Fundi anaweka chokaa kati ya tofali ili ukuta uwe imara.

Anaweka can be broken down like this:

• a- = subject marker for he/she
• -na- = present / ongoing / habitual tense marker
• weka = verb root meaning put, place, or apply

So anaweka can mean he/she is putting, he/she puts, or he/she is applying, depending on context.

Because the subject is already built into the verb. The a- in anaweka already tells you the subject is he/she. Swahili often leaves out separate subject pronouns unless you want extra emphasis.

So:

• Fundi anaweka... = The craftsperson is putting...
• Yeye anaweka... would add emphasis, like He/She is the one putting...

Kati ya is a fixed expression meaning between or sometimes among.

Examples:

• kati ya nyumba mbili = between two houses
• kati ya watu = among people

So kati ya tofali means between the brick / bricks, depending on how the noun is being understood in context.

Strictly speaking:

• tofali = brick (singular)
• matofali = bricks (plural)

A learner might expect kati ya matofali here, and that would indeed be very natural if you want to make the plural explicit. The use of tofali in the sentence can be understood more generically, almost like brickwork or brick as a type of material. So the given sentence is understandable, but matofali would also be a very common choice.

Ili means so that or in order that. It introduces a purpose clause.

So the structure is:

• Fundi anaweka chokaa... = the action
• ili ukuta uwe imara = the purpose of that action

In other words, the mortar is being put there so that the wall will be strong.

After ili, Swahili normally uses the subjunctive form, because the clause expresses a goal, intention, or desired result.

So:

• ukuta ni imara = the wall is strong
  This is a simple statement.
• ili ukuta uwe imara = so that the wall may be strong / will be strong
  This expresses purpose.

Also, after kuwa in this kind of structure, you do not add ni. So uwe imara is the natural pattern.

Uwe is the subjunctive form of kuwa (to be), and the u- agrees with ukuta.

That agreement matters because ukuta belongs to a noun class that takes u- in this kind of verb form. So:

• ukuta uwe imara = so that the wall may be strong

If the subject were a person, you would expect a different agreement pattern, such as awe.

Imara means strong, firm, or solid. In actual usage, it often stays the same form rather than changing a lot to match noun class. So you can treat it as an adjective that commonly appears in this fixed-looking form.

In this sentence, uwe imara means be strong / be solid.

Swahili does not have articles that work exactly like English a/an and the. Whether a noun is understood as a wall, the wall, a craftsperson, or the craftsperson usually comes from context.

So:

• fundi can mean a craftsperson or the craftsperson
• ukuta can mean a wall or the wall

English has to choose an article, but Swahili usually does not.