Mtoto alianza kutapika usiku, na asubuhi bado alikuwa na kuhara kidogo.

Literally, it is he/she started to vomit.

• alianza = he/she started
• kutapika = to vomit

So the structure is very similar to English started to + verb.

The prefix ku- marks the infinitive, like to in English.

So:

• tapika = vomit
• kutapika = to vomit

After verbs like kuanza (to begin/start), Swahili commonly uses another verb in the infinitive:

• alianza kutapika = he/she began to vomit

alianza can be broken down like this:

• a- = subject marker for he/she
• -li- = past tense marker
• -anza = root meaning begin/start

So a-li-anza = he/she began.

This a- refers back to mtoto.

Because mtoto simply means child, without specifying gender.

Swahili often does not mark natural gender the way English does. So:

• mtoto = child
• a- in alianza / alikuwa = he/she

You usually know the gender only from context, or it may not matter at all.

In Swahili, words for times of day often work directly as adverbs.

So:

• usiku = at night / during the night
• asubuhi = in the morning

You do not need a separate word like at or in here. This is very normal Swahili usage.

Here bado means still.

So:

• asubuhi bado alikuwa na kuhara kidogo = in the morning, he/she still had a little diarrhea

In other contexts, bado can also relate to yet, especially with negatives, but in this sentence the best sense is still.

This is a common Swahili way to express had diarrhea.

Breakdown:

• alikuwa = he/she was
• na = with / and / have, depending on context
• kuhara = diarrhea or to have diarrhea

So alikuwa na kuhara is literally something like he/she was with diarrhea, but naturally it means he/she had diarrhea.

This kind of kuwa na structure is very common in Swahili for states and conditions.

No. na has more than one common use.

In this sentence it appears twice, with two different functions:

1. ..., na asubuhi ...
   Here na = and

2. alikuwa na kuhara
   Here na means something like with / have

So the meaning depends on context.

In Swahili, words that describe a noun or quantity often come after the word they modify.

So:

• kuhara kidogo = a little diarrhea / slight diarrhea

This post-position is very normal in Swahili. English often puts such words before the noun, but Swahili commonly puts them after.

Swahili does not normally use articles like English the, a, or an.

So mtoto can mean:

• a child
• the child

The exact meaning depends on context. The same is true for many nouns in Swahili.

alikuwa is the past form of to be.

It breaks down as:

• a- = he/she
• -li- = past
• -kuwa = be

So alikuwa = he/she was.

In this sentence, it helps describe the child’s condition in the morning:

• asubuhi bado alikuwa na kuhara kidogo = in the morning he/she still had a little diarrhea

You would change the noun and the agreement markers:

• Mtoto → Watoto = child → children
• alianza → walianza
• alikuwa → walikuwa

So the sentence would become:

Watoto walianza kutapika usiku, na asubuhi bado walikuwa na kuhara kidogo.

That means The children began vomiting at night, and in the morning they still had a little diarrhea.