Tafadhali acha mlango wazi, kwa sababu mama anarudi kutoka sokoni.

Tafadhali means please. It is used to make the request polite.

In this sentence:

Tafadhali acha mlango wazi
= Please leave the door open

In Swahili, tafadhali can appear at the beginning very naturally, especially in requests. You may also hear it in other positions depending on style, but sentence-initial tafadhali is very common and easy for learners to use.

Here, acha means leave in the sense of let something remain as it is.

So:

acha mlango wazi
literally = leave the door open

This is a very natural way to express the idea in Swahili.

A useful thing to know is that acha can also mean stop or quit in other contexts, so its meaning depends on what comes after it.

Examples:

• Acha! = Stop!
• Acha kulia. = Stop crying.
• Acha mlango wazi. = Leave the door open.

Yes. Acha is the singular imperative form, used when telling one person to do something.

So this sentence is speaking to one person:

Tafadhali acha mlango wazi.

If you were speaking to more than one person, you would usually say:

Tafadhali acheni mlango wazi.
= Please leave the door open.

So:

• acha = command to one person
• acheni = command to more than one person

In Swahili, you often do not need a separate word like English be in this kind of expression.

wazi means open, and it can function directly after the noun:

mlango wazi = an open door / the door open

So:

acha mlango wazi
literally feels like leave door open

This is normal Swahili structure. English often needs be, but Swahili often does not.

Mlango means door.

Swahili does not use articles like English a or the, so:

• mlango can mean a door or the door
• the exact meaning depends on context

In this sentence, the context makes it clear that it means the door.

Also, mlango already includes its noun-class prefix as part of the word. It is not a separate article. The m- is part of the noun itself.

This is a great question because Swahili adjectives do not all behave the same way.

Some adjectives change to agree with the noun class, but wazi is commonly used as an invariable adjective, meaning it often stays the same.

So you get:

• mlango wazi = an open door
• milango wazi = open doors

Notice that wazi does not change.

This is something learners simply get used to over time: some describing words agree with noun class clearly, while others like wazi are often used without changing.

Kwa sababu means because.

It introduces the reason:

kwa sababu mama anarudi kutoka sokoni
= because mother is returning from the market

You can think of it as a fixed phrase. Learners often just memorize it as the Swahili equivalent of because.

Examples:

• Ninaenda nyumbani kwa sababu nimechoka. = I’m going home because I’m tired.
• Acha mlango wazi kwa sababu mama anarudi kutoka sokoni. = Leave the door open because mother is returning from the market.

Anarudi can be broken down like this:

• a- = he/she
• -na- = present tense marker
• -rudi = verb root meaning return / come back

So:

anarudi = he/she is returning or he/she returns

In this sentence, it refers to mama, so it means:

mama anarudi = mother is returning / mother is coming back

This is a very useful Swahili verb pattern:

• anasoma = he/she is reading
• anakula = he/she is eating
• anarudi = he/she is returning

It can mean either, depending on context.

The -na- tense in Swahili often covers both:

• present continuous: is returning
• simple present / general present: returns

In this sentence, the most natural English translation is:

mama anarudi kutoka sokoni
= mother is returning from the market
or
= mom is coming back from the market

Because the situation sounds immediate and specific, English usually prefers is returning or is coming back.

Here, kutoka means from.

So:

kutoka sokoni = from the market

This is based on the verb -toka, which has the idea of come out, leave, or come from.

You will often see kutoka used to show origin or starting point:

• Ninatoka nyumbani. = I’m coming from home.
• Anatoka Kenya. = He/She is from Kenya.
• Mama anarudi kutoka sokoni. = Mother is coming back from the market.

Soko means market.

When you add -ni, you get a locative form:

sokoni = at the market / to the market / in the market / from the market

The exact English preposition depends on the rest of the sentence.

Here, because the phrase uses kutoka (from), sokoni means:

kutoka sokoni = from the market

This -ni ending is very common with places:

• nyumbani = at home / home
• shuleni = at school / to school / from school
• sokoni = at the market / to the market / from the market

That would mean something different.

• mama anarudi kutoka sokoni = mother is coming back from the market
• mama anarudi sokoni usually suggests mother is returning to the market

So kutoka is important because it tells you the direction is from the market, not to it.

Mama can mean mother, mum, or mom, depending on context and translation style.

Swahili does not use articles like the or a, so mama by itself is enough.

In family contexts, mama often sounds very natural as mom or mum in English. In a more neutral gloss, it may be translated as mother.

So this part could be understood as:

• because mother is returning from the market
• because mom is coming back from the market

Both are possible.

Yes, very normal.

The structure is:

Tafadhali + command + reason clause

So:

1. Tafadhali acha mlango wazi = Please leave the door open
2. kwa sababu mama anarudi kutoka sokoni = because mother is returning from the market

This is very similar to English word order, which makes the sentence relatively beginner-friendly.

To more than one person, you would usually change the imperative:

Tafadhali acheni mlango wazi, kwa sababu mama anarudi kutoka sokoni.

That means:

Please leave the door open, because mother is returning from the market.

For politeness, tafadhali already does a lot of the work. Swahili often relies on tone, context, and respectful wording rather than a completely different grammar form like English sometimes does.

So the original sentence is already polite and natural.