Mama aliponiletea plasta, alinipa pia kidonge na kuniambia nifungue mdomo baada ya kunywa maji.

It can be broken down like this:

• a- = she/he
• -li- = past tense
• -po- = when
• -ni- = me
• letea = bring to/for

So aliponiletea means when she brought to me or more natural English, when she brought me.

This is very typical Swahili: one verb can contain the subject, tense, time relationship, and object all at once.

Because letea means bring to/for someone, while leta is just bring.

Here the action is not only bringing something, but bringing it to me, so Swahili uses the applied form:

• leta = bring
• letea = bring to/for

That -ea idea is very common in Swahili verbs when an action is done for, to, at, or toward someone.

In this sentence, -po- gives a time meaning: when.

So aliponiletea plasta = when she brought me a plaster/bandage.

The form -po- can be used in other ways in Swahili too, especially with location or relative meaning, but here the natural reading is clearly temporal: when.

It is a common loanword, ultimately from English plaster.

In everyday East African Swahili, plasta can refer to things like:

• an adhesive plaster / Band-Aid
• a bandage-like plaster
• sometimes other kinds of plaster, depending on context

So even though it is borrowed, it is still a normal word you will hear in real Swahili.

It breaks down like this:

• a- = she/he
• -li- = past tense
• -ni- = me
• pa = give

So alinipa literally means she gave me.

Notice that Swahili puts me inside the verb as an object marker. You do not need a separate word for to me here.

Kidonge means pill or tablet.

It belongs to the ki-/vi- noun class:

• singular: kidonge
• plural: vidonge

That is why it begins with ki-. This is a very common noun class in Swahili.

Pia means also, too, or as well.

In alinipa pia kidonge, it means she also gave me a pill.

Its position can vary a little depending on emphasis, but here it naturally attaches to the idea of also gave me. So the sense is:

• she brought me a plaster
• and she also gave me a pill

This part is:

• na = and
• ku-ni-ambia = to tell me

So literally it looks like and to tell me, but in natural Swahili this kind of structure can follow a main verb to add another action by the same subject.

So:

• alinipa pia kidonge na kuniambia...

means naturally:

• she also gave me a pill and told me...

A more explicitly finite alternative would be something like akaniambia, but na kuniambia is perfectly understandable and natural.

Because this is the subjunctive form, which is commonly used after verbs of telling, asking, wanting, ordering, and similar ideas.

Breakdown:

• ni- = I
• fungue = subjunctive form of fungua (open)

So nifungue mdomo means that I open my mouth / that I should open my mouth.

Why not the others?

• fungua = plain imperative, open!
• kufungua = infinitive, to open
• nifungue = that I open / I should open

After kuniambia (telling me), the subjunctive is exactly what Swahili expects.

Because in Swahili, body parts often appear without a possessive when the owner is already obvious from context.

So nifungue mdomo naturally means that I open my mouth, even though wangu is not stated.

If you said mdomo wangu, it would be more explicit, and sometimes more emphatic, but it is not necessary here.

After baada ya (after), Swahili normally uses an infinitive/verbal noun form.

So:

• baada ya = after
• kunywa = drinking / to drink
• maji = water

Together, baada ya kunywa maji means after drinking water.

This is a very common pattern:

• baada ya kula = after eating
• baada ya kusoma = after studying/reading
• baada ya kuja = after coming

Normally, it is understood to be the same person involved in the instruction — here, the person being told to open their mouth.

So the natural reading is:

• she told me to open my mouth after I drank water

Swahili often leaves that subject unstated when it is clear from context.

If someone wanted to make it extra explicit, they could say something like baada ya mimi kunywa maji, but that is usually unnecessary.

Because Swahili generally does not use articles like English a and the.

So words like:

• plasta
• kidonge
• mdomo
• maji

can mean a, the, or sometimes just the bare noun, depending on context.

English requires articles much more often than Swahili does, so this is something English speakers have to get used to.