Kopo la kahawa limo kabatini, lakini sukari imo kwenye kopo jingine.

Because kopo belongs to noun class 5, and the connector meaning of must agree with that noun class.

• kopo = tin, can, container
• class 5 possessive/genitive linker = la
• so kopo la kahawa literally means tin of coffee or coffee tin

If the noun were from a different class, the linker would change. So Swahili does not use one single word for of in all cases.

Literally, it means tin of coffee.

This structure is very common in Swahili:

• noun + linker + noun

So:

• kopo la kahawa = coffee tin / tin of coffee
• not necessarily a tin made of coffee, but a tin containing or meant for coffee

This is the normal way Swahili expresses many X of Y ideas.

It is a locative form of to be, but more specifically it means something like is in / is inside / is there within.

You can think of it as:

• li- = subject agreement for kopo (class 5)
• -mo = a locative element meaning inside / in that place

So limo kabatini means something like it is in the cupboard or more literally it is inside there, in the cupboard.

This is more specific than a plain English is.

Because the verb must agree with the noun class of the subject.

• kopo is class 5, so it takes li-
  • li + mo = limo
• sukari is usually treated as class 9, so it takes i-
  • i + mo = imo

So the different forms are caused by noun-class agreement.

That is a very common feature of Swahili:

• the noun class affects adjectives
• connectors
• verbs
• pronouns

Many borrowed nouns in Swahili, including sukari, are treated as class 9/10 nouns.

Class 9/10 nouns often:

• have the same form in singular and plural
• use i- or zi- agreement depending on number

Since sukari here is a mass noun, it is treated as singular:

• sukari imo ...

Even though sukari does not visibly change shape, its agreement still matters.

kabatini means in the cupboard / in the cabinet.

It comes from:

• kabati = cupboard, cabinet
• -ni = locative suffix meaning in / at / to

So:

• kabati = cupboard
• kabatini = in the cupboard / at the cupboard

This -ni ending is one of the standard ways Swahili marks location.

Swahili has more than one way to express location.

Two common patterns are:

• noun + -ni
  • for example kabatini
• kwenye + noun
  • for example kwenye kopo jingine

Here, kwenye kopo jingine means in the other tin / in another tin.

With containers, kwenye is very natural in everyday Swahili. You could also hear katika kopo jingine in many contexts.

So this is not a strange inconsistency; it is just one of the normal ways Swahili expresses location.

Here, kwenye means in.

More generally, kwenye can mean:

• in
• on
• at

The exact meaning depends on context.

Because kopo is a container, kwenye kopo jingine is understood as in another tin, not on another tin.

jingine means another or other.

It agrees with kopo, which is class 5. In class 5, the adjective -ingine takes the form jingine.

So:

• kopo jingine = another tin / the other tin

Again, this is noun-class agreement. The adjective changes form to match the noun it describes.

Yes, in many situations you could hear forms like liko and iko.

Very roughly:

• -ko often gives a more general sense of location: is there / is located
• -mo often suggests being inside something

So:

• limo kabatini emphasizes being inside the cupboard
• imo kwenye kopo jingine emphasizes being inside the other tin

In real usage, speakers do not always make a sharp distinction, but -mo fits especially well when something is contained within something else.

That is normal in Swahili.

The verb form:

• limo
• imo

already contains a locative idea, but the sentence still usually names the place as well:

• kabatini
• kwenye kopo jingine

So the structure is not redundant in a wrong way. It is just how Swahili commonly builds clear locative sentences.

English does something similar in a different way:

• The tin is in the cupboard
• The sugar is in another tin

Swahili simply packs some of that location meaning into the verb too.

Because Swahili normally does not use articles like English the and a/an.

Whether a noun should be understood as:

• a
• the
• or sometimes just a bare noun

depends on context.

So:

• kopo la kahawa can mean the coffee tin or a coffee tin
• kopo jingine can mean another tin or the other tin, depending on context

The surrounding situation tells you which reading is intended.

lakini means but.

It connects the two clauses:

• Kopo la kahawa limo kabatini
• lakini sukari imo kwenye kopo jingine

So the full sentence contrasts the two locations:

• the coffee tin is in the cupboard,
• but the sugar is in another tin.