"Chungulia kaburi"

Translation: Be very near death

[vitoreiji]

Does this literally mean "to inspect a grave"?

[machieng]

'chungulia' is to peep or look stealthily, so the literal translation would be 'to peek at a grave'

[Ernst557459]

Since kuchungulia is the applicative (prepositional) form of the verb kuchungua (to inspect/to examine), it needs an object: kaburi in this case. However, if I would tell my students not to peek, could I tell them msichungulieni, without an object?