Tafadhali niletee kisu kutoka jikoni ili nikate mkate.

Tafadhali means please.

It often comes at the beginning of a polite request, as it does here, but it does not absolutely have to. Putting it first is very common and natural:

• Tafadhali niletee... = Please bring me...

You may also hear it in other positions depending on style and emphasis, but sentence-initial tafadhali is one of the most useful patterns for learners.

Niletee can be understood as:

• ni- = me
• leta = bring
• letea = bring to/for
• letee = a subjunctive/request form of letea

So niletee means bring me or more literally bring to me.

This is a very common Swahili pattern: the object can be built into the verb instead of being a separate word.

It is not stated separately, because Swahili commands and requests often do not use an explicit word for you.

In English, you say:

• Please bring me a knife

In Swahili, the request form itself is directed at the listener, so a separate you is usually unnecessary.

So niletee already works as bring me when speaking to one person.

Because ni- in niletee means me, not knife.

So the sentence has:

• niletee = bring me
• kisu = a/the knife

In other words:

• ni- tells you who receives the action
• kisu tells you what is being brought

Swahili verbs can include some information inside the verb, but not everything has to be inside the verb.

Kutoka jikoni means from the kitchen.

Breakdown:

• kutoka = from, out of, or to come from
• jikoni = in/at the kitchen

Together they show the source location:

• niletee kisu kutoka jikoni = bring me a knife from the kitchen

The ending -ni is a locative ending, often giving the sense of in, at, or to a place.

So:

• jiko is historically the base word
• jikoni means something like in/at the kitchen

In modern usage, jikoni is the normal word learners will often meet for kitchen or in the kitchen.

Ili means so that or in order that.

It introduces the purpose of the first action.

So the sentence is structured like this:

• Please bring me a knife from the kitchen
• so that I may cut bread

That second part, introduced by ili, explains why the speaker wants the knife.

Because after ili, Swahili normally uses the subjunctive form.

Breakdown of nikate:

• ni- = I
• -kat- = cut
• -e = subjunctive ending

So nikate means:

• that I may cut
• so that I can cut

Compare:

• nakata = I am cutting / I cut
• nitakata = I will cut
• nikate = so that I may cut

In this sentence, nikate is the correct form because the clause is a purpose clause after ili.

They are not the same word, even though they look similar.

• nikate comes from the verb -kata = to cut
• mkate is a noun meaning bread

So:

• nikate mkate = so that I may cut bread

This is just one of those cases where two different words happen to resemble each other.

Because Swahili normally does not use articles like English a, an, and the.

So kisu can mean:

• a knife
• the knife

And mkate can mean:

• bread
• the bread
• sometimes a loaf of bread, depending on context

The exact meaning comes from context. If you want to be more specific, Swahili often uses demonstratives such as:

• hiki kisu = this knife
• kile kisu = that knife

These are useful vocabulary facts:

• kisu = knife

  • singular class: ki-/vi- class
  • plural: visu = knives

• mkate = bread / loaf

  • singular class: m-/mi- class
  • plural: mikate = loaves / breads

You do not need noun-class knowledge to understand this sentence, but it becomes important later for agreement with adjectives, verbs, and demonstratives.

Swahili spelling is quite regular, and stress usually falls on the second-to-last syllable of each word.

A helpful pronunciation guide is:

ta-fa-DHA-li ni-le-TE-e KI-su ku-TO-ka ji-KO-ni I-li ni-KA-te m-KA-te

A few notes:

• every vowel is pronounced clearly
• dh in tafadhali is often like the th in this
• j is like English j in jam

So if you pronounce each written vowel and keep the stress near the end of each word, you will already sound much more natural.