Gari limeharibika, kwa hiyo fundi anakagua tairi zake.

Because gari belongs to noun class 5 in the singular, and class 5 uses the subject prefix li-.

So:

• gari = car
• li-me-haribika
  • li- = class 5 subject marker
  • -me- = perfect/completed action
  • haribika = be damaged / break down

So gari limeharibika means the car has broken down or the car is damaged.

If the noun were from a different class, the subject marker would change.

-me- is a tense/aspect marker that usually shows a completed action with present relevance. It is often translated as has/have in English.

So:

• limeharibika = it has broken down
• not just it broke down in a simple past sense, but more like it is now in a broken state because that happened

This is very common in Swahili when describing something that has already happened and still matters now.

Haribika means be damaged, go bad, become spoiled, or break down, depending on context.

It is different from haribu, which is usually transitive:

• haribu = damage/spoil something
• haribika = become damaged / get spoiled / break down

So in this sentence:

• gari limeharibika = the car has broken down

The -ika ending often gives this kind of intransitive/result-state meaning.

Kwa hiyo means so, therefore, for that reason, or as a result.

It connects the first idea to the second:

• Gari limeharibika = The car has broken down.
• kwa hiyo = so / therefore
• fundi anakagua tairi zake = the mechanic is checking its tires

So kwa hiyo shows a logical consequence.

Swahili usually does not use articles like the or a/an.

So:

• gari can mean a car or the car
• fundi can mean a mechanic or the mechanic

The exact meaning depends on context.

That is very normal in Swahili. English requires articles much more often than Swahili does.

Anakagua breaks down like this:

• a- = subject marker for class 1 singular (he/she, or a singular animate noun like fundi)
• -na- = present tense
• kagua = inspect/check

So fundi anakagua means the mechanic is checking or the mechanic checks.

Because fundi refers to a person, it takes the class 1 agreement marker a-.

Because the sentence describes two different time frames:

1. Gari limeharibika = the car has broken down
   This is a completed event with a present result.

2. fundi anakagua tairi zake = the mechanic is checking its tires
   This is happening now.

So the tenses fit the situation perfectly:

• first clause: something has already happened
• second clause: something is currently being done because of it

Kagua means inspect, check, or examine.

So:

• anakagua = is checking / is inspecting

In this sentence, the mechanic is inspecting the tires, probably to find the problem.

This is a very common question.

The short answer is: zake agrees with tairi as the thing possessed, not directly with the possessor.

In Swahili possessives work like this:

• the ending -ake / -ke gives the idea his/her/its
• the beginning changes to match the noun being possessed

So:

• ya-...-ke → yake
• za-...-ke → zake

Here, tairi zake means its tires because we are talking about tires in a plural sense. The possessive agreement is plural, so zake is used.

A useful way to think of it:

• English marks the possessor: its tires
• Swahili often marks the possessed noun: tires its

So zake does not mean multiple owners. It means the possessed noun is plural.

Yes — it can mean any of those, depending on context.

Swahili does not usually distinguish:

• his
• her
• its

with different possessive words the way English does.

So zake here means its, because the owner is gari.

In another sentence, zake could mean his or her, if the context were about a person.

Because zake already shows that the tires belong to the car.

So instead of saying something like the mechanic is checking the car’s tires with a repeated noun, Swahili can simply say:

• tairi zake = its tires

This is natural and efficient.

In this sentence, it is understood as plural in meaning: tires.

That is why the possessive is zake, not a singular form.

Loanwords in Swahili can behave a little differently from native nouns, and words like tairi may need to be interpreted from context. Here the meaning is clearly plural: the mechanic is checking the car’s tires in general.

The basic order is very similar to English:

• Gari = subject
• limeharibika = verb
• kwa hiyo = connector
• fundi = subject
• anakagua = verb
• tairi zake = object + possessive

So the structure is essentially:

Subject + Verb, connector, Subject + Verb + Object

That makes this sentence fairly friendly for English speakers, even though the verb and possessive forms work differently from English.

Yes. Fundi can mean craftsman, technician, repair person, or specialist, depending on context.

For example:

• fundi wa magari = car mechanic
• fundi umeme = electrician
• fundi seremala = carpenter

In your sentence, because the topic is a broken car and tires, fundi is naturally understood as mechanic.

Yes. That is a very natural translation too.

Because limeharibika can cover meanings like:

• has broken down
• is damaged
• has gone bad

The best English choice depends on context. If the context is a car problem, has broken down is often the most natural translation, but is damaged can also work.