Modemu yetu imezimika, kwa hiyo baba anakagua kebo zote mezani.

In Swahili, possessives normally come after the noun.

So the pattern is:

• modemu yetu = modem our
• baba yangu = father my
• vitabu vyetu = books our

This is the normal word order, so modemu yetu is exactly what you should expect.

Because the possessive has to agree with the noun class of modemu.

Modemu is treated like a class 9 singular noun in this sentence, and class 9 singular uses y- agreement in possessives:

• yangu = my
• yako = your
• yetu = our

So:

• modemu yetu = our modem

If it were plural, you would normally see class 10 agreement:

• modemu zetu = our modems

This is especially common with loanwords, whose singular and plural often look the same on the noun itself.

imezimika can be broken down like this:

• i- = subject marker for a class 9 singular noun
• -me- = perfect aspect
• -zimika = go off, become switched off, go out

So:

• modemu imezimika

literally means something like:

• the modem has gone off
• or the modem is off

The Swahili perfect often gives a resultative sense, so it can describe both the event and the resulting state.

Because -zimika is the better choice when something goes off or ends up off.

A useful contrast is:

• -zima = switch off, put out
• -zimika = go off, become extinguished, be switched off

So:

• Baba amezima modemu = Father has switched off the modem
• Modemu imezimika = The modem has gone off / is off

In other words, -zima usually points more to an external doer, while -zimika focuses on the thing entering that state.

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

It links the first clause to the second:

• the modem is off
• therefore father is checking the cables

It is a very common way to show cause and result in Swahili.

Yes. It is often placed at the beginning of a clause or sentence.

So these are both natural:

• Modemu yetu imezimika, kwa hiyo baba anakagua kebo zote mezani.
• Modemu yetu imezimika. Kwa hiyo, baba anakagua kebo zote mezani.

The meaning stays basically the same. The second version can feel a little more clearly separated, like two sentences in English.

Anakagua contains:

• a- = third person singular subject marker
• -na- = present / ongoing / habitual marker
• -kagua = inspect, examine, check

So anakagua means:

• he is checking
• or sometimes he checks, depending on context

Here it most naturally means he is checking.

Also note that baba takes the normal human singular subject agreement, so a- is exactly what you would expect.

Many borrowed nouns in Swahili do not visibly change form between singular and plural.

So kebo can look the same in both numbers. The agreement words tell you whether it is singular or plural.

Here:

• zote = all, with class 10 plural agreement

That tells you kebo is plural here:

• kebo zote = all the cables

Compare:

• kebo yote = the whole cable / the entire cable
• kebo zote = all the cables

So the plural is shown by agreement, not by changing the noun form itself.

Mezani comes from:

• meza = table
• -ni = locative ending

So mezani means something like:

• at the table
• on the table
• sometimes by the table

The locative -ni is often broader than a single English preposition, so the exact translation depends on context.

In this sentence, it most naturally describes the location of the cables:

• baba anakagua kebo zote mezani
• father is checking all the cables on the table

But Swahili locatives at the end of a sentence can sometimes feel slightly broad, covering the whole situation. Context usually makes the intended meaning clear.

If you wanted to be more explicit, you could say things in ways that remove doubt, but as written, the most likely reading is the cables on the table.

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

So nouns such as:

• modemu
• baba
• kebo

do not need an article. Whether they mean a modem, the modem, cables, or the cables is understood from context.

That is very normal in Swahili, and learners need to get used to relying more on context than on articles.