Sokoni, tulinunua sambusa sita na mishikaki minne kwa chakula cha jioni.

Sokoni means at the market or in the market.

It comes from soko = market plus the locative ending -ni, which often gives a meaning like in, at, or to a place.

So:

• soko = market
• sokoni = at/in the market

In this sentence, Sokoni sets the scene: At the market, we bought...

Putting Sokoni first gives it a topic or scene-setting role, similar to English At the market, ...

So the sentence starts by telling you where the action happened, and then continues with what happened there.

You could also say:

• Tulinunua sambusa sita na mishikaki minne sokoni kwa chakula cha jioni.

That would still be understandable. Starting with Sokoni just gives a slightly different emphasis.

Tulinunua means we bought.

It can be broken down like this:

• tu- = we
• -li- = past tense
• nunua = buy

So:

• tu-li-nunua = we bought

This is a very useful pattern in Swahili verb structure:

subject prefix + tense marker + verb stem

For example:

• nilinunua = I bought
• ulinunua = you bought
• alinunua = he/she bought
• tulinunua = we bought

No. In Swahili, the subject is usually already included in the verb.

So tulinunua already means we bought. You do not need to add a separate word for we.

If you added sisi (we), it would usually be for emphasis:

• Sisi tulinunua... = We bought... / It was we who bought...

But in a normal sentence, tulinunua by itself is enough.

This is because Swahili numbers behave differently depending on the number.

sita

Sita = six, and numbers from 6 to 10 usually do not change to match the noun class.

So:

• sambusa sita = six samosas
• mishikaki sita = six skewers

minne

Minne = four, and numbers from 1 to 5 usually do agree with the noun class.

Mishikaki belongs to the mi-/m- noun pattern in the plural, so -nne becomes minne.

So:

• mshikaki mmoja = one skewer
• mishikaki minne = four skewers

This is why the two number words look different here.

Because sita is one of the numerals that is usually invariable in modern Swahili.

Numbers that often stay the same:

• sita = 6
• saba = 7
• nane = 8
• tisa = 9
• kumi = 10

So no matter what noun comes before it, sita usually stays sita.

Examples:

• vitabu sita = six books
• watu sita = six people
• sambusa sita = six samosas

The singular is mshikaki.

So:

• mshikaki = one skewer / one kebab skewer
• mishikaki = skewers

This noun belongs to a noun class where the singular often begins with m- and the plural with mi-.

Examples of the same pattern:

• mti → miti = tree → trees
• mshikaki → mishikaki = skewer → skewers

Here sambusa is being used with a plural meaning because it is followed by sita = six.

Many loanwords in Swahili do not change much between singular and plural, so the form sambusa can be used for both a samosa and samosas, depending on context.

So:

• sambusa moja = one samosa
• sambusa sita = six samosas

The number tells you clearly that it is plural.

Literally, it is something like:

• kwa = for
• chakula = food / meal
• cha = of
• jioni = evening

So chakula cha jioni literally means meal of the evening, which is the normal way to say dinner or evening meal.

Therefore:

• kwa chakula cha jioni = for dinner

The word cha is a noun-class agreement connector meaning of here.

It agrees with chakula, which is a singular noun in the ki-/vi- class. For that class, the connector is cha.

So:

• chakula cha jioni = food/meal of the evening

You will see the same pattern with other nouns:

• kitabu cha mwanafunzi = the student’s book / book of the student
• kiti cha mbao = wooden chair, literally chair of wood

So cha is there because it matches chakula.

Here kwa means for.

So kwa chakula cha jioni means the food was bought for dinner.

In other contexts, kwa can have other meanings too, such as:

• at
• to
• with
• by
• for

Its exact meaning depends on the sentence. Here, for is the natural translation.

Swahili does not usually use articles like English the, a, or some.

So a noun like sambusa can mean:

• a samosa
• the samosa
• samosas
• the samosas

The context tells you which meaning is intended.

In this sentence, the numbers make it clear:

• sambusa sita = six samosas
• mishikaki minne = four skewers

English needs articles more often; Swahili usually does not.

Yes. Na here simply means and.

So:

• sambusa sita na mishikaki minne = six samosas and four skewers

Be aware that na can also mean with in some contexts, but in this sentence it is clearly and.

Yes. That is a very natural English translation.

Swahili word order is often flexible enough that a sentence-initial phrase like Sokoni can be translated in normal English later in the sentence:

• At the market, we bought six samosas and four skewers for dinner.
• We bought six samosas and four skewers at the market for dinner.

Both work well in English.

Usually, yes. Chakula cha jioni is the standard way to say dinner or evening meal.

But literally it is broader: food/meal of the evening. So depending on context, it can emphasize either the idea of dinner or simply the evening meal.

A learner should especially notice these:

• Locative -ni
  soko → sokoni = at/in the market

• Verb structure
  tu-li-nunua = we-bought

• No separate subject pronoun needed
  tulinunua already includes we

• Number behavior
  sita stays the same, but minne agrees with the noun class

• Noun class agreement
  chakula cha jioni uses cha because it agrees with chakula

• No articles
  Swahili does not usually use a, an, or the

So this one sentence is actually a very good example of several important Swahili patterns.