Kondakta alisema basi litasimama stendi kuu kabla ya kufika kwenye makutano yale yenye kibao cha bluu.

Because kondakta refers to a person, it takes the normal human agreement pattern. In a-li-sema, a- is the subject marker for he/she, -li- is past tense, and sema is say.

Many borrowed words for people behave this way in Swahili even if their shape does not look like older Bantu nouns. For example, the plural would be makondakta walisema.

Because basi is treated as a class 5 singular noun in Swahili. The verb has to agree with it, so you get li-ta-simama:

• li- = class 5 subject marker
• -ta- = future
• simama = stop / stand still

So basi litasimama means the bus will stop. If it were plural, you would typically get mabasi yatasimama.

Swahili often omits kwamba, which is the word that can mean that in reported speech. So both of these are natural:

• Kondakta alisema basi litasimama...
• Kondakta alisema kwamba basi litasimama...

The version without kwamba is very common and perfectly normal.

Because Swahili does not have the same kind of automatic tense backshifting that English often has. English says He said the bus would stop, but Swahili commonly says literally He said the bus will stop: alisema basi litasimama.

So the future stays future if that is the time relationship being expressed. This is very common in reported speech.

kabla ya means before. After it, Swahili often uses a noun or an infinitive.

Here, kufika is the infinitive to arrive / to reach, so kabla ya kufika means before arriving or before reaching. This is a very common pattern:

• kabla ya kuondoka = before leaving
• kabla ya kula = before eating

The subject is understood from context. Here, the natural reading is that it refers to the bus reaching the intersection.

Swahili often leaves the subject unspoken in infinitive phrases when it is already clear. If a speaker wanted to be more explicit, they could restructure the sentence, but the infinitive is the normal concise choice here.

kwenye is a locative word that can mean in, on, at, or sometimes to, depending on context. English splits these ideas into several different prepositions, but Swahili often uses one locative form more broadly.

So kwenye makutano means something like at the intersection / at the crossroads.

Swahili often allows a place expression directly after verbs like simama when the location is clear: litasimama stendi kuu. This is especially natural with common travel and transport locations.

You could also say litasimama kwenye stendi kuu, which is a bit more explicit. Both are understandable.

Yes. In this sentence, makutano is taking class 6 agreement, which is why the demonstrative is yale. Swahili demonstratives must agree with the noun class.

So:

• makutano yale = those intersections / those crossroads

Even when English may think of a place like the intersection as one location, Swahili forms and agreement still follow Swahili noun-class rules.

yale means those. In Swahili, demonstratives usually come after the noun, not before it as in English.

So the order is:

• makutano yale = literally intersections those

That noun-first order is completely normal in Swahili.

yenye is a relative form meaning something like that have, which have, or in natural English often just with. It agrees with the noun it describes.

Here it refers back to makutano, so:

• makutano yale yenye kibao cha bluu = those intersections/crossroads with a blue sign

You will see similar forms with other noun classes, for example:

• mtu mwenye... = a person who has / with
• basi lenye... = a bus that has / with

Because bluu is a borrowed color word, and Swahili often links such words with a connector that agrees with the noun. Since kibao is class 7, the linker is cha.

So kibao cha bluu literally means something like a sign of blue color, which is how Swahili naturally says a blue sign.

Compare that with native agreeing adjectives, where the adjective itself changes form:

• kibao kikubwa = big sign
• kibao cheupe = white sign

Because they are loanwords. Swahili has borrowed many everyday transport words and adapted them to Swahili pronunciation and spelling.

For example:

• conductor → kondakta
• bus → basi
• stand / station-related usage → stendi

This is very common in modern Swahili and not something unusual.

Swahili does not have articles like English the and a/an. Whether something is definite or indefinite is usually understood from context, or shown by other words such as demonstratives and relative phrases.

So stendi kuu can naturally mean the main station, and makutano yale clearly means those intersections / those crossroads because yale already makes it definite.