Mtoto ana kikohozi kidogo leo.

Ana means he/she has.

It is made of:

• a- = he/she
• -na = have / be with

So Mtoto ana kikohozi literally means The child has a cough.

In Swahili, possession is often expressed with the idea of being with something.

So:

• ana = he/she has
• nina = I have
• una = you have
• wana = they have

This is a very common pattern in Swahili.

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

So mtoto can mean:

• a child
• the child

And kikohozi can mean:

• a cough
• the cough

You understand which one is meant from context.

In Swahili, adjectives usually come after the noun they describe.

So:

• kikohozi kidogo = a small/slight cough
• noun first: kikohozi
• adjective second: kidogo

This is different from English, where we usually put the adjective before the noun.

The adjective must agree with the noun class of the noun it describes.

Kikohozi belongs to the ki-/vi- noun class, so the adjective also takes the matching agreement:

• kikohozi kidogo

If the noun were plural, the adjective would change too:

• vikohozi vidogo = small/slight coughs

This agreement system is a very important part of Swahili grammar.

Yes, kidogo literally means small / little. But in context it can also mean slight, mild, or a bit of.

So kikohozi kidogo is a natural way to say:

• a slight cough
• a mild cough
• a little cough

English and Swahili do not always match word-for-word, but the idea is the same.

Mtoto is in the m-/wa- class for people:

• singular: mtoto = child
• plural: watoto = children

The verb does agree with it:

• mtoto ana = the child has
• watoto wana = the children have

So there is agreement here, but it shows up on the verb ana, not on the noun itself.

Not exactly.

Mtoto ana kikohozi leo literally means The child has a cough today.

If you want to say The child is coughing, you would more naturally use the verb kohoa:

• Mtoto anakohoa leo = The child is coughing today

So ana kikohozi describes the condition, while anakohoa describes the action.

It can mean either he has or she has.

Swahili does not usually mark gender in the verb here. So:

• ana = he has or she has

Because mtoto just means child, the sentence does not tell you whether the child is male or female unless the context makes it clear.

Leo means today.

Putting it at the end is very normal in Swahili:

• Mtoto ana kikohozi kidogo leo

This is similar to saying:

• The child has a slight cough today

Time words like leo are fairly flexible in Swahili, but the final position is very common and natural.

Yes, sometimes, but the given order is very natural.

For example, you may also hear:

• Leo mtoto ana kikohozi kidogo = Today the child has a slight cough

Moving leo to the front puts a little more focus on today.

But Mtoto ana kikohozi kidogo leo is a completely normal basic sentence.

You would change the noun and the agreement:

• Mtoto → Watoto
• ana → wana
• kikohozi → vikohozi
• kidogo → vidogo

So:

• Watoto wana vikohozi vidogo leo

Grammatically, that means The children have slight coughs today.

Yes, in this sentence kikohozi is singular.

Its plural is vikohozi.

So:

• kikohozi = cough
• vikohozi = coughs

This is another example of the ki-/vi- noun class pattern.

The structure is:

• Mtoto = subject
• ana = verb
• kikohozi kidogo = object noun phrase
• leo = time expression

So the pattern is basically:

Subject + Verb + Object + Time

That makes this a very useful beginner sentence model in Swahili.