Jana usiku, nilipiga chafya mara nyingi kwa sababu ya mafua.

Jana means yesterday, and usiku means night or at night. Together, jana usiku means last night.

Swahili often expresses time this way very directly, so the literal sense is something like yesterday night, even though natural English usually says last night.

Nilipiga can be broken down like this:

• ni- = I
• -li- = past tense marker
• -piga = verb stem meaning hit, strike, or in some expressions, do/make

So nilipiga literally means I hit / I did in the past.

In this sentence, it is part of the fixed expression kupiga chafya, which means to sneeze.

This is because kupiga chafya is an idiomatic expression. Literally, it looks like to hit a sneeze, but the actual meaning is simply to sneeze.

Swahili uses kupiga in a number of set expressions, where English would usually use a simpler verb. So this is something learners often just memorize as a chunk:

• kupiga chafya = to sneeze

It is best to learn nilipiga chafya as a natural phrase rather than translating it word-for-word.

In this expression, chafya refers to a sneeze. So:

• kupiga chafya = to sneeze
• literally: to do/strike a sneeze

Even if the literal image feels strange in English, the full phrase is very normal in Swahili.

Mara nyingi means many times or often.

It is made of:

• mara = time / occasion
• nyingi = many

So the literal meaning is many times.

In this sentence, it works adverbially, telling us how often the action happened:

• nilipiga chafya mara nyingi = I sneezed many times / I sneezed a lot

Because adjectives in Swahili usually agree with the noun class of the noun they describe.

Here, nyingi agrees with mara.
So:

• mara nyingi = correct
• mara mengi = not correct

This is a good example of noun-class agreement. Even when a phrase translates naturally into English as an adverb, the words inside it still follow Swahili grammar.

Kwa sababu ya means because of.

It is made up of:

• kwa = by / with / through / in terms of
• sababu = reason
• ya = of

So the literal sense is by reason of or for the reason of, but in natural English it is simply because of.

In this sentence:

• kwa sababu ya mafua = because of a cold

It is best to learn kwa sababu ya as a fixed expression meaning because of.

The ya agrees with sababu, not with mafua.

In other words, the structure is:

• sababu ya X = reason of X
• therefore kwa sababu ya X = because of X

So ya is there because of the noun sababu. This is part of the standard expression kwa sababu ya.

Mafua usually refers to a cold, especially the kind that gives you a runny or blocked nose. In some contexts, learners may also see it translated more loosely as flu or cold symptoms, but common cold is often the safest basic meaning.

So in this sentence, kwa sababu ya mafua means the sneezing happened because of a cold.

That is a very common learner question. Mafua has the appearance of a plural noun because of the ma- beginning, but illnesses and body-related nouns do not always match English singular/plural logic neatly.

So even though English says a cold, Swahili uses mafua as the normal word for the illness. You should learn it as a vocabulary item, rather than trying to force a one-to-one singular/plural match with English.

Because Swahili usually puts the subject inside the verb.

In nilipiga:

• ni- already means I

So you do not need a separate word like English I. The verb itself tells you who did the action.

This is very normal in Swahili:

• ninasoma = I am reading
• nilipiga = I did / I hit / I sneezed in this expression

The time phrase can move, although putting it first is very natural.

So this sentence:

• Jana usiku, nilipiga chafya mara nyingi kwa sababu ya mafua.

could also be understood if the time phrase came later. But starting with Jana usiku is a very common and natural way to set the scene first: Last night...

Swahili often allows some flexibility in word order, especially with time expressions.

Not strictly. The comma is mainly a writing choice.

It helps separate the opening time expression from the rest of the sentence:

• Jana usiku, nilipiga chafya...

Without the comma, the sentence is still fine:

• Jana usiku nilipiga chafya...

So the comma is optional and mainly helps readability.

A few useful pronunciation notes:

• ch in chafya sounds like ch in chair
• ny in nyingi sounds like the ny in canyon
• Swahili vowels are usually clear and pure:
  • a as in father
  • i as in machine
  • u as in rule

A rough guide:

• Jana usiku = jah-na oo-see-koo
• nilipiga chafya = nee-lee-pee-ga chah-fya
• mara nyingi = mah-ra nyin-ghee
• kwa sababu ya mafua = kwa sah-bah-boo ya mah-foo-a

Also, Swahili stress is usually on the second-to-last syllable:

• ja-NA
• u-SI-ku
• ni-li-PI-ga
• CHA-fya
• ma-ra NYIN-gi
• ma-FU-a