Keshia alisema kwamba tusiposahau risiti, tunaweza kurudisha krimu au losheni ambazo hatuzihitaji.

Kwamba introduces reported speech or a reported statement. Here it means that:

Keshia alisema kwamba ... = Keshia said that ...

After alisema, Swahili can sometimes also use kuwa, and sometimes English-style that is simply left unexpressed. But kwamba is very common and very clear.

In Swahili, the subject is usually built into the verb, not given as a separate word.

Here we appears inside several verbs:

• tu- in tusiposahau = we
• tu- in tunaweza = we
• ha-tu- in hatuzihitaji = we do not ...

So Swahili often does not need a separate pronoun like English we.

It is a single verb made of several parts:

• tu- = we
• -si- = negative
• -po- = conditional marker used in this negative pattern, giving the sense if
• -sahau = forget

So tusiposahau means if we do not forget.

This is very normal in Swahili: subject, negation, condition, and the verb root can all be packed into one word.

Because of the conditional pattern -sipo-.

Compare the ideas:

• tunasahau = we forget / we are forgetting
• hatusahau = we do not forget
• tusiposahau = if we do not forget

So the -po- part is what gives the conditional meaning here.

Tunaweza means we can / we are able:

• tu- = we
• -na- = present tense
• -weza = be able

After -weza, the next verb normally appears in the infinitive ku- form:

• tunaweza kurudisha = we can return

So Swahili uses something closer to we are able to return.

Because kurudisha means to return something / take something back, while kurudi means to return oneself / come back.

• kurudi = come back
• kurudisha = give back, send back, return something

In this sentence, something is being returned: krimu au losheni. So kurudisha is the correct verb.

Swahili does not have articles like English a/an and the.

So risiti can mean:

• a receipt
• the receipt

The exact meaning is understood from context. In this sentence, the context makes the receipt the natural translation.

They are loanwords borrowed into Swahili:

• krimu from cream
• losheni from lotion
• risiti from receipt

Loanwords are very common in Swahili. Many of them are treated as class 9/10 nouns, and often the noun itself does not visibly change between singular and plural. The agreement words around it tell you how it is functioning grammatically.

Ambazo is a relative word meaning which/that for class 10 nouns.

So:

krimu au losheni ambazo hatuzihitaji
= the creams or lotions that we do not need

Here the speaker is treating krimu / losheni as class 10 plural or generic items.

If the sentence were clearly about one single item, you would expect singular class 9 agreement instead:

• krimu ambayo ...
• losheni ambayo ...

It breaks down like this:

• ha- = negative
• -tu- = we
• -zi- = them for class 10
• -hitaji = need

So hatuzihitaji means we do not need them.

The -zi- refers back to krimu au losheni. If a single class 9 item were meant and an object marker were used, you would expect -i- instead, as in hatuihitaji.

Yes, they both agree with the same nouns, but they do different jobs.

• ambazo introduces the relative clause: which/that
• -zi- inside hatuzihitaji is the object marker: them

So:

ambazo hatuzihitaji
literally works like
which we-do-not-need-them

That kind of agreement repetition is normal in Swahili.

Because the phrase krimu au losheni is being treated here as a set of possible unwanted products, not just one single item. So the speaker uses class 10 plural or generic agreement:

• ambazo
• -zi- in hatuzihitaji

This is especially common with loanword product nouns when speaking generally. If you were talking about one specific cream or one specific lotion, singular agreement would be more likely:

• krimu ambayo hatuihitaji
• losheni ambayo hatuihitaji

Because that is the normal Swahili pattern: the noun comes first, and the relative clause comes after it.

• krimu au losheni = cream or lotion
• ambazo hatuzihitaji = that we do not need

So Swahili naturally says cream or lotion which we do not need. The relative clause follows the noun it describes.