Bolti moja ilidondoka sakafuni, lakini nati yake ilibaki mezani.

In Swahili, numbers usually come after the noun they describe.

• bolti moja = one bolt
• meza moja = one table
• vitabu viwili = two books

So bolti moja is the normal word order, not moja bolti.

Bolti means bolt, and nati means nut in the mechanical sense.

These are commonly treated as loanwords, borrowed from foreign languages and used in everyday Swahili, especially in technical or practical contexts. Learners will often notice that modern Swahili uses many such borrowed words alongside native vocabulary.

The i- is the subject marker that agrees with the noun bolti.

A simple breakdown of ilidondoka is:

• i- = subject marker for this noun class
• -li- = past tense
• dondoka = fall/drop down

So ilidondoka means it fell or it dropped.

Here, bolti belongs to a noun class that commonly takes i- as its subject marker in the singular.

-li- is the past tense marker in Swahili.

So:

• ili-dondoka = it fell
• ili-baki = it remained

This pattern is very common in Swahili verbs:

• subject marker + tense marker + verb root

For example:

• alienda = he/she went
• walifika = they arrived
• ilivunjika = it broke

Both can relate to falling, but dondoka often suggests dropping down or falling off/from somewhere, sometimes in a small or sudden way.

• dondoka = drop/fall down
• anguka = fall (more general)

In this sentence, ilidondoka fits well because a bolt has come down onto the floor from somewhere else.

The ending -ni is a very common locative ending in Swahili. It gives the idea of in, on, or at a place, depending on context.

So:

• sakafu = floor

• sakafuni = on the floor / at the floor area

• meza = table
• mezani = on the table / at the table

Swahili uses this -ni ending a lot with place words.

No. The locative -ni is broader than the English word in.

Depending on context, it can mean:

• in
• on
• at

So:

• sakafuni is best understood here as on the floor
• mezani is best understood as on the table

English uses different prepositions, but Swahili often uses the same locative ending and lets context clarify the exact meaning.

Yake means his/her/its/of it, depending on context.

In this sentence, nati yake means its nut — that is, the nut belonging to the bolt.

So yake refers back to bolti.

This is a possessive structure:

• nati yake = its nut
• literally: nut its

Swahili often puts the possessed noun first, followed by the possessive word.

The possessive form must agree with the noun being possessed, not with the owner in the same way English works.

Here, the possessed thing is nati, and that noun takes the possessive form -yake in this class.

That is why you get:

• nati yake = its nut

This agreement system is very important in Swahili grammar. Possessives change form depending on the noun class of the noun they go with.

Because the subject of the second clause is nati, and nati takes the same singular subject marker i- here.

So:

• nati yake ilibaki mezani
• its nut remained on the table

Breakdown:

• i- = subject marker
• -li- = past tense
• baki = remain/stay

So ilibaki means it remained or it stayed.

Lakini means but.

It connects two contrasting ideas:

• Bolti moja ilidondoka sakafuni = one bolt fell to the floor
• lakini nati yake ilibaki mezani = but its nut remained on the table

It works very much like English but.

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

Whether something is understood as a bolt, the bolt, or just bolt depends on context.

So bolti moja naturally gives the idea one bolt, and the rest of the sentence is understood from the situation rather than from articles.

Yes. Kubaki can often be translated as remain, stay, or be left, depending on context.

So nati yake ilibaki mezani could be understood as:

• its nut remained on the table
• its nut stayed on the table
• its nut was left on the table

Remained is often the neatest translation here, but the others may fit too.

Swahili word order is often fairly flexible, but the version here is very natural and clear.

The basic pattern is:

• noun phrase
• verb
• location

So:

• Bolti moja ilidondoka sakafuni
• nati yake ilibaki mezani

You can sometimes move things for emphasis, but learners should treat this sentence as a good standard model.

A helpful breakdown is:

• Bolti moja = one bolt
• ili-dondoka = it fell / it dropped

• sakafuni = on the floor

• lakini = but

• nati yake = its nut
• ili-baki = it remained
• mezani = on the table

This shows how Swahili builds meaning through:

• noun phrases,
• agreement markers,
• tense markers,
• and locative endings.