Mama analalamika kuhusu gharama za usafiri.

analalamika breaks down as:

• a- = he/she subject marker
• -na- = present tense marker
• lalamika = complain

So a-na-lalamika literally means he/she is complaining or he/she complains.

This is a very common Swahili verb pattern:

• subject marker + tense marker + verb stem

For example:

• anasoma = he/she is reading
• anakula = he/she is eating
• analalamika = he/she is complaining

Not by itself. a- means he/she for a singular human subject.

Swahili verbs do not normally mark gender. So:

• analalamika = he is complaining or she is complaining

You know it is she here because Mama refers to a female person.

It can mean both, depending on context.

The tense marker -na- often covers:

• is complaining
• complains
• sometimes a general present idea

So Mama analalamika could mean:

• Mother is complaining
• Mother complains

Context tells you which one sounds best in English.

kuhusu means about, concerning, or regarding.

In this sentence, it introduces what the complaining is about:

• analalamika kuhusu gharama za usafiri
• is complaining about transport costs

It works much like English about.

You will often see it before a noun phrase:

• kuhusu kazi = about work
• kuhusu shule = about school
• kuhusu gharama = about costs

Because this version treats gharama as a plural idea: costs/expenses.

So:

• gharama za usafiri = transport costs / travel expenses

If you wanted a singular idea, like the cost of transport, you could say:

• gharama ya usafiri

A tricky point is that gharama often has the same form in singular and plural, so the connector helps show how it is being understood:

• ya = singular agreement
• za = plural agreement

za is a linking word meaning something like of.

It connects:

• gharama = costs
• usafiri = transport/travel

So:

• gharama za usafiri = costs of transport

More specifically, za agrees with the noun gharama in noun class/number. This kind of connector changes form depending on the noun it refers to.

Compare:

• kitabu cha mwanafunzi = the student's book
• vitabu vya mwanafunzi = the student's books
• gharama za usafiri = transport costs

usafiri means travel, transport, or journeying, depending on context.

In this sentence, usafiri is best understood as transport or travel in the sense of getting from place to place.

It comes from the verb kusafiri, meaning to travel.

So the sentence is talking about the costs connected with travel/transport.

Because Swahili usually does not use articles like English a, an, and the.

So a noun like mama can mean:

• mother
• the mother
• a mother
• mom

The exact English choice depends on context.

This is very normal in Swahili, so you should not expect a separate word for the in most sentences.

Because Swahili often leaves possession understood when the context is clear.

So Mama can simply mean:

• Mother
• Mom

If you want to be explicit, you can say:

• mama yangu = my mother

Also, mama can sometimes be used more broadly for:

• a mother
• an older woman
• a respectful form of address for a woman

But in a sentence like this, it is very natural to use just Mama.

Yes. This is a very natural Swahili word order:

• Mama = subject
• analalamika = verb
• kuhusu gharama za usafiri = prepositional phrase explaining what the complaint is about

So the pattern is basically:

Subject + Verb + kuhusu + Noun Phrase

This is the most straightforward way to say it.

Yes, sometimes Swahili also uses juu ya for about.

For example:

• Mama analalamika juu ya gharama za usafiri.

That is also understandable and natural in many contexts.

Still, kuhusu is a very good choice here because it is clear and neutral. It often sounds a bit more formal or standard than juu ya.