Kama skana haifanyi kazi, ofisi hutumia fotokopi iliyopo, na mteja hulipa kwa hundi baada ya kuona ankara.

Here kama means if and introduces a condition:

• Kama skana haifanyi kazi = If the scanner is not working

A learner should know that kama can also mean like or as, but in this sentence the conditional meaning if is the one being used.

This is the negative present form of the verb phrase kufanya kazi, which means to work / to function.

It breaks down like this:

• ha- = negative marker
• i- = subject marker for a class 9 noun
• -fanyi = negative present form of fanya

So:

• skana haifanyi kazi = the scanner is not working / does not function

The noun skana is treated as a class 9 noun, so the verb agrees with it using i-.

Because kufanya kazi is a very common expression meaning:

• to work
• to function
• to be operational

Literally, it looks like do work, but idiomatically it is the normal way to say that a person or machine works.

So for machines:

• Kompyuta haifanyi kazi = The computer isn’t working
• Skana haifanyi kazi = The scanner isn’t working

Hutumia is from kutumia = to use.

The prefix hu- marks the habitual sense. It often means something like:

• usually
• normally
• whenever this situation happens
• tends to

So:

• ofisi hutumia fotokopi iliyopo means something like
  the office uses the available photocopier / the office will use the available photocopier in such cases

It is not just a one-time action. It describes what generally happens in that situation.

In the habitual hu- form, Swahili normally does not use the usual subject prefix.

Compare:

• Ofisi inatumia... = The office is using...
• Mteja analipa... = The customer is paying...

But in the habitual style:

• Ofisi hutumia...
• Mteja hulipa...

So hu- itself signals the habitual meaning, and the normal subject agreement is usually left out.

Iliyopo means something like:

• that is there
• that is available
• that exists
• the one present

So:

• fotokopi iliyopo = the available photocopier / the photocopier that is there

It works like a relative modifier describing fotokopi.

Because fotokopi is treated as a class 9 noun, and the relative form has to agree with that noun class.

That is why the modifier begins with i-.

You do not need to master every piece of the internal grammar right away; the important practical point is:

• class 9 noun → relative agreement beginning with i-
• therefore fotokopi iliyopo

So the form matches the noun it describes.

In isolation, borrowed words like fotokopi can sometimes be a little flexible in meaning, but in this sentence the context makes it clear that it means the machine:

• If the scanner is not working,
• the office uses fotokopi iliyopo

So here it means the photocopier rather than a photocopy.

Kwa often shows the means or method by which something is done.

So:

• kulipa kwa hundi = to pay by check
• kwa hundi = by check

Other similar examples:

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

Yes. Just like hutumia, hulipa uses the habitual hu- form.

So:

• mteja hulipa = the customer pays / the customer will pay in that situation / the customer عادة pays

It describes the normal result in that scenario, not necessarily one specific payment happening right now.

Because after baada ya (after), Swahili normally uses an infinitive/verbal noun form:

• baada ya kuona = after seeing

So the pattern is:

• baada ya + infinitive

Examples:

• baada ya kula = after eating
• baada ya kusoma = after reading
• baada ya kuona ankara = after seeing the invoice

You would not normally say baada ya anaona there.

The understood subject is mteja (the customer).

Swahili often leaves that kind of subject unstated when it is already clear from context. So:

• na mteja hulipa kwa hundi baada ya kuona ankara = and the customer pays by check after seeing the invoice

If you wanted to make it fully explicit, you could say something like:

• baada ya mteja kuona ankara

But in the original sentence, that is unnecessary because the meaning is already clear.

Because Swahili does not have articles like a/an/the.

Whether a noun is understood as:

• a scanner
• the scanner

depends on context.

So in this sentence:

• skana could be understood as the scanner
• ofisi as the office
• mteja as the customer
• ankara as the invoice

English has to choose an article, but Swahili usually does not mark that distinction directly.

A useful overview is:

• skana → class 9
• ofisi → usually treated as class 9
• fotokopi → class 9 here
• ankara → commonly treated like a class 9 loanword
• mteja → class 1 singular

You can see class 9 agreement in forms like:

• haifanyi — the i- agrees with skana
• iliyopo — the i- agrees with fotokopi

And mteja is a human noun of class 1, whose plural would be:

• wateja = customers

So this sentence is a good example of how borrowed nouns often behave as class 9 nouns in Swahili.