Kama fundi angekuwa amefunga skrubu zote vizuri, kiti kisingetikisika sasa.

Here kama means if and introduces the condition.

Swahili kama can also mean like/as, but in this sentence it is clearly the conditional if.

It is an unreal/counterfactual condition: it talks about something that did not happen, and a result that would be different now if it had happened.

So the structure is basically:

• past unreal condition: Kama fundi angekuwa amefunga...
• present result: kiti kisingetikisika sasa

In English grammar terms, this is close to a mixed conditional: a past condition with a present consequence.

Angekuwa amefunga makes it clear that the fastening would already have been completed before now.

• angefunga = would fasten / would have fastened, depending on context
• angekuwa amefunga = more explicitly would have had fastened / had fastened

In this sentence, the speaker is talking about an earlier action whose result matters now, so angekuwa amefunga fits very well.

It has two parts:

1. angekuwa

   • a- = he/she (for a person, agreeing with fundi)
   • -nge- = conditional marker
   • -kuwa = be

2. amefunga

   • a- = he/she
   • -me- = perfect marker
   • funga = fasten / close / tie

Together, the whole phrase expresses something like if the technician had fastened...

Because amefunga is a perfect form, and the perfect often highlights a completed action with a resulting state.

That is exactly the idea here: if the technician had properly tightened the screws, the chair would not be wobbling now. The important point is not just that the action happened in the past, but that its result would still matter in the present.

If you used alifunga, the focus would be more simply on a past event.

No. In Swahili, a- for a singular person can mean he or she.

So fundi can refer to a male or female technician/craftsperson, depending on context. Swahili verbs do not mark gender the way English pronouns do.

It is made of several pieces:

• ki- = subject marker for kiti (class 7 singular)
• -si- = negative marker
• -nge- = conditional marker
• tikisika = wobble / be shaky

So:

ki-si-nge-tikisika
= it would not wobble

This kind of stacking is very normal in Swahili verbs.

Because kiti belongs to noun class 7, and verbs must agree with that noun class.

So:

• kiti = chair
• subject agreement for class 7 singular = ki-

That is why you get ki-singe-...

If it were plural viti (chairs), the verb would begin with vi- instead.

It is part of a form that makes the verb more intransitive/stative.

Compare:

• tikisa = shake something
• tikisika = shake/wobble, be shaky

So kisingetikisika does not mean it would not shake something; it means it would not wobble / be shaky.

Because skrubu is a loanword that often keeps the same form in singular and plural, but the agreement word shows the number.

Here zote tells you it is plural and agrees with the noun class used for plural skrubu.

So:

• skrubu = screw / screws
• zote = all of them

This is common with many Swahili loanwords.

Vizuri means well / properly here.

It modifies amefunga: it tells you how the technician fastened the screws.

In this context, English might translate it more naturally as:

• properly
• securely
• tightly

depending on the exact situation.

Because Swahili often places adverbs like vizuri after the object.

So the order:

• verb: amefunga
• object: skrubu zote
• adverb: vizuri

is very natural.

A literal pattern would be something like:

had-fastened screws all well

Even though that word order is different from the most natural English wording, it is normal in Swahili.

Sasa means now, and it points to the present result.

It shows that the consequence is true at this moment / as things stand now. The idea is that the earlier mistake is affecting the chair now.

Without sasa, the sentence would still make sense, but sasa makes the present consequence more explicit.

Because Swahili does not have articles like a and the.

Whether something is a chair, the chair, a technician, or the technician is usually understood from context.

So fundi can mean:

• a technician
• the technician

and the same applies to kiti and skrubu.