Asha alivaa hereni ndogo za fedha, na Juma akavaa tai ya bluu kwa sherehe.

Both forms are past-time verb forms, but they do slightly different jobs.

• alivaa = a- subject marker for he/she
  • -li- past tense + vaa = she wore / she put on
• akavaa = a- subject marker for he/she
  • -ka- narrative/sequential marker + vaa = and then he wore / he wore

In a sentence like this, -ka- often helps move the story forward. So:

• Asha alivaa... = Asha wore...
• na Juma akavaa... = and Juma wore... / and then Juma wore...

If you said Juma alivaa instead, it would still be grammatical, but akavaa sounds more like connected narration.

Vaa means to wear or to put on clothing, jewelry, or accessories.

So in this sentence:

• alivaa hereni = she wore / put on earrings
• akavaa tai = he wore / put on a tie

Swahili often uses the same verb for both put on and wear, so context tells you which English translation fits best.

Here, hereni is understood as plural: earrings.

The clearest clue is the agreement word za in hereni ndogo za fedha.
Za is the plural agreement form for this noun class, so it shows that hereni is being treated as plural here.

This is common with some loanwords in Swahili: the noun itself may not change form much, so agreement words help show singular vs. plural.

In Swahili, adjectives come after the noun, not before it as in English.

So:

• hereni ndogo = small earrings
• literally: earrings small

Also, some adjectives in these noun classes do not visibly change much. Ndogo is the normal adjective form here, and it works with hereni.

So the pattern is:

• noun + adjective
• hereni ndogo = small earrings

This is noun-class agreement.

The words ya and za are agreement forms often used in of / with / made of / colored kinds of phrases.

Here:

• hereni is plural, so it takes za
• tai is singular, so it takes ya

That gives:

• hereni ... za fedha = earrings of silver / silver earrings
• tai ya bluu = tie of blue / blue tie

So the difference is not about fedha versus bluu themselves. It is about the noun they describe:

• plural hereni → za
• singular tai → ya

It can mean either, depending on context.

• fedha = money
• fedha = silver

In hereni ndogo za fedha, it clearly means silver, because the phrase is describing what the earrings are made of.

So za fedha here means:

• made of silver
• or more naturally in English, silver

Swahili often uses a linking word like ya with colors, materials, and descriptive noun phrases, especially with loanwords or words that behave a bit like nouns.

So:

• tai ya bluu = blue tie
• literally: tie of blue

This structure is very normal in Swahili. English uses a direct adjective before the noun, but Swahili often prefers a linked structure after the noun.

Kwa sherehe means for the celebration, for the party, or for the ceremony, depending on context.

Here kwa is functioning like a preposition that shows purpose, occasion, or context.

So Juma akavaa tai ya bluu kwa sherehe means he wore the blue tie for the occasion / for the celebration.

It does not necessarily mean location. It is more about why or for what event he wore it.

Because that is the normal Swahili pattern.

In English, we usually say:

• small silver earrings
• blue tie

In Swahili, the noun usually comes first, and then the descriptive parts follow:

• hereni ndogo za fedha
• tai ya bluu

So a very common Swahili pattern is:

• noun + adjective + descriptive phrase

This is one of the biggest word-order differences English speakers notice.

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

So:

• hereni ndogo za fedha can mean small silver earrings, the small silver earrings, or some small silver earrings
• tai ya bluu can mean a blue tie or the blue tie

Context tells you which English article makes the most sense.

That is why the Swahili sentence can be short and natural without separate words for a or the.