Vitabu hivi vitapelekwa maktabani kesho asubuhi.

A natural breakdown is:

• vitabu = books
• hivi = these
• vitapelekwa = will be taken / will be carried / will be delivered
• maktabani = to the library / at the library / in the library
• kesho asubuhi = tomorrow morning

In this sentence, the most natural full meaning is:

• These books will be taken to the library tomorrow morning.

Because Swahili uses noun classes, and words that describe or relate to a noun usually have to agree with that noun’s class.

Here:

• kitabu = book
• vitabu = books

This noun belongs to the ki-/vi- class:

• singular: ki-
• plural: vi-

So when the noun is plural vitabu, other words connected to it also show vi- agreement:

• vitabu = books
• hivi = these
• vitapelekwa = they will be taken

That is why the sentence has matching vi- forms.

vitapelekwa can be broken into parts:

• vi- = subject prefix for the noun class of vitabu
• -ta- = future tense marker, meaning will
• pelek- = verb root from peleka, meaning take / carry / bring somewhere
• -w- = passive marker
• -a = final vowel

So:

• vi-ta-pelek-w-a

This gives the meaning:

• they will be taken

Since the subject is vitabu, the full sense is:

• the books will be taken

The sentence is focusing on the books, not on the person doing the action.

So Swahili uses the passive:

• vitapelekwa = will be taken

This is similar to English:

• These books will be taken to the library instead of
• Someone will take these books to the library

The passive is very common when:

• the doer is unknown
• the doer is unimportant
• the speaker wants to emphasize the thing affected by the action

maktabani comes from:

• maktaba = library
• -ni = a locative ending

The ending -ni often gives a sense like:

• in
• at
• to

So maktabani means something like:

• in the library
• at the library
• to the library

In this sentence, because the verb is about movement, the best translation is:

• to the library

You usually know from the verb and the context.

Here the verb is vitapelekwa = will be taken, which involves movement toward a destination. So maktabani is understood as:

• to the library

But in another sentence, it could mean at or in the library. For example:

• Vitabu viko maktabani = The books are in/at the library

So the locative ending -ni is flexible, and the rest of the sentence tells you how to interpret it.

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

So where English says:

• the books
• the library

Swahili often just uses the noun by itself, or uses context to make it definite.

In this sentence:

• vitabu hivi already means these books
• maktabani means to the library, with definiteness understood from context

So no extra word for the is needed.

kesho asubuhi means:

• tomorrow morning

It is made up of:

• kesho = tomorrow
• asubuhi = morning

Putting time expressions at the end of the sentence is very common in Swahili, just as in English:

• Vitabu hivi vitapelekwa maktabani kesho asubuhi.

But Swahili word order is fairly flexible, so you could also say:

• Kesho asubuhi vitabu hivi vitapelekwa maktabani.

That version gives a little more emphasis to the time.

The singular version is:

• Kitabu hiki kitapelekwa maktabani kesho asubuhi.

Here the agreement changes from plural vi- to singular ki-:

• kitabu = book
• hiki = this
• kitapelekwa = it will be taken

So:

• Kitabu hiki kitapelekwa maktabani kesho asubuhi.
• This book will be taken to the library tomorrow morning.

An active version would mention the doer of the action. For example:

• Mwalimu atapeleka vitabu hivi maktabani kesho asubuhi.
• The teacher will take these books to the library tomorrow morning.

or more generally:

• Mtu atapeleka vitabu hivi maktabani kesho asubuhi.
• Someone will take these books to the library tomorrow morning.

Compare the two:

• Vitabu hivi vitapelekwa... = These books will be taken...
• Mwalimu atapeleka vitabu hivi... = The teacher will take these books...

A simple pronunciation guide is:

• Vi-ta-bu hi-vi vi-ta-pe-LE-kwa mak-ta-BA-ni ke-sho a-su-BU-hi

A few useful points:

• Swahili is usually pronounced quite consistently.
• Each vowel is pronounced clearly.
• Stress is usually on the second-to-last syllable of each word.

So:

• vitabu → stress on ta
• hivi → stress on hi
• vitapelekwa → stress on le
• maktabani → stress on ba
• asubuhi → stress on bu

Once you know that rule, Swahili pronunciation becomes much easier.