Gari halifanyi kazi bila injini.

A helpful breakdown is:

• gari = car
• ha-li-fanyi = it does not do / it does not work
  • ha- = negative
  • li- = subject marker agreeing with gari
  • fanyi = negative form of fanya
• kazi = work
• bila = without
• injini = engine

So the structure is roughly:

car + does not work + work + without + engine

Very literally, fanya kazi is do work, but in normal English this comes out as work or function.

Because gari does not take the same subject agreement as a person.

In Swahili, verbs agree with the noun class of the subject. Gari belongs to the class that uses li- in singular. So the verb has to match it:

• gari halifanyi = the car does not work
• mtu hafanyi = the person does not work / does not do

So ha- is the negative part, and li- is there because the subject is gari.

Swahili usually builds negation into the verb itself instead of using a separate word like not.

Here, the negative present is formed by:

• a negative prefix
• the subject marker
• the verb stem
• a final -i instead of -a

So:

• fanya = do, make
• halifanyi = it does not do / it does not work

That final -i is a very common sign of this kind of negative form.

No. In halifanyi, hali- is not a separate word.

It is made up of:

• ha- = negative
• li- = subject marker for gari

So you should read halifanyi as one verb form, not as hali + fanyi.

Yes, fanya means do or make, but fanya kazi is a very common expression meaning:

• to work
• to function

So:

• fanya = do / make
• fanya kazi = work / function

If you leave out kazi, the meaning changes. Halifanyi by itself would sound more like it doesn’t do rather than it doesn’t work.

It can mean both, depending on context.

• With a person, anafanya kazi often means he/she is working
• With a machine or object, inafanya kazi often means it works / it functions

In this sentence, because the subject is gari and the sentence mentions injini, the meaning is clearly functioning, not employment.

Bila means without.

It can be followed directly by a noun:

• bila maji = without water
• bila pesa = without money
• bila injini = without an engine / without the engine

You do not need an extra word between bila and injini.

It can mean either one.

Swahili does not have articles like a, an, and the. So gari can mean:

• a car
• the car
• sometimes just car in a general sense

You understand the exact meaning from context.

So this sentence could be understood as either a general statement or a statement about one specific car.

The plural of gari is magari.

So the plural sentence is:

Magari hayafanyi kazi bila injini.

Here the verb changes too, because the noun class agreement changes:

• gari halifanyi = the car does not work
• magari hayafanyi = the cars do not work

Injini is a loanword and is normally treated like a class 9/10 noun.

A useful thing for learners is that many class 9/10 nouns have the same form in singular and plural. So injini can be:

• engine
• engines

In this sentence, though, you do not see any agreement on injini, because it is simply the noun after bila.

A positive present version would use lina-:

• Gari linafanya kazi. = The car works / is working.

A future negative version would be:

• Gari halitafanya kazi bila injini. = The car will not work without an engine.

So you can compare:

• linafanya = it works / is working
• halifanyi = it does not work / is not working
• halitafanya = it will not work

A simple pronunciation guide is:

• gari = GA-ri
• halifanyi = ha-li-FA-nyi
• kazi = KA-zi
• bila = BI-la
• injini = in-JI-ni

A few useful pronunciation notes:

• Swahili words are usually pronounced as written.
• a is like the a in father
• i is like ee
• stress usually falls on the second-to-last syllable

So the whole sentence is said smoothly as:

GA-ri ha-li-FA-nyi KA-zi BI-la in-JI-ni