Fundi alisema breki zitakaguliwa tena kabla ya basi kuondoka.

Fundi means mechanic, technician, craftsperson, or skilled worker, depending on context. In this sentence, mechanic is the natural translation because the sentence talks about brakes and a bus.

Its plural is mafundi.

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

So:

• fundi can mean a mechanic or the mechanic
• basi can mean a bus or the bus
• breki can mean brakes or the brakes

Context tells you which one is meant. In this sentence, English usually uses the mechanic, the brakes, and the bus because the situation sounds specific.

Alisema breaks down like this:

• a- = subject marker for he/she (class 1 singular)
• -li- = past tense
• sema = say

So alisema means he said or she said.

Swahili does not mark gender here, so the verb itself does not tell you whether the mechanic is male or female.

In Swahili, a reported statement often comes directly after verbs like alisema without needing a word for that.

So:

• Fundi alisema breki zitakaguliwa... = The mechanic said (that) the brakes would be checked...

You can use kwamba for that, but it is often omitted:

• Fundi alisema kwamba breki zitakaguliwa...

Both are correct.

The zi- agrees with breki as a plural noun in noun class 10.

So in:

• breki zitakaguliwa

the zi- means something like they for that noun class: the brakes, they will be checked.

This kind of agreement is very important in Swahili. Even when the noun itself does not visibly change much, the verb shows its class and number.

Breki is a borrowed word, ultimately from English brake. Many borrowed nouns in Swahili keep the same form in singular and plural, or their number is shown mainly by agreement.

So:

• breki itakaguliwa = the brake will be checked
• breki zitakaguliwa = the brakes will be checked

Here, the verb agreement zi- shows that breki is plural.

Zitakaguliwa can be understood as:

• zi- = they / they (class 10)
• -ta- = future
• kaguliwa = be checked / be inspected

The base verb is kagua, meaning inspect or check. In the passive, it becomes kaguliwa, meaning be inspected / be checked.

So breki zitakaguliwa means the brakes will be checked.

The passive is used because the sentence focuses on the brakes, not on the person who will do the checking.

So:

• breki zitakaguliwa = the brakes will be checked

An active version would mention the doer more directly, for example:

• mtu atakagua breki = someone will check the brakes

The passive is very common in Swahili, especially when the action matters more than the agent.

This is a very common question. Swahili often keeps the future form in reported speech when the event was still in the future at the time of speaking.

So:

• alisema breki zitakaguliwa literally looks like said the brakes will be checked
• but natural English often says said the brakes would be checked

In other words, the Swahili grammar and the English grammar handle reported speech a bit differently. The Swahili future is still completely normal here.

Tena means again or once more.

In this sentence:

• breki zitakaguliwa tena = the brakes will be checked again

Its position after the verb is very natural. It modifies the action of checking.

Kabla ya means before.

It is used before a noun or a noun-like phrase:

• kabla ya safari = before the trip
• kabla ya kuondoka = before leaving

In your sentence:

• kabla ya basi kuondoka = before the bus leaving / before the bus’s departure

That is the Swahili way of expressing what English would usually say as before the bus leaves.

Kuondoka is the infinitive form, meaning to leave / to depart. After kabla ya, Swahili often uses an infinitive phrase where English would use a full clause.

So:

• basi kuondoka literally means something like the bus to leave or the bus’s leaving

In smoother English, you translate the whole phrase as:

• before the bus leaves
• before the bus departs

This is a normal Swahili structure. It is not strange or incomplete; it is just different from English.

Yes. A common alternative is a full clause such as:

• kabla basi halijaondoka

This also means before the bus leaves / before the bus has left.

So you may see both:

• kabla ya basi kuondoka
• kabla basi halijaondoka

The version in your sentence is slightly more noun-like in structure, while the alternative is more clause-like. Both are natural.