process.

English	Swahili	Sound
above	juu	Play
about	kuhusu	Play
after	baada ya	Play
around	karibu	Play
against	dhidi ya	Play
and	na	Play
among	miongoni mwa	Play
between	kati ya	Play
behind	nyuma ya	Play
before	kabla ya	Play
but	lakini	Play
beside	kando ya	Play
beyond	ng’ambo	Play
during	wakati	Play
from	kutoka	Play
far from	mbali ya	Play
in	katika/ndani ya	Play / Play
instead of	badala ya	Play
inside	ndani ya	Play
in front of	mbele ya	Play
next	kando	Play
Near	karibu na	Play
of	ya	Play
until	mpaka	Play
outside	nje ya	Play
over	juu ya	Play
on/on top of/ upon	juu ya	Play
since	tangu	Play
than	kuliko	Play
toward	kuelekea	Play
under/underneath	chini ya	Play
until	mpaka	Play
without	bila	Play
within	ndani ya	Play

Many of these prepositions are used for Swahili transportation vocabulary or even asking about the date or time in Swahili. Hitting two birds with one stone, am I right?

Common Examples To Help You Understand Prepositions

You don’t need to apologize in Swahili a lot if you still haven’t memorized these prepositions. Here are more sentences as examples to help you memorize the structure of prepositions in a Swahili sentence.

English	Swahili	Sound
The eggs are in the baskets	Mayai yamo ndani ya	Play
I am outside your house	Niko nje ya nyumba yako	Play
You are far from home	Uko mbali na nyumbani	Play
The cat is under the table	Paka iko chini ya meza	Play
He is between the table and the chair	Yuko kati ya meza na kiti	Play
I am in front of the church	Niko mbele ya kanisa	Play
Have you checked beside the box?	Umeangalia kando ya kisanduku?	Play
He left during the meeting	Aliondoka wakati wa mkutano	Play
With or without you, I am going	Na au bila wewe, ninaenda	Play
I am near the bus	Niko karibu na basi	Play

Other Swahili Phrases You Should Know

Let’s take a look at other basic Swahili vocabulary to know, especially if you are traveling to any of the Swahili-speaking countries soon.

English	Swahili	Sound
Hello	Habari	Play
How are you	U hali gani?	Play
Good morning	Habari za asubuhi	Play
Good afternoon	Habari za mchana	Play
Good evening	Habari za jioni	Play
Good night	Usiku mwema	Play
Goodbye	Kwa heri	Play
What is your name?	Jina lako ni nani	Play
My name is…	Jina langu ni	Play
Sorry	Samahani	Play
Thank you	Asante	Play

There Is Still More To Learn About Swahili Grammar

We may have reached the end of this blog post on prepositions, but the Swahili language has a lot of vocabulary and terms to learn. As we mentioned earlier, the Swahili language is one of the largest languages spoken in Africa, and it will be important to be conversant with it if you are traveling to Kenya or working in Africa.

Therefore, to make your learning journey easier and faster, you need a language learning app that covers the basics and advanced grammar in the Swahili language. That is where the Ling app comes in!

Other Swahili Lessons For You To Try Now!

If you are a Swahili language learner and you do not want to go over the grammar point right away, you can also check out how to introduce yourself in Swahili in case a local asks you, Swahili basic greetings, and other necessary Swahili vocabulary.

Keep Learning Swahili With Ling

The Ling app is a language learning platform with a gamified experience to make language learning easy and fun. It comes with every feature you need to move from a beginner in the Swahili language to a fluent speaker.

You’ll get access to grammar lessons that move from basic words to advanced sentences, interactive quizzes and exercises, flashcards, and even an AI chatbot that helps you develop your conversational skills. With Ling, you can rest assured that you will develop reading, listening, writing, and speaking skills in your target language.

What are you waiting for? Download the Ling app today from the Play Store or App Store to get started!