Bibi hupenda kutuambia methali jioni.

Hu- often marks a habitual or general action in Swahili. So hupenda means something like:

• likes
• usually likes
• tends to like

In this sentence, Bibi hupenda... suggests a general habit or characteristic, not just something happening right now.

By contrast, anapenda is the ordinary present form and can mean she likes / she is liking / she loves, depending on context. In many situations both are possible, but hupenda sounds more clearly habitual.

So:

• Bibi hupenda kutuambia methali jioni. = Grandmother usually likes telling us proverbs in the evening.
• Bibi anapenda kutuambia methali jioni. = Grandmother likes to tell us proverbs in the evening.
  (Less explicitly habitual.)

Kutuambia can be broken down as:

• ku- = infinitive marker, like to
• tu- = us
• ambia = tell / say to

So:

• kuambia = to tell
• kutuambia = to tell us

This is very common in Swahili: object pronouns are often inserted inside the verb.

Examples:

• kuniambia = to tell me
• kukuambia = to tell you
• kutuambia = to tell us
• kuwaambia = to tell them

In Swahili, object pronouns are usually attached to the verb as object markers.

So instead of saying something like to tell to us with a separate word, Swahili often uses:

• tu inside the verb = us

That gives:

• kutuambia = to tell us

This is normal Swahili structure. English keeps object pronouns separate, but Swahili often puts them inside the verb.

Not exactly.

• sema = say, speak
• ambia = tell someone, say to someone

So ambia is used when there is a person being told.

Compare:

• Alisema ukweli. = He/she said the truth.
• Aliniambia ukweli. = He/she told me the truth.

In your sentence:

• kutuambia methali = to tell us proverbs

So ambia is the right verb because there is a listener: us.

Yes, methali here means proverbs.

This is a very common question because some Swahili nouns have the same form in singular and plural. Methali is one of them.

So:

• methali = proverb
• methali = proverbs

The number is understood from context.

In this sentence, the meaning is plural because the context suggests proverbs in general, not just one proverb.

Jioni means evening or in the evening.

In Swahili, many time expressions do not need a preposition like in, on, or at.

So:

• jioni = in the evening
• asubuhi = in the morning
• usiku = at night
• leo = today
• kesho = tomorrow

That means:

• Bibi hupenda kutuambia methali jioni.
  literally: Grandmother usually likes to-tell-us proverbs evening.
  natural English: Grandmother likes telling us proverbs in the evening.

Yes. Swahili word order is fairly flexible, especially with time expressions.

For example, these can all work:

• Bibi hupenda kutuambia methali jioni.
• Jioni, bibi hupenda kutuambia methali.
• Bibi jioni hupenda kutuambia methali.

The version you were given is very natural. Putting jioni at the end is common because time expressions often come after the main information.

Yes. Bibi can mean different things depending on context, including:

• grandmother
• old woman
• sometimes lady
• in some contexts, wife

In a learning sentence like this, grandmother is usually the intended meaning. The rest of the sentence also fits that nicely, since telling proverbs in the evening sounds like something a grandmother might do.

So while bibi has more than one possible meaning, context usually makes the correct one clear.

Swahili does not use articles the way English does.

English often needs words like:

• a
• an
• the
• some

Swahili usually does not have direct equivalents in ordinary noun phrases.

So methali can mean:

• proverb
• a proverb
• the proverb
• proverbs
• some proverbs

The exact meaning depends on context.

In this sentence, natural English uses proverbs, but Swahili does not need a separate word for that.

In Swahili, one common way to say like to do something is:

• penda + infinitive

So:

• hupenda kusoma = usually likes to read
• anapenda kuimba = likes to sing
• hupenda kutuambia methali = usually likes to tell us proverbs

This works much like English likes to....

You can think of the structure as:

• hupenda = likes / usually likes
• kutuambia = to tell us

Together:

• hupenda kutuambia = likes to tell us

The sentence follows a very common Swahili order:

Subject + Verb + Infinitive phrase + Object + Time expression

Breakdown:

• Bibi = subject
• hupenda = main verb
• kutuambia = infinitive phrase, to tell us
• methali = object of ambia
• jioni = time expression

So the whole structure is:

• Bibi | hupenda | kutuambia methali | jioni

This is quite natural in Swahili.

Yes, but the meaning changes.

• Bibi hupenda kutuambia methali jioni.
  = Grandmother likes to tell us proverbs in the evening.

This talks about what she likes doing.

But:

• Bibi anatuambia methali jioni.
  = Grandmother tells us proverbs in the evening / is telling us proverbs in the evening.

This talks more directly about the action itself, not about her liking it.

So:

• hupenda kutuambia = likes to tell us
• anatuambia = tells us / is telling us

A more word-for-word gloss would be:

• Bibi = grandmother
• hu-penda = usually-likes
• ku-tu-ambia = to-us-tell
• methali = proverbs
• jioni = in the evening

So a literal-ish version would be:

Grandmother usually likes to tell us proverbs in the evening.

Natural English might simply say:

Grandmother likes telling us proverbs in the evening.