a note about swahili for uncle al

Upenda is the root word meaning love/like. Kupenda makes it the verb, "to love" . Nina is basically saying "I"...Ni is one way to say I, and na just denotes that we are talking about present tense, so together it is ninakupenda...I have found however that in daily speech most people leave out the Ni and just say 'nakupenda', or ''nakutembea' (I am walking), or whatever it is they are saying.
It's a wonderful language, I am really enjoying learning it (although I haven't gotten as far as I would have liked).