Maji yakianza kuchemka, tia njegere kwenye sufuria mpaka ziive vizuri.

Yakianza can be broken into three parts:

• ya- = the subject agreement for maji
• -ki- = a marker that often means when, if, while
• -anza = begin / start

So maji yakianza means when the water starts or more literally when the water begins.

In Swahili, maji belongs to noun class 6, which takes ya- agreement. So grammatically it behaves like a plural-class noun, even though in English we normally translate it as singular water.

This is very common in Swahili: grammatical noun class does not always match the way English thinks about number.

It can mean either, depending on context. The -ki- form is often used for when, if, once, while.

In a cooking instruction like this one, when or once is the most natural meaning: Maji yakianza kuchemka = when the water starts boiling.

After -anza meaning start / begin, Swahili normally uses another verb in the infinitive form, which begins with ku-.

So:

• kuchemka = to boil / to come to a boil
• yakianza kuchemka = when it starts to boil

This is similar to English start to boil.

This is a very useful distinction:

• kuchemka = to boil intransitively, meaning something boils by itself
• kuchemsha = to boil something, meaning you cause it to boil

In this sentence, the water is the thing that starts boiling, so kuchemka is the correct choice.

Tia is the singular imperative of kutia, meaning put or add. It is a direct command: add / put.

In recipes, Swahili often uses this singular imperative as a general instruction, much like English recipe language. If speaking to more than one person directly, you could use tieni.

Both can sometimes mean put, but tia is very natural for adding ingredients into food or a cooking container. In this context, tia njegere sounds like add the peas.

Weka is also common, but tia often fits recipe language especially well.

Kwenye is a locative word that can mean in, into, on, at, depending on context. Here, because something is being added to a pot, the natural English meaning is into the pot or in the pot.

Sufuria means pot or cooking pot. So kwenye sufuria = into the pot.

The zi- agrees with njegere. In this sentence, njegere is being treated as a class 10 plural noun, so the verb takes zi- agreement.

This is very common with nouns whose singular and plural forms may look the same or very similar: the agreement on the verb shows the number clearly.

After mpaka meaning until, Swahili often uses the subjunctive when talking about the intended endpoint of an action.

So mpaka ziive means until they are cooked / until they cook through. The idea is not just stating a fact, but expressing the goal or result to wait for.

It comes from combining:

• zi- = the subject marker
• -ive = the subjunctive form of -iva

When these come together, you get ziive. So the double i is just the result of normal verb formation, not a spelling mistake.

The verb -iva can mean be ripe or be cooked / become done, depending on context. With food in a cooking instruction, it means be cooked through or be done.

So ziive vizuri means let them cook well or until they are properly cooked.

Vizuri means well, properly, or thoroughly. In cooking, it often means the food should be fully and properly cooked, not underdone.

So ziive vizuri is stronger than just ziive. It suggests cook them until they are nicely done.

Here it is understood as plural because the verb agreement is zi- in ziive. Even when a noun form does not obviously change, Swahili often shows singular or plural through agreement elsewhere in the sentence.

So the grammar tells you that njegere is being treated as peas, not a singular item.