Niliposimama, niliona rimoti chini ya kochi.

It breaks down like this:

• ni- = I
• -li- = past tense
• -po- = a relative marker used here for when
• simama = stand, stand up, or sometimes stop

So ni-li-po-simama literally works like I-past-when-stand.

In natural English, that becomes when I stood up, when I stood, or in some contexts when I stopped. The exact translation depends on context, because simama can refer to standing up or stopping.

Because in Swahili, each finite verb usually shows its own subject.

So:

• niliposimama = when I stood up
• niliona = I saw

Even though English would not repeat I in the same way, Swahili normally marks the subject on each verb. That is completely normal and expected.

Niliona breaks down as:

• ni- = I
• -li- = past tense
• ona = see

So niliona means I saw.

This is a very common past-tense verb pattern in Swahili:

• nilikuja = I came
• nilisoma = I read / studied
• niliona = I saw

Usually, niliposimama is understood as a point in time: when I stood up or when I stopped.

If you want to emphasize an ongoing situation like while I was standing, Swahili often uses a different structure, for example something with nilipokuwa... depending on the meaning.

So for this sentence, the most natural understanding is something like:

• When I stood up, I saw the remote under the couch.

Chini ya kochi means under the couch.

Word by word:

• chini = below / underneath / under
• ya = a linking word, roughly of
• kochi = couch

So literally it is something like the lower part/below of the couch, but in normal English we simply say under the couch.

This ya is very common in Swahili when linking nouns:

• juu ya meza = on top of the table
• mbele ya nyumba = in front of the house
• chini ya kochi = under the couch

Because Swahili does not have articles like a, an, and the.

So:

• rimoti can mean a remote or the remote
• kochi can mean a couch or the couch

The listener figures out which one is meant from context. In this sentence, English would often use the remote and the couch, but Swahili does not need separate words for that.

Yes. It is a loanword, adapted from English remote.

Swahili uses many loanwords, especially for modern objects. They are usually spelled and pronounced in a Swahili-friendly way. So rimoti is a normal word in everyday Swahili for a remote control.

You may also notice that many such borrowed words keep a similar shape to the English original.

Yes, depending on the speaker and region.

Kochi is used for couch or sofa, but you may also hear sofa. Different speakers may prefer different words, especially with furniture and other borrowed vocabulary.

So the sentence could also appear with another common word for couch, depending on usage.

Putting Niliposimama first sets the scene first, just like English often does:

• When I stood up, I saw the remote under the couch.

This is a very natural order in both Swahili and English.

You can think of it as:

1. first say when it happened
2. then say what happened

That said, Swahili can sometimes move parts around for emphasis, but this sentence has a very normal, neutral word order.

The order is:

• niliona = verb
• rimoti = object
• chini ya kochi = location

So it follows a very common pattern:

verb + object + place

That makes the sentence straightforward:

• I saw
  • the remote
    • under the couch

They are generally treated as loanwords in the N-class (often called class 9/10), which is a very common class for borrowed nouns.

In this sentence, you do not see much class agreement directly on those nouns themselves, so a beginner does not need to worry too much about it here. But it matters in other sentences when adjectives, pronouns, or connectors agree with the noun.

For example, in chini ya kochi, the linker ya matches the noun class pattern used with kochi.

At an early stage, the most useful thing is simply to recognize:

• rimoti = remote
• kochi = couch
• chini ya kochi = under the couch

Yes. Depending on context, possible English translations include:

• When I stood up, I saw the remote under the couch.
• When I stopped, I saw the remote under the couch.
• When I stood, I saw the remote under the couch.

The most natural one in many everyday situations is probably When I stood up, I saw the remote under the couch.

That is because simama often describes the action of getting upright or coming to a stop, and the surrounding context usually tells you which sense is intended.