Kabla ya kulala, mtoto hunywa sharubati ya kikohozi.

Kabala ya kulala is a time expression meaning before sleeping / before going to sleep.

In Swahili, it is very common to put time phrases at the beginning of the sentence, just like in English:

• Before sleeping, the child...
• In the morning, the child...

You could also place it later:

• Mtoto hunywa sharubati ya kikohozi kabla ya kulala.

Both are natural. Starting with it simply emphasizes when the action happens.

Kulala is the infinitive form of the verb -lala (to sleep).

The prefix ku- is the normal infinitive marker in Swahili, so:

• -lala = sleep
• kulala = to sleep / sleeping

After kabla ya, Swahili commonly uses this infinitive form:

• kabla ya kula = before eating
• kabla ya kwenda = before going
• kabla ya kulala = before sleeping

So here kulala functions a bit like an English -ing form.

In this expression, ya links kabla (before) to the following noun or verbal noun.

So the pattern is:

• kabla ya + noun / infinitive

Examples:

• kabla ya kazi = before work
• kabla ya chakula = before food / before the meal
• kabla ya kulala = before sleeping

A good way to think about it is that kulala behaves like a noun-like verb form here, and ya is the linker.

Hunywa comes from the verb -nywa, which means to drink.

The hu- marks a habitual action: something that happens regularly, usually, or characteristically.

So mtoto hunywa means something like:

• the child drinks
• the child usually drinks
• the child tends to drink

This is different from an action happening right now.

This is a very important distinction.

• hunywa = habitual / usually drinks
• anakunywa = is drinking / drinks right now (or present progressive)

So:

• Mtoto hunywa sharubati ya kikohozi kabla ya kulala.
  = The child usually drinks cough syrup before sleeping.

• Mtoto anakunywa sharubati ya kikohozi.
  = The child is drinking cough syrup.

In your sentence, hu- suggests a routine, which fits very well with before sleeping.

In the habitual tense with hu-, Swahili normally uses hu- + verb stem without the usual subject prefix.

So instead of something like ananywa for habitual, you get:

• mtoto hunywa
• watoto hunywa
• mimi hunywa in some contexts, though this is less common in everyday speech than using a noun or pronoun for clarity

This is just how the habitual form works in standard Swahili.

Literally, it is something like syrup of cough.

In natural English, that becomes cough syrup.

This is a very common Swahili structure:

• noun + ya + noun

Here:

• sharubati = syrup
• kikohozi = cough
• sharubati ya kikohozi = cough syrup

So ya connects the two nouns, similar to of in English.

The connector changes according to the noun class of the first noun. This connector is often called the associative or genitive linker.

Here, sharubati takes ya, so:

• sharubati ya kikohozi = cough syrup

You do not need to memorize all noun classes at once, but it is useful to notice that this ya is not random: it agrees with sharubati.

Sharubati is a loanword, ultimately from Arabic/Persian sources, and it is commonly used in Swahili.

Many everyday Swahili words come from Arabic, especially words related to trade, medicine, religion, and daily life. That is completely normal in Swahili vocabulary.

So even though it is borrowed, it is still a standard Swahili word.

Swahili does not have articles like a, an, or the.

So mtoto can mean:

• a child
• the child

Which one is meant depends on context.

That is why mtoto hunywa sharubati ya kikohozi can be understood as either:

• a child usually drinks cough syrup
• the child usually drinks cough syrup

depending on the situation.

The plural of mtoto is watoto.

So the sentence becomes:

• Kabla ya kulala, watoto hunywa sharubati ya kikohozi.

That means Before sleeping, the children usually drink cough syrup.

Notice that hunywa stays the same, because the habitual hu- form does not change for singular vs. plural in the usual way.

Yes. Swahili word order is often flexible, especially with time expressions.

These are both natural:

• Kabla ya kulala, mtoto hunywa sharubati ya kikohozi.
• Mtoto hunywa sharubati ya kikohozi kabla ya kulala.

The first version highlights the time first.
The second version starts with the subject.

Both mean the same thing.

Yes, nyw can look unusual to English speakers.

A rough pronunciation is:

• hu-nywa

The ny sounds like the ny in Spanish señor or like the ny sound in canyon for many speakers.
Then wa follows immediately.

Try saying it slowly:

• hu
• nywa

Then put it together:

• hunywa

The w is really pronounced, so do not reduce it to just hunya.

Yes, very strongly. That is one of the main things hu- tells you.

The sentence suggests a regular habit, such as a bedtime routine:

• before going to sleep, the child usually takes cough syrup

If you wanted a single current event, you would normally use a different tense, such as:

• Mtoto anakunywa sharubati ya kikohozi kabla ya kulala.

But your original sentence sounds like a repeated or usual action.