Ukipotea mjini, soma kibao cha barabara kilicho karibu na makutano.

Ukipotea can be broken down like this:

• u- = you (singular)
• -ki- = if / when
• -potea = get lost / be lost

So ukipotea means if you get lost or when you get lost.

In this sentence, it is talking to one person. If you were talking to more than one person, you would use mkipotea instead.

Not exactly.

• kupotea = to get lost / be lost
• kupoteza = to lose something

So:

• Nimepotea = I am lost / I got lost
• Nimepoteza simu = I have lost my phone

That distinction is very important in Swahili.

Because -ni is a common locative ending in Swahili.

• mji = town / city
• mjini = in town / in the city

So mjini shows location. You will often see -ni added to place nouns to mean in, at, or sometimes to that place.

Because soma here is a command: Read.

In Swahili, singular commands are often just the bare verb stem:

• soma = read!
• enda = go!
• kaa = sit / stay!

There is no separate word for you because it is understood.

If you were speaking to more than one person, you would usually say someni.

Literally, it is something like:

• kibao = board / sign / plaque
• cha barabara = of the road / street

So kibao cha barabara means a road sign or street sign, depending on context.

Cha is the connector meaning of.

So:

• kibao cha barabara = sign of the road/street → road sign / street sign

Swahili does not use just one word for of. This connector changes to match the noun class of the first noun.

Here, kibao belongs to a noun class that takes cha.

It means that is near the intersection / junction.

So the whole noun phrase is:

• kibao cha barabara kilicho karibu na makutano
• the road sign that is near the intersection

This part tells you which sign to read.

Because it agrees with kibao.

Swahili relative forms must match the noun they describe. Since kibao is in a noun class that uses ki- / cho patterns, the sentence uses kilicho.

For a learner, the easiest way to understand kilicho here is:

• kilicho = which is / that is

So kibao ... kilicho karibu means the sign ... that is near.

A longer, more explicit version would be:

• kibao cha barabara ambacho kiko karibu na makutano

That means essentially the same thing.

In this context, makutano refers to a junction, crossroads, or intersection—the place where roads meet.

Literally, the word has the idea of meeting points. Because of that, English may translate it as:

• the intersection
• the junction
• sometimes the crossroads

So even though the form may look plural to a learner, in context it often works naturally as a singular place in English.

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

Whether something is a sign or the sign is understood from context.

Here, the phrase kilicho karibu na makutano makes the sign specific, so English naturally translates it as the sign that is near the intersection.