Tafadhali andika maelezo kwenye daftari lako kabla ya kuondoka.

Tafadhali means please. It makes the command more polite.

So:

• Andika = write
• Tafadhali andika = please write

In Swahili, tafadhali can appear before or after the main request, but here it comes first, which is very common.

Andika is the singular imperative form of the verb -andika, meaning to write.

This means the speaker is giving a direct instruction to one person:

• andika = write! / write down!

Swahili imperatives are often very simple. For many verbs, you use the verb stem directly for a singular command.

Examples:

• andika = write!
• soma = read!
• funga = close!

If the speaker were talking to more than one person, the command form would often be different, such as andikeni = write! (plural).

Maelezo can mean several related things depending on context:

• explanation
• details
• information
• notes

In this sentence, it most naturally means something like notes or details/information that should be written down.

This is common in Swahili: one word may cover a range that English splits into several separate words. The exact meaning depends on context.

Maelezo is grammatically a plural noun in form. It belongs to the ma- noun class, which often contains plural nouns.

That is why it begins with ma-:

• elezo = an explanation / a detail
• maelezo = explanations / details / information / notes

Even though it looks plural, English may translate it with either a plural word like notes or a mass noun like information, depending on context.

Kwenye means something like:

• on
• in
• at
• onto

The exact English preposition depends on the noun that follows and the situation.

In kwenye daftari lako, it means in your notebook or on your notebook/pages, but English usually says in your notebook.

Swahili prepositions do not always match English one-for-one, so it is best to understand kwenye as a location marker meaning roughly in/at/on.

It breaks down like this:

• kwenye = in/on/at
• daftari = notebook
• lako = your

So:

• kwenye daftari lako = in your notebook

The word lako agrees with daftari. In Swahili, possessives change form depending on the noun class of the thing being possessed.

In Swahili, possessive words must agree with the noun class of the noun.

Daftari belongs to the class that takes possessive agreement like langu, lako, lake, etc.

So:

• daftari langu = my notebook
• daftari lako = your notebook
• daftari lake = his/her notebook

This can feel unusual for English speakers, because English uses my/your/his/her without changing for the noun. Swahili does change the possessive form.

Kabla ya means before.

It introduces something that happens later in time than the main action.

So here:

• andika maelezo ... kabla ya kuondoka
• write the notes/details ... before leaving

You can think of kabla ya as a fixed expression.

Examples:

• kabla ya chakula = before food / before the meal
• kabla ya kwenda = before going
• kabla ya kuondoka = before leaving

Kuondoka is the infinitive form of the verb -ondoka, meaning to leave / to depart.

After kabla ya, Swahili often uses the infinitive with ku-:

• kabla ya kuondoka = before leaving / before you leave

This is a very common structure:

• kabla ya kusoma = before reading
• kabla ya kulala = before sleeping
• kabla ya kuanza = before starting

So ku- here works like to in the infinitive, although in English we often translate the whole phrase more naturally with -ing, as in before leaving.

Because the imperative form already implies you.

In English, a command like Write it down also does not normally say you, but the subject is understood. Swahili works the same way here:

• andika = write!
  understood meaning: you write

So there is no need to add a separate subject pronoun.

Literally, andika means write. But in context, English may naturally say write down because the sentence is about putting information into a notebook.

So both ideas are connected:

• literal: please write the information in your notebook before leaving
• natural English: please write down the notes in your notebook before leaving

A learner should know that Swahili may use a simple verb where English prefers a phrasal verb like write down.

As written, it most naturally addresses one person, because andika is singular imperative.

If the speaker were addressing multiple people, a common form would be:

• Tafadhali andikeni maelezo kwenye daftari lenu kabla ya kuondoka.

That would mean:

• andikeni = write! (plural)
• lenu = your (plural)

So the original sentence is best understood as speaking to one person.

The sentence is built like this:

• Tafadhali = politeness marker
• andika = command verb
• maelezo = object
• kwenye daftari lako = place/location phrase
• kabla ya kuondoka = time phrase

So the full structure is:

Please + write + notes/details + in your notebook + before leaving

This is a very normal Swahili word order. The command comes first, then the thing to be written, then extra information about where and when.

Yes, a few useful ones:

• tafadhali: every vowel is pronounced clearly: ta-fa-dha-li
• dh in tafadhali is pronounced like the th in this, not like the th in thin
• andika: pronounce all vowels clearly: a-ndi-ka
• maelezo: the vowels are separate, roughly ma-e-le-zo
• kuondoka: the uo sequence is pronounced, not reduced away

Swahili pronunciation is usually more regular than English spelling, so once you know the sound system, words are often easier to pronounce than they look.