Usisahau kuweka mswaki wako karibu na sinki, na ukate kucha zako wikendi hii.

Usisahau is the negative command form for you (singular). It means don’t forget.

• sahau = forget!
• usisahau = don’t forget!

In Swahili, negative commands often use usi- with the verb for singular you. If you were speaking to more than one person, you would say msisahau.

After a verb like -sahau (to forget), Swahili commonly uses the infinitive for the next action.

So:

• kusahau = to forget
• kuweka = to put / to place
• usisahau kuweka... = don’t forget to put...

This works a lot like English don’t forget to put...

Here, mswaki means toothbrush.

The same word can also refer more generally to a brushing tool in some contexts, but in everyday modern usage mswaki is very commonly understood as toothbrush.

Its plural is miswaki.

This is because Swahili possessives must agree with the noun class of the noun they describe.

• mswaki belongs to a noun class that takes w- agreement, so:
  • mswaki wako = your toothbrush
• kucha is treated as a plural noun in a class that takes z- agreement, so:
  • kucha zako = your nails

So the difference between wako and zako is not about a different kind of your in English. It is about noun-class agreement in Swahili.

Yes, karibu can mean welcome, but it also has another common meaning: near / close.

In this sentence, karibu na means near or close to.

• karibu = welcome / near, depending on context
• karibu na sinki = near the sink

So the word karibu has more than one use, and the context tells you which meaning is intended.

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

So:

• sinki can mean a sink or the sink
• the exact meaning depends on context

In this sentence, the natural English translation is the sink, even though Swahili does not add a separate word for it.

After one command, Swahili often uses the subjunctive form for a following action, especially when the actions are linked together.

So:

• kata kucha zako = cut/trim your nails as a direct standalone command
• na ukate kucha zako = and cut/trim your nails as part of the same chain of instructions

Here, ukate is the subjunctive form of -kata. It sounds natural in connected instructions like this.

Yes. The verb -kata literally means to cut, but with nails it is the normal way to express trim or cut your nails.

So ukate kucha zako naturally means:

• cut your nails
• trim your nails

English often prefers trim in this context, but Swahili commonly uses -kata.

Because people usually talk about nails as a set, Swahili commonly uses kucha in the plural sense.

• ukucha = a nail / fingernail / claw
• kucha = nails

So kucha zako means your nails. Even if English sometimes speaks generally about nail care, Swahili naturally uses the plural here.

In Swahili, demonstratives like this usually come after the noun, not before it.

So:

• wikendi hii = this weekend
• literally: weekend this

That word order is normal in Swahili. The demonstrative hii agrees with wikendi.

Wikendi is a loanword, ultimately from English weekend. This is very common in Swahili, especially for modern everyday items and time expressions.

Swahili uses many loanwords alongside native vocabulary, and speakers treat them as normal Swahili words in sentences like this.