Learn Hardcore Swahili: Dada yangu anapenda maziwa mgando baridi kuliko soda yenye sukari nyingi. - My sister likes cold yogurt more than soda with a lot of sugar.

anapenda = present tense; can mean likes or is liking, may refer to now or generally.
- Dada yangu anapenda maziwa mgando baridi.
  My sister likes / is fond of cold fermented milk.
hupenda = habitual tense; used for general habits or tendencies, not for a one-time or current mood.
- Dada yangu hupenda maziwa mgando baridi.
  My sister generally/typically likes cold fermented milk.

In many everyday contexts, anapenda is perfectly fine for “likes”, but hupenda emphasizes a usual, repeated preference.

What exactly is maziwa mgando baridi? Is mgando an adjective like baridi?

Literally:

maziwa = milk
mgando = curdling / lumps / something congealed; in this phrase, it refers to fermented or sour milk/yoghurt
baridi = cold

In practice, maziwa mgando is a fixed, common phrase meaning fermented/sour milk, similar to yoghurt or cultured milk. It behaves like a noun phrase, not just “milk that is hard”.

So maziwa mgando baridi ≈ cold fermented milk / cold yoghurt.

Grammar-wise:

mgando historically is a noun, but maziwa mgando has become a set expression.
baridi here behaves like an adjective meaning cold modifying the whole phrase maziwa mgando.

Why is it maziwa mgando baridi and not something like maziwa baridi mgando? What is the adjective order?

In Swahili, there is no strict “official” adjective order like in English, but in set phrases and natural speech:

You often keep fixed expressions together.
- maziwa mgando is a fixed combination.
Additional qualities are added after that phrase:
- maziwa mgando baridi = fermented milk (that is) cold

So the structure is:

[maziwa mgando] [baridi]
- first: the kind/type of milk (fermented milk)
- then: its state/condition (cold)

If you said maziwa baridi mgando, it would sound odd or even confusing, because it breaks up the common collocation maziwa mgando.

Why don’t we need a word meaning is before baridi?

Swahili does not usually use a separate word for is/are before adjectives or other describing words.

chai baridi = the tea (is) cold
chakula kitamu = the food (is) tasty
mtoto mdogo = the child (is) small

So maziwa mgando baridi is literally just fermented milk cold → cold fermented milk.
No extra verb like ni or kuwa is needed here.

What does kuliko mean, and how does the comparison work?

kuliko functions like than in English for comparisons.

Basic pattern:

[X] ... kuliko [Y] = X ... than Y

In the sentence:

Dada yangu anapenda maziwa mgando baridi kuliko soda yenye sukari nyingi.
- My sister prefers cold fermented milk than (i.e. more than) sugary soda.

You can optionally make it more explicit with zaidi (more):

anapenda maziwa mgando baridi zaidi kuliko soda yenye sukari nyingi.
- She likes cold fermented milk more than soda with a lot of sugar.

But even without zaidi, kuliko implies the comparison.

What is happening in soda yenye sukari nyingi? How does yenye work?

yenye comes from the root -enye, which means having / that has.

It is a kind of “relative adjective” and agrees with the noun class of the noun it describes.

soda is class 9 (N-class), so -enye takes the form yenye for that class.

So:

soda yenye sukari nyingi = soda having a lot of sugar / soda that has a lot of sugar

Structure:

soda = soda
yenye = that has / having (agreeing with soda)
sukari nyingi = a lot of sugar

Why is it sukari nyingi even though sugar is uncountable? What does nyingi add?

In Swahili, the adjective -ingi (many/much) is used for both:

countable nouns → many
uncountable/mass nouns → much / a lot of

It just takes different agreement forms per noun class.

sukari (sugar) is a mass noun; it usually behaves as class 9/10.
For class 9/10 nouns, -ingi becomes nyingi.

So:

sukari nyingi = a lot of sugar / very sugary

You can use nyingi with many other mass nouns too:

maji mengi = a lot of water
maziwa mengi = a lot of milk
chakula kingi = a lot of food

Could we say anayapenda maziwa mgando baridi instead of anapenda maziwa mgando baridi? When do we use object markers?

Yes, anayapenda maziwa mgando baridi is grammatically possible, but there is a nuance.

Object markers (like ya, wa, ki, vi, wao, etc.) usually:

refer to something already known or previously mentioned, and/or
add emphasis to the object.

Here:

maziwa is class 6, so the object marker is ya.
anayapenda = ana-ya-penda = she likes them (the milk).

So:

Dada yangu anapenda maziwa mgando baridi.
Neutral: My sister likes cold fermented milk.
Dada yangu anayapenda maziwa mgando baridi.
More emphatic / referring back to known milk:
My sister really does like that cold fermented milk (we were talking about).

In simple statements of preference, especially when first introducing the object, Swahili often omits the object marker and just uses anapenda [object].

Why is it soda yenye sukari nyingi and not something like soda ina sukari nyingi?

Both are correct, but they sound slightly different:

soda yenye sukari nyingi
Literally soda having a lot of sugar – more compact, sounds like an adjective phrase: sugary soda.
soda ina sukari nyingi
Literally soda has a lot of sugar – a full clause, more like a statement of fact.

In a sentence like:

... kuliko soda yenye sukari nyingi.

you want a noun phrase, not a full clause, to parallel maziwa mgando baridi.
So soda yenye sukari nyingi fits better stylistically.

Could we change the order to Dada yangu anapenda soda yenye sukari nyingi kuliko maziwa mgando baridi? Would it mean something different?

Yes, you can change the order, and it does change the meaning:

Dada yangu anapenda maziwa mgando baridi kuliko soda yenye sukari nyingi.
→ She likes cold fermented milk more than sugary soda.
Dada yangu anapenda soda yenye sukari nyingi kuliko maziwa mgando baridi.
→ She likes sugary soda more than cold fermented milk.

So the thing before kuliko is the one that is preferred/greater compared to what comes after kuliko.