Nililipia faini kwa kuchelewa kazini.

I paid a fine for being late to work.

Breakdown of Nililipia faini kwa kuchelewa kazini.

• mimi: I
• kwenye: at
• kazi: the work
• kwa: for
• kuchelewa: to be late
• kulipa: to pay
• faini: the fine

Questions & Answers about Nililipia faini kwa kuchelewa kazini.

Break down the verb nililipia—what are its components?

nililipia splits into three parts:

• ni- (subject prefix “I”)
• li- (past‐tense marker)
• lipia (verb root “to pay”)
  Altogether, ni-li-lipia means “I paid.”

Why do I see li twice in nililipia? Am I doubling something?

They look identical but have different roles:

• The first li- is the past‐tense marker.
• The second li- is part of the root lipia.
  They simply appear next to each other in writing.

What is the basic root for “to pay”—is it lipa or lipia?

The true root is lipi-. Swahili verbs always end in -a, so the full citation form is lipia. There isn’t a standalone lipa in the standard verb system.

Why use kwa before kuchelewa? How does kwa + infinitive work?

In Swahili, kwa + infinitive expresses “for doing/being [something].”
So kwa + kuchelewa = “for being late.” It’s a concise way to state a reason.

Why is there no tense marker on kuchelewa?

Because kuchelewa is an infinitive (“to be late/being late”). Infinitives are not marked for tense. The past time is already shown by li in nililipia.

What’s happening in kazini—how did kazi become kazini?

kazi means “work/job.” Adding the locative suffix -ni turns many nouns into “at/in” that place.
Thus kazi + -ni → kazini = “at work.”

Why doesn’t faini change in the plural, and what noun class is it?

faini is a borrowed word (from English “fine”), so it sits in noun class 9/10. Class 9/10 nouns often keep the same form in singular and plural. Context or quantifiers tell you whether it’s one “fine” or many.

Could I rephrase the reason as kwa sababu instead of kwa + infinitive?

Yes. You could say:
Nililipia faini kwa sababu nilichelewa kazini.
Here kwa sababu + full clause (nilichelewa) also means “because.” The infinitive version is just more compact.

How would I express this in the present or future tense?

Change the tense marker in the verb prefix:

• Present: Ninalipia faini kwa kuchelewa kazini. (“I pay/am paying a fine…”) marker -na-
• Future: Nitalipia faini kwa kuchelewa kazini. (“I will pay a fine…”) marker -ta-