Bibi anapenda kupika dagaa kwa nyanya, lakini mimi napenda kula korosho kama vitafunio.

Because the verb changes to show the subject.

• a-na-penda = he/she likes
• ni-na-penda / napenda = I like

So:

• Bibi anapenda = Grandmother likes
• mimi napenda = I like

The part before the verb root -penda tells you who is doing the action.

Yes. Napenda is a common shorter form of ninapenda in everyday Swahili.

So these both mean I like / I love:

• ninapenda
• napenda

In a sentence like lakini mimi napenda..., the shorter form sounds very natural.

Yes, napenda already tells you the subject is I. The pronoun mimi is added for emphasis or contrast.

Here, lakini mimi napenda... means something like:

• but I like...
• but as for me, I like...

So mimi is not strictly necessary, but it helps create a contrast with Bibi in the first clause.

Because ku- is the infinitive marker, like to in English.

• kupika = to cook
• kula = to eat

After penda (to like / to love), Swahili normally uses another verb in the infinitive:

• anapenda kupika = she likes to cook
• napenda kula = I like to eat

So this pattern is very common:

• penda + ku-verb

Here kwa nyanya means with tomatoes or in a tomato sauce / tomato mixture.

In food expressions, kwa can show the way something is prepared, served, or accompanied. So:

• dagaa kwa nyanya = small fish with tomatoes

This does not mean simple possession or location here. It is part of a food description.

In food contexts, kwa often suggests prepared with, cooked with, or served in/with a certain ingredient or style.

So dagaa kwa nyanya sounds like:

• small fish cooked with tomatoes
• small fish in tomato sauce

Using na would more simply mean and/with tomatoes, but kwa can sound more like a named preparation or cooking style. In real usage, food expressions can vary by speaker and region, but kwa nyanya is a natural way to describe this dish.

Dagaa are very small fish, often dried, commonly eaten in East Africa. In English, people sometimes translate this loosely as:

• small fish
• sardine-like fish
• anchovy-like dried fish

The exact fish may vary by region, so dagaa is often best learned as a cultural food word rather than as one perfect English species name.

Korosho means cashew or cashews, depending on context.

In food vocabulary, Swahili often uses nouns like this in a general way, so the same form can refer to one item or several. In this sentence, kula korosho clearly means to eat cashews.

So a learner should not expect every noun to change form the way English does with -s.

It means as snacks or for snacking.

• kama = as / like
• vitafunio = snacks

So napenda kula korosho kama vitafunio means that the cashews are being eaten in the role of a snack, not as the main meal.

Because vitafunio is plural.

• kitafunio = a snack
• vitafunio = snacks

In this sentence, the idea is general: cashews are eaten as snacks, so the plural form makes sense.

This is also a nice example of a noun class pair:

• ki- singular
• vi- plural

Because some Swahili nouns often have the same form in both singular and plural, especially common nouns for foods, objects, or borrowed words.

So context tells you whether the meaning is singular or plural:

• nyanya can mean tomato or tomatoes
• korosho can mean cashew or cashews

In this sentence, the meaning makes the plural interpretation natural.

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

So a noun like bibi can mean:

• a grandmother
• the grandmother
• grandmother / grandma

The exact meaning depends on context. This is very normal in Swahili.

Yes. The structure is very natural.

You can roughly see it as:

• Bibi anapenda kupika dagaa kwa nyanya
  • Subject + verb + infinitive + object + food description
• lakini mimi napenda kula korosho kama vitafunio
  • but
    • emphasized subject + verb + infinitive + object + role/purpose phrase

So the sentence follows a very common pattern in Swahili:

• subject
• conjugated verb
• optional infinitive
• object/complements

Lakini means but.

It connects the two clauses and shows contrast:

• Bibi anapenda...
• lakini mimi napenda...

So it works almost exactly like but in English.