Baada ya chakula, nitafuta meza kwa kitambaa safi.

Baada ya means after.

A helpful way to learn it is as a set phrase:

• baada ya chakula = after the meal / after food
• baada ya kazi = after work
• baada ya shule = after school

The ya is a connector used in this expression. At an early stage, it is easiest to memorize baada ya as one unit meaning after when it comes before a noun or noun phrase.

Because chakula is a noun, while kula is a verb.

• chakula = food / meal
• kula = to eat

So:

• baada ya chakula = after the meal / after food
• baada ya kula = after eating

Both are possible in Swahili, but they are not exactly the same. The sentence you were given focuses on the meal/food as a thing, not on the action of eating.

Nitafuta breaks down like this:

• ni- = I
• -ta- = future tense
• futa = wipe / erase / rub off

So nitafuta means I will wipe.

This is a very common Swahili pattern:

• nitasoma = I will read
• nitakula = I will eat
• nitafuta = I will wipe

Yes. Learners often confuse it with kutafuta, which means to look for / to search for.

The important difference is:

• kufuta = to wipe
• kutafuta = to look for

Their future forms are different:

• nitafuta = I will wipe
• nitatafuta = I will look for

So the extra ta matters a lot.

Because Swahili does not use articles like a, an, and the.

So meza can mean:

• a table
• the table
• sometimes even tables, depending on context

In this sentence, context makes it natural to translate meza as the table.

It can be either singular or plural, depending on context.

That is because meza belongs to a noun class where the singular and plural often look the same:

• meza = table
• meza = tables

Here, the sentence is clearly talking about one table, so the meaning is singular.

Here kwa means with in the sense of using something as a tool.

So:

• kwa kitambaa safi = with a clean cloth
• more literally, using a clean cloth

This use of kwa is very common for instruments or means:

• kwa kalamu = with a pen
• kwa gari = by car
• kwa mikono = with the hands

Because in Swahili, adjectives usually come after the noun they describe.

So:

• kitambaa safi = clean cloth
• meza kubwa = big table
• chakula kizuri = good food

This is the normal word order in Swahili:

• noun first
• adjective second

Because safi is one of the adjectives that often stays the same regardless of the noun class.

So you can say:

• kitambaa safi = clean cloth
• meza safi = clean table
• nguo safi = clean clothes / clean clothing

This is different from many other adjectives, which do change:

• kitabu kikubwa = big book
• vitabu vikubwa = big books

So safi is a good example of an adjective that is often treated as invariable.

Yes, you could.

• nitafuta meza = I will wipe the table
• nitasafisha meza = I will clean the table

The difference is that kufuta is more specifically about wiping, while kusafisha is more general and means to clean.

In the context of a meal, nitafuta meza sounds very natural because wiping the table is exactly the action being described.

Yes. The sentence as given is natural:

Baada ya chakula, nitafuta meza kwa kitambaa safi.

But you could also say:

Nitafuta meza kwa kitambaa safi baada ya chakula.

Both are grammatical. The difference is mainly one of emphasis:

• starting with Baada ya chakula highlights the time first
• putting it at the end makes it sound a little less fronted and more neutral

The comma is helpful in writing, but it is not the main thing that makes the sentence grammatical.