Tulituma sampuli maabara.

It has three main parts:

• tu- = we
• -li- = past tense marker
• -tuma = send

So tulituma is literally we-past-send, or we sent.

This is very typical of Swahili: one verb word often contains information that English would spread across several words.

Because the verb already includes the subject.

In Swahili, you usually do not need a separate subject pronoun if the verb already shows who is doing the action. So:

• Tulituma = we sent

You could add sisi for emphasis:

• Sisi tulituma sampuli maabara. = We sent the sample to the lab.

That would sound more emphatic, like contrasting we with someone else.

Swahili puts tense inside the verb instead of using a separate helper word.

Here, the past is shown by -li-:

• tu-li-tuma

So the sentence does not need an extra word for past time. This is one of the biggest structural differences from English.

Because some Swahili nouns, especially loanwords, can look the same in singular and plural.

So sampuli may mean:

• sample
• samples

Usually, context tells you which one is meant. In this sentence alone, the form sampuli does not make the number completely obvious.

If another word in the sentence agreed with it, that could help clarify number, but here the meaning mostly comes from context.

Swahili does not have articles like English does.

So a noun can mean:

• a sample
• the sample
• samples
• the samples

depending on context.

That means sampuli does not need any separate word corresponding to a or the, and maabara does not need one either.

Swahili often allows the destination or place to come directly after the object without needing a separate word exactly matching English to.

So:

• Tulituma sampuli maabara.

is a natural compact structure.

If a speaker wanted to make the location relationship more explicit, they might use a fuller expression such as kwenye maabara in some contexts. But in a short sentence like this, the bare noun maabara can work as the destination.

Yes. This is a very normal order.

The sentence is basically:

• Tulituma = verb, already containing the subject
• sampuli = object
• maabara = destination/place

So the pattern is roughly:

• Verb + object + place

Since the subject we is already built into the verb, Swahili sentences often begin directly with the verb.

Because when the full object noun is stated explicitly, an object marker is often not necessary.

Here, the object is already present as sampuli, so:

• Tulituma sampuli maabara.

is perfectly normal.

Object markers are more likely when the object has already been mentioned, is especially definite, or the speaker wants to refer back to it without repeating the noun. For example, if the sample had already been discussed, a speaker might use an object marker instead of repeating sampuli.

So the lack of an object marker here is not strange at all.

Yes, that is actually a useful learning strategy, as long as you remember that Swahili and English package meaning differently.

A rough word-for-word breakdown is:

• Tu-li-tuma = we-past-send
• sampuli = sample/sample(s)
• maabara = laboratory/lab

That kind of literal breakdown helps you see the grammar. Then, when you translate naturally into English, you use the smoother English wording that matches the intended meaning.