Learn Hardcore Swahili: Mimi nina mzio wa samaki, kwa hiyo sipendi kula samaki sokoni. - I have an allergy to fish, so I do not like to eat fish at the market.

Nina mzio wa samaki. = I have a fish allergy.
Mimi nina mzio wa samaki. = I have a fish allergy. (emphasis, or a bit more “full”/careful speech)

Both are grammatically correct.

What exactly is nina? Is it one word, or is it made of smaller parts?

Nina is made of two parts:

ni- = “I” (1st person singular subject marker)
-na = present tense marker, or “have” when used with kuwa na (“to have”)

Literally, nina comes from ni + na and means “I have” / “I am with”.

So:

Nina mzio. = I have an allergy.
Nina kitabu. = I have a book.

You’ll see the same pattern:

Una (u- + na) = you have
Ana (a- + na) = he/she has
Tuna (tu- + na) = we have
Mna (m- + na) = you (pl.) have
Wana (wa- + na) = they have

What does mzio wa samaki literally mean, and why is wa used?

Literally, mzio wa samaki means “allergy of fish” or “allergy to fish”.

mzio = allergy
wa = “of” (associative/possessive connector)
samaki = fish

Swahili uses these associative particles to link two nouns, like “X of Y”:

mzigo wa samaki = load of fish
rafiki wa Juma = Juma’s friend

The form wa is chosen because mzio belongs to a noun class that takes wa in this construction (same pattern as many m-/wa- and m-/mi- class nouns).

So mzio wa samaki = fish allergy in natural English.

Is samaki singular or plural here?

Samaki can be both singular and plural in common usage:

samaki = fish / a fish / fish (plural)

Context tells you which one it is. In:

mzio wa samaki
sipendi kula samaki sokoni

the meaning is “fish” in general, not one specific fish. If you want to be explicit:

samaki mmoja = one fish
samaki wengi = many fish

What does kwa hiyo mean, and how is it used?

Kwa hiyo means “so / therefore / for that reason”.

It links a reason and a result, just like English so:

Mimi nina mzio wa samaki, kwa hiyo sipendi kula samaki sokoni.
= I’m allergic to fish, so I don’t like eating fish at the market.

You’ll also see:

kwa hivyo – very similar, also “so / thus / therefore”
hivyo alone – “thus / that way / like that”, often more formal or written

In everyday speech, kwa hiyo is a very natural “so” to connect sentences.

How does the negative sipendi work? What’s the si-?

Sipendi is the negative form of napenda (“I like”).

The pattern is:

napenda = I like
si
- penda → sipendi = I don’t like

So:

si- = “I” in the negative present
penda = verb root “to like/love”
final -a often changes to -i in the negative: penda → pendi

Other examples:

nina → sina (I have → I don’t have)
naenda → siendi (I go / I am going → I don’t go / I am not going)

So sipendi kula samaki = I don’t like to eat fish.

Why is it sipendi kula samaki and not just sipendi samaki?

Both are possible, but they are slightly different:

Sipendi samaki. = I don’t like fish. (general dislike of fish)
Sipendi kula samaki. = I don’t like eating fish.

In your sentence, the focus is on eating fish (because of the allergy), so adding kula (“to eat”) is natural.

Grammar point:

kula is the infinitive “to eat”.
After verbs like penda (like), taka (want), weza (can), Swahili often uses the infinitive:
- Napenda kusoma. = I like to read.
- Nataka kula. = I want to eat.
- Siwezi kuimba. = I can’t sing.

Why kula and not la for “eat”?

La is the finite verb form (“eat” as a normal verb in a sentence):

Ninakula samaki. = I am eating fish.
Tulila samaki jana. = We ate fish yesterday.

Kula is the infinitive (“to eat” / “eating”):

after other verbs: sipendi kula samaki (I don’t like to eat fish)
as a general “to eat” form: Kula ni muhimu. (Eating is important.)

So:

la = “eat” (conjugated with subject and tense markers)
kula = “to eat” (infinitive, often used after another verb or as a noun-like form)

What does sokoni mean, and how is it different from soko?

soko = market
sokoni = at the market / in the market / to the market

The ending -ni is a locative suffix, which often means “in / at / on”:

nyumba → nyumbani = at home
shule → shuleni = at school
kanisa → kanisani = at church

So samaki sokoni literally = fish at the market.

In your sentence:

sipendi kula samaki sokoni
= I don’t like eating fish at the market.

Does sipendi kula samaki sokoni mean I don’t like fish that comes from the market, or I don’t like eating fish while I’m at the market?

Most naturally, it means:

I don’t like eating fish while I’m at the market
(i.e., I don’t enjoy having a fish meal at the market stalls or food stands).

If you wanted to emphasize fish bought from the market (not the place of eating), you might say:

Sipendi samaki wa sokoni. = I don’t like fish from the market.
(wa sokoni then describes the fish.)

In your original sentence, sokoni is understood as the place where you eat.

Could this sentence be two separate sentences in Swahili?

Yes. You could split it:

Mimi nina mzio wa samaki. Kwa hiyo sipendi kula samaki sokoni.
= I have a fish allergy. So I don’t like eating fish at the market.

Or you can use kwa sababu (“because”) instead of kwa hiyo:

Sipendi kula samaki sokoni kwa sababu nina mzio wa samaki.
= I don’t like eating fish at the market because I’m allergic to fish.

Both structures are common and correct; you just change the connector and word order slightly.

What tense are nina and sipendi? Do they mean “I am having / I am not liking” (continuous) or simple present?

Swahili doesn’t usually separate simple present and present continuous the way English does. The same form can cover both, depending on context.

nina mzio = I have an allergy (a state)
sipendi kula samaki = I don’t like eating fish

In English, we would not say “I am not liking eating fish” here, but in Swahili sipendi works for a general present meaning (“I don’t like”).

So:

nina and sipendi are in present tense, used for current states or habits, not just actions happening right now.