Mtoto akipiga chafya darasani, mwalimu atamwambia afunike mdomo wake kwa kitambaa.

In Swahili, kupiga chafya is the normal expression for to sneeze.

• kupiga = to hit / to do / to make
• chafya = sneeze

So akipiga chafya literally looks like if/when he or she does a sneeze, but naturally it just means if/when the child sneezes.

The form aki- is also important:

• a- = he/she
• -ki- = when/if

So akipiga chafya means when he/she sneezes or if he/she sneezes, depending on context.

The aki- form is often used for a condition or a time relationship such as if, when, or whenever.

So:

• Mtoto akipiga chafya darasani = If/When a child sneezes in class

This is a very common Swahili pattern:

• akienda = if/when he goes
• akisoma = if/when he reads
• akicheka = if/when he laughs

In this sentence, it introduces the situation that leads to the teacher’s response.

The ending -ni often marks location in Swahili.

• darasa = class / classroom
• darasani = in the classroom / in class

This locative ending is extremely common:

• nyumbani = at home
• shuleni = at school
• mezani = on the table
• njiani = on the way / on the road

So darasani tells you where the sneezing happens.

Atamwambia can be broken into parts:

• a- = he/she
• -ta- = future tense
• -mw- = him/her
• -ambia = tell / say to

So atamwambia means he/she will tell him/her.

In this sentence, the subject is mwalimu and the object is mtoto, so:

• mwalimu atamwambia = the teacher will tell the child

This is a very useful Swahili verb structure, because subject and object can both be built into the verb.

Swahili often uses different verb forms to show who receives the action.

• kusema = to say
• kumwambia mtu = to tell someone

The form -ambia is related to a kind of applied meaning: saying something to someone.

Compare:

• anasema = he/she says
• anamwambia = he/she tells him/her

So atamwambia is the natural choice because the sentence involves telling the child something.

Afunike is in the subjunctive form.

After verbs like tell, ask, want, order, or advise, Swahili often uses the subjunctive for the action that someone is supposed to do.

So:

• mwalimu atamwambia afunike...
  = the teacher will tell him/her to cover...

Here:

• a- = he/she
• -funik- = cover
• -e = subjunctive ending

So afunike means that he/she cover or more naturally to cover in this context.

If you said atafunika, that would mean he/she will cover, which is more like a simple future statement, not an instruction after tell.

This is because possessives in Swahili agree with the noun being possessed, not with the person who owns it.

• mdomo belongs to the m-/mi- noun class
• The possessive stem is -ake = his/her
• With mdomo, that becomes wake

So:

• mdomo wake = his/her mouth

This may feel unusual to English speakers, because English only changes the possessor word, not the possessed noun. In Swahili, the form of his/her changes depending on the noun class:

• mtoto wake = his/her child
• kitabu chake = his/her book
• mdomo wake = his/her mouth

In context, it refers to the person being told to cover the mouth, so it is understood as the child’s mouth.

Grammatically, wake itself just means his/her and does not by itself tell you whether it is the teacher’s or the child’s. The meaning comes from the sentence logic:

• the teacher tells the child
• the child should cover his/her own mouth

So native speakers understand mdomo wake here as the child’s mouth.

No. Swahili does not mark gender here.

• mtoto can mean boy, girl, or child
• mwalimu can mean male teacher or female teacher
• a-, -mw-, and wake do not distinguish male from female

So the sentence could refer to:

• a boy or girl
• a male or female teacher

You only know from context, not from the grammar.

Kwa kitambaa means with a cloth or using a cloth.

• kwa = with / by means of / using
• kitambaa = cloth

So the idea is that the child should cover the mouth using some cloth. Depending on context, English might translate this more naturally as:

• with a cloth
• with a handkerchief
• using a cloth

A learner should note that kitambaa is a general word for cloth, so if you want something more specifically like handkerchief or tissue, different words may be used depending on the variety of Swahili and the situation.

It can be understood in any of those ways depending on context, but the most natural sense here is something like a general rule:

• If a child sneezes in class, the teacher will tell him/her...
• or When a child sneezes in class, the teacher will tell him/her...

The aki- form does not always force a single English translation. Swahili often leaves that distinction to context.

So a learner should not worry too much about choosing one single English word every time. The important thing is that aki- sets up the situation under which the next action happens.

The sentence starts with the condition, then gives the result:

• Mtoto akipiga chafya darasani = the situation
• mwalimu atamwambia afunike mdomo wake kwa kitambaa = what happens next

This is very natural in Swahili. It is similar to English patterns like:

• If a child sneezes in class, the teacher will tell...

Swahili is fairly flexible in word order, but this arrangement is clear and common because it presents the condition first and then the consequence.