Kama skana isingefanya kazi leo, tungetuma nakala kwa barua pepe badala ya kuzichapisha.

Kama means if here. It introduces the condition:

Kama skana isingefanya kazi leo = If the scanner were not working today

In Swahili, kama is a very common way to begin an if-clause.

Isingefanya can be broken down like this:

• i- = subject marker for a class 9 noun, here skana
• -si- = negative
• -nge- = conditional / hypothetical
• fanya = do

So isingefanya means roughly it would not do or, in natural English here, it would not work.

Because the subject is skana, the verb uses i-.

Skana is a borrowed noun, and in Swahili many borrowed inanimate nouns are treated as class 9/10 nouns.

For singular class 9 nouns, the subject marker is often i-.

So:

• skana inafanya kazi = the scanner works
• skana isingefanya kazi = the scanner would not work

That i- is agreeing with skana.

Literally, fanya kazi means do work, but in Swahili it is also a very common expression for function, operate, or work.

So with a machine:

• Skana inafanya kazi = the scanner works / is functioning

This is very natural Swahili. English often uses a single verb, but Swahili commonly uses the expression kufanya kazi.

Tungetuma means we would send.

It breaks down like this:

• tu- = we
• -nge- = conditional / hypothetical
• tuma = send

So:

tungetuma nakala = we would send copies

Swahili often uses -nge- in both parts of a hypothetical sentence:

• Kama ... isingefanya ...
• ... tungetuma ...

That matches English patterns like If X happened, we would do Y.

It is hypothetical.

The marker -nge- shows that the speaker is talking about what would happen under a certain condition, not necessarily what is happening now.

So the idea is:

If the scanner were not working today, we would send copies by email instead of printing them.

This is similar to English hypothetical conditionals.

Nakala means copy or copies.

This noun belongs to class 9/10, and its singular and plural forms can look the same:

• singular: nakala
• plural: nakala

So agreement helps tell you whether it is singular or plural.

In kuzichapisha:

• ku- = infinitive marker
• -zi- = object marker meaning them for class 10 plural nouns
• chapisha = print

So kuzichapisha means to print them.

Because the object marker is zi-, we know nakala here is understood as plural: copies.

Swahili often uses an object marker on the verb instead of repeating the noun.

So after saying nakala, the sentence can refer back to them with -zi-:

• nakala = copies
• kuzichapisha = to print them

This avoids repetition and sounds natural.

A fuller but less elegant version would be something like:

... badala ya kuchapisha nakala

But badala ya kuzichapisha is smoother because the object has already been mentioned.

Badala ya means instead of.

It is followed by either:

• a noun, or
• an infinitive verb

Here it is followed by the infinitive phrase kuzichapisha:

badala ya kuzichapisha = instead of printing them

This is a very common pattern in Swahili.

Kwa often means by, with, through, or via, depending on context.

Barua pepe is the standard Swahili expression for email.

So:

kwa barua pepe = by email / via email

In this sentence, it tells you the method of sending.

Yes, often it could, because the conditional meaning is already shown by -nge-.

For example, Swahili can sometimes express the condition clearly just through the verb forms. But kama makes the if relationship explicit and is very common, especially for learners and in everyday speech.

So kama is not redundant; it makes the sentence clearer and more direct.

Yes.

The sentence could also be expressed with the main clause first, followed by the condition. Swahili allows that, just as English does.

For example, the meaning would still work if you put the we would send... part first and the if the scanner... part second.

Starting with the kama clause is simply a natural way to present the condition first.