Mteja anaweza kulipa kwa hundi, lakini kwanza anataka kuona ankara.

Mteja means customer/client. The m- is a noun-class prefix. In this case, mteja belongs to the class for many singular human nouns.

A very common pair is:

• mteja = customer (singular)
• wateja = customers (plural)

So the change from m- to wa- helps show singular vs. plural.

Anaweza can be broken down like this:

• a- = he/she (the subject marker for a singular person)
• -na- = present tense
• -weza = be able, can

So anaweza literally means he/she is able or more naturally he/she can / may.

Because mteja is a singular person, the verb uses a-.

After verbs like anaweza (can/may) and anataka (wants), the next verb usually stays in the infinitive form with ku-.

So:

• anaweza kulipa = he/she can pay
• anataka kuona = he/she wants to see

Here:

• kulipa = to pay
• kuona = to see

This is very similar to English structures like can pay and wants to see, except in Swahili the second verb often keeps the infinitive marker ku-.

Kulipa means to pay.

It comes from:

• ku- = infinitive marker (to)
• -lipa = pay

You can compare:

• analipa = he/she is paying / pays
• kulipa = to pay

In the sentence, it stays as kulipa because it follows anaweza.

Kwa hundi means by cheque/check or with a cheque/check.

Here, kwa is used to show the means or method of doing something. It often means:

• by
• with
• using

So:

• kulipa kwa hundi = to pay by cheque/check

Other examples of kwa in this kind of use:

• kwa pesa taslimu = in cash
• kwa kadi = by card
• kwa simu = by phone

Yes. Hundi is a standard word for cheque/check, especially in more formal or business-related contexts.

A learner may also come across borrowed or less formal alternatives in some places, but hundi is a good and useful word to know.

The comma separates two clauses:

• Mteja anaweza kulipa kwa hundi
• lakini kwanza anataka kuona ankara

Lakini means but, and it joins two ideas. Using a comma here is natural, just as in English.

It means but first.

• lakini = but
• kwanza = first

So the speaker is saying that paying by cheque is possible, but before that, the customer wants to see the invoice.

In Swahili, verbs normally carry a subject marker, even if the noun has already been mentioned.

So after mteja, the next verb still needs the subject marker for he/she:

• anataka = he/she wants

You do not usually leave that subject marking out. Swahili verbs carry a lot of grammatical information inside the verb itself.

Anataka breaks down like this:

• a- = he/she
• -na- = present tense
• -taka = want

So anataka means he/she wants.

Because the subject is mteja (a singular person), the verb again uses a-.

Yes, kuona literally means to see.

In this context, though, it can sound more natural in English as:

• to see the invoice
• to look at the invoice
• to review the invoice

So it is literal, but in business contexts it often has the practical sense of looking over or checking something.

Ankara means invoice.

Swahili does not normally use articles like a, an, or the. So ankara can mean:

• an invoice
• the invoice

The exact meaning depends on context.

That is very normal in Swahili. Nouns usually appear without articles.

Because Swahili usually does not mark definiteness with separate words like English does.

So:

• mteja can mean a customer or the customer
• ankara can mean an invoice or the invoice

You decide from context which English version fits best.

Yes. Anaweza can express ability or possibility/permission, depending on context.

So it may mean:

• can pay
• may pay
• is able to pay

In this sentence, English would most naturally say can pay.

The basic order is quite similar to English:

• Mteja = subject
• anaweza = verb
• kulipa = infinitive complement
• kwa hundi = prepositional phrase
• lakini = conjunction
• kwanza = adverb
• anataka kuona ankara = second clause

So a rough structure is:

Subject + verb + infinitive + phrase, but + adverb + verb + infinitive + object

This makes the sentence fairly approachable for English speakers.

You would change both the noun and the subject markers on the verbs:

• Mteja → Wateja
• anaweza → wanaweza
• anataka → wanataka

So you would get:

Wateja wanaweza kulipa kwa hundi, lakini kwanza wanataka kuona ankara.

That means The customers can pay by cheque/check, but first they want to see the invoice.

A few helpful points:

• mteja → roughly m-TEH-ja
• anaweza → a-na-WEH-za
• kulipa → ku-LEE-pa
• hundi → HOON-di
• kwanza → KWAN-za
• anataka → a-na-TA-ka
• kuona → ku-O-na
• ankara → an-KA-ra

A useful general rule is that Swahili spelling is quite regular: words are usually pronounced much the way they are written.