Kesho asubuhi, dada yangu atatumia sega, shampuu na krimu kabla hatujaenda kwa shangazi.

Because Swahili often puts a time expression at the beginning to set the scene. Kesho means tomorrow and asubuhi means morning, so together they mean tomorrow morning.

There is no need for a preposition like on or in here. Swahili time expressions often stand on their own.

In Swahili, possessives normally come after the noun, not before it.

So:

• dada yangu = my sister
• not yangu dada

The possessive idea my comes from -angu, and with dada, the correct full form is yangu.

Atatumia can be broken into parts:

• a- = he/she
• -ta- = future marker, will
• -tumia = use

So atatumia means he/she will use.

In this sentence, because the subject is dada yangu, it means my sister will use.

Not by itself. Swahili verb prefixes usually do not show gender.

So a- can mean:

• he
• she

You know it means she here only because dada yangu is the subject.

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

So a noun can appear by itself:

• sega = a comb / the comb
• shampuu = shampoo / the shampoo
• krimu = cream / the cream

The exact meaning depends on context.

This works much like English:

• sega, shampuu na krimu
• a comb, shampoo, and cream

Swahili commonly separates earlier items with commas and uses na (and) before the last item.

Yes. They are borrowed words that are fully used in Swahili.

This is very common, especially for modern objects or products. Swahili has many loanwords from English, Arabic, and other languages. So learners will often see familiar-looking words like these.

This is a very common Swahili pattern after kabla (before).

Hatujaenda literally contains a negative form, but in this kind of sentence it means something like:

• before we go
• before we have gone

The idea is that the going has not happened yet at that point.

So kabla hatujaenda kwa shangazi means before we go to auntie’s place.

Because after kabla, Swahili often uses this negative perfect pattern to express before something happens.

So:

• kabla hatujaenda = before we go
• not usually kabla tutaenda

For an English speaker, this can feel strange at first, because English uses a normal present or future idea after before, while Swahili often uses a form that emphasizes the action has not yet happened.

A simple breakdown is:

• ha- = negative
• tu- = we
• -ja- = part of the negative perfect pattern
• -enda = go

So hatujaenda literally looks like we have not gone, but after kabla it is understood as before we go.

Because the sentence has two different clauses with two different subjects:

• dada yangu atatumia... = my sister will use...
• kabla hatujaenda... = before we go...

So the first action belongs to my sister, but the second action belongs to us.

Swahili shows this clearly in the verb prefixes:

• a- = he/she
• tu- = we

With people, kwa often means:

• to
• at
• to the place of

So kwa shangazi can mean:

• to auntie
• at auntie’s place
• to our aunt’s house

In a sentence with go, the most natural English meaning is usually to auntie’s place.

Yes. That would also be a natural way to express the idea:

• kabla ya kwenda kwa shangazi = before going to auntie’s place

The version in your sentence, kabla hatujaenda kwa shangazi, is a bit more specific because it explicitly includes we as the people who will go.