Mwanamume huyo alipelekwa mahakamani asubuhi, lakini hakurudishwa kwenye gereza baada ya kusikilizwa.

In normal Swahili word order, demonstratives usually come after the noun.

So:

• mwanamume = man
• huyo = that

Together, mwanamume huyo means that man.

Also, huyo is the class 1 singular demonstrative, used for a singular human being. Very roughly:

• huyu = this man
• huyo = that man
• yule = that man over there / that one farther away

In many sentences, mwanamume huyo can also feel like the man in question or that particular man.

Because Swahili verbs include a subject marker.

Here the subject is mwanamume, a singular person, so the verb uses the class 1 singular subject marker a-, which corresponds to he/she.

So in alipelekwa:

• a- = he/she
• the rest of the verb tells you the tense and meaning

Even when the full subject noun is already stated, Swahili still keeps this subject marker in the verb.

Alipelekwa can be broken down like this:

• a- = he/she
• -li- = past tense
• pelek- = stem from peleka, meaning take, carry, bring someone somewhere
• -wa = passive ending

So alipelekwa literally means he was taken.

The passive is important here. The sentence is not saying he took someone; it is saying someone took him.

Mahakama means court.
Mahakamani adds the locative suffix -ni, which gives a location meaning such as:

• at court
• in court
• to court

With a motion verb like alipelekwa = was taken, English naturally translates it as to court.

So:

• mahakama = court
• mahakamani = at/in/to court

This is very common in Swahili place words.

Because Swahili often uses time expressions directly, without a preposition.

So asubuhi by itself can mean:

• in the morning
• this morning
• morning

depending on context.

That is why mahakamani asubuhi naturally means to court in the morning.

Lakini means but or however.

It connects the first clause and the second clause:

• Mwanamume huyo alipelekwa mahakamani asubuhi = That man was taken to court in the morning
• lakini hakurudishwa kwenye gereza... = but he was not returned to prison...

It works very much like but in English.

Hakurudishwa means he was not returned or he was not taken back.

It can be analyzed as:

• haku- = negative past for he/she
• rudish- = from rudisha, meaning return, take back, send back
• -wa = passive ending

So the whole form means he was not returned / brought back.

Notice that this is again passive, just like alipelekwa.

Kwenye is a locative word that can mean in, on, at, or to, depending on context.

Here, kwenye gereza means to the prison or back to prison.

So:

• gereza = prison
• kwenye gereza = in/at/to prison

In this sentence, because the verb is hakurudishwa = was not returned, the meaning is directional: he was not returned to prison.

Yes. Gerezani is also possible.

• gereza = prison
• gerezani = in/at/to prison

So kwenye gereza and gerezani are very close in meaning here.

Using kwenye gereza is slightly more explicit, while gerezani is more compact. Both are natural Swahili.

Literally, it means after being heard.

Breakdown:

• baada ya = after
• ku-sikilizwa = being heard / being listened to

So:

• baada ya kusikilizwa = after being heard

In a legal context, this is naturally understood as:

• after the hearing
• after he was heard in court
• after his case was heard

Because kusikilizwa is the passive form.

Compare:

• kusikiliza = to listen to / to hear someone actively
• kusikilizwa = to be listened to / to be heard

In this sentence, the man is the one receiving the action. The court hears him; he does not hear the court. So the passive form is the correct one.

That is why baada ya kusikilizwa means after being heard, not after listening.

Because the sentence focuses on what happened to the man, not on who did it.

• alipelekwa = he was taken
• hakurudishwa = he was not returned

This is very natural in Swahili when:

• the person doing the action is unknown
• the person doing the action is not important
• the speaker wants to focus on the person affected

English does this too: He was taken to court, but he was not returned to prison...