Mtoto alifuta uso wake kwa kiganja baada ya kulia, lakini aliepuka kugusa kope zake.

Alifuta is a normal Swahili finite verb. It can be broken down like this:

• a- = he/she
• -li- = past tense
• futa = the verb root wipe / erase

So alifuta means he/she wiped.

Because the subject is mtoto (child), Swahili uses the class 1 singular subject marker a-.

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

So mtoto can mean:

• a child
• the child

The exact meaning depends on context. This is very common in Swahili, so learners often have to get used to not seeing articles spelled out.

There are two important things going on here:

1. The possessive comes after the noun

   • uso wake = his/her face
   • kope zake = his/her eyelids

2. The possessive changes form to agree with the noun class

   • wake
   • zake

Swahili possessives do not stay the same the way English his/her does. They change according to the noun being possessed.

Also, neither wake nor zake tells you whether the child is male or female. Swahili does not mark gender here, so both can mean his or her depending on context.

Kwa often means with, by, or using, especially for the means or instrument used to do something.

Kiganja means the palm of the hand.

So kwa kiganja means:

• with the palm
• using the palm of the hand

It is more specific than just with the hand. It suggests the child used the palm to wipe the face.

After baada ya (after), Swahili commonly uses the infinitive form of a verb.

So:

• baada ya kulia = after crying

Here:

• kulia = to cry

This is similar to English after crying, where English also uses a non-finite form rather than a full clause like after he/she cried.

Swahili can express the idea more explicitly in other ways, but baada ya + infinitive is very common and natural.

Here it means to cry.

That is a good question because kulia can also be related to right-hand side in other contexts. But in this sentence:

• it comes after baada ya
• it is in the infinitive form
• the context is wiping the face

So baada ya kulia is clearly after crying.

This part means he/she avoided touching.

It breaks down like this:

• aliepuka = he/she avoided
• kugusa = to touch

After a verb like -epuka (avoid), Swahili often uses an infinitive for the next action:

• epuka kufanya = avoid doing
• epuka kugusa = avoid touching

So the structure is very similar to English avoid touching, although literally you can think of it as avoid to touch.

In Swahili, a finite verb is usually written as a single word, even though it contains several parts.

So aliepuka is one written word, but for learning purposes you can analyze it as:

• a- = he/she
• -li- = past tense
• epuka = avoid

Teachers often separate these parts with hyphens when explaining grammar, but normal spelling joins them together.

No. The sentence does not tell us whether the child is male or female.

These forms are gender-neutral in this context:

• mtoto = child
• a- in alifuta / aliepuka = he/she
• wake / zake = his/her

This is very normal in Swahili. English often forces a choice like his or her, but Swahili often leaves that unspecified.

The sentence follows a fairly normal Swahili order:

• Mtoto = subject
• alifuta = verb
• uso wake = object
• kwa kiganja = means/instrument
• baada ya kulia = time phrase
• lakini = but
• aliepuka kugusa = second verb phrase
• kope zake = object of kugusa

So you can roughly map it like this:

Subject + Verb + Object + Instrument + Time phrase + but + Verb phrase + Object

That makes the sentence quite natural and straightforward in Swahili.

Lakini means but. It connects the first idea with a contrasting second idea:

• first idea: the child wiped the face
• second idea: the child avoided touching the eyelids

Yes, the comma is normal here because lakini joins two full clauses. In writing, this helps show the pause and contrast clearly.