Kesho nitasafiri kwa basi, kwa hiyo nitauliza kondakta kama basi hilo linapita karibu na maktaba.

Nitasafiri is made of three parts:

• ni- = I
• -ta- = future tense marker
• -safiri = travel

So nitasafiri means I will travel.

A key Swahili point: the subject is usually built into the verb, so you do not need a separate word for I unless you want special emphasis.

Kesho means tomorrow.

It often comes at the beginning of the sentence to set the time frame for everything that follows:

• Kesho nitasafiri... = Tomorrow I will travel...

It does not absolutely have to be first, but sentence-initial position is very natural in Swahili for time expressions.

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

So:

• basi can mean a bus or the bus, depending on context
• maktaba can mean a library or the library

If Swahili wants to be more specific, it often uses context, word order, or a demonstrative such as hilo = that.

The two kwa phrases do different jobs.

• kwa basi = by bus
  Here kwa shows the means or method of travel.

• kwa hiyo = so / therefore / for that reason
  This is a very common fixed expression used to connect ideas.

So even though both contain kwa, you should not assume they work exactly the same way in English.

In Swahili, kuuliza usually takes the person directly as its object:

• kuuliza kondakta = to ask the conductor

There is no preposition corresponding to English to here.

This is very normal in Swahili:

• Nitauliza mwalimu = I will ask the teacher
• Aliuliza rafiki yake = He/She asked his/her friend

So this is a place where Swahili structure differs from English.

Yes. Kondakta is a loanword, ultimately from conductor.

Swahili has many borrowed words, especially for modern life, transport, technology, and administration. Loanwords are usually adapted to Swahili pronunciation and spelling, which is why conductor becomes kondakta.

Here kama means whether / if and introduces an indirect question:

• nitauliza kondakta kama... = I will ask the conductor whether/if...

So the speaker is not making a condition here; they are reporting the content of the question they plan to ask.

Be aware that kama can also mean other things in other contexts, such as like/as or if, so context matters.

In Swahili, demonstratives usually come after the noun:

• basi hilo = that bus

This is the normal pattern, just as many adjectives also follow the noun in Swahili.

Also, hilo must agree with the noun class of basi. In this sentence, basi behaves as a class 5 singular noun, so the matching demonstrative is hilo.

Linapita can be broken down as:

• li- = subject marker for the noun class of basi
• -na- = present tense marker
• -pita = pass / go by

So basi hilo linapita means that bus passes / goes by.

The important idea is agreement: once you use basi, other words referring to it must match its noun class. That is why you get:

• basi hilo
• linapita

Both hilo and li- agree with basi.

It can mean either, depending on context.

In this sentence, the natural meaning is usually about the bus route:

• kama basi hilo linapita karibu na maktaba
  = whether that bus goes/passes near the library

So it is not necessarily about a bus physically passing at this exact moment. It can describe the usual route of that bus.

Karibu na means near / close to.

In this kind of location phrase, karibu na works as a set expression:

• karibu na maktaba = near the library

The na is part of the normal pattern here, so learners should treat karibu na as one useful chunk.

The sentence follows a very natural Swahili pattern:

• Kesho = time expression first
• nitasafiri kwa basi = main clause
• kwa hiyo = connector meaning so / therefore
• nitauliza kondakta = next main action
• kama basi hilo linapita karibu na maktaba = indirect question explaining what will be asked

So even though some details differ from English, the overall flow is quite logical:

time -> action -> reason/result connector -> next action -> content of the question