Tafadhali, shika glasi hiyo vizuri ili isivunjike.

Tafadhali means please. It is used to make the command more polite.

So:

Tafadhali, shika glasi hiyo vizuri...
= Please, hold that glass carefully...

In Swahili, tafadhali can appear at the beginning or sometimes elsewhere in a polite request, but sentence-initial position is very common.

Shika is the imperative form, used to give a command to one person.

The verb root is -shika = hold / grasp.

Related forms:

• kushika = to hold (infinitive)
• unashika = you are holding / you hold
• shika! = hold!

So in this sentence, shika means hold!

If you were speaking to more than one person, you would commonly say shikeni.

Glasi means glass or drinking glass. It is a loanword, ultimately from English.

Like many borrowed nouns in Swahili, glasi often stays the same in singular and plural:

• glasi = a glass
• glasi = glasses

You understand the number from context or from agreement words around it.

Hiyo means that and agrees with the noun glasi.

So:

• glasi hiyo = that glass

Swahili demonstratives change depending on noun class, not just on distance.

For this noun class, common demonstratives include:

• hii = this
• hiyo = that
• ile = that over there / that yonder

In many everyday situations, hiyo is the natural choice for that.

Vizuri means well, properly, or carefully, depending on context.

In this sentence, it tells you how to hold the glass:

• shika ... vizuri = hold ... properly / carefully

Even though vizuri often translates as well, in English the most natural meaning here is usually carefully or firmly/properly.

Ili means so that or in order that.

It introduces a purpose clause:

• shika glasi hiyo vizuri = hold that glass carefully
• ili isivunjike = so that it does not break

So ili connects the action and its purpose: Hold that glass carefully so that it doesn’t break.

Yes, it packs several pieces into one word.

isivunjike can be broken down like this:

• i- = subject marker for the noun class of glasi
• -si- = negative marker
• -vunjik- = verb stem from vunjika = break / become broken
• -e = subjunctive ending

So the whole form means: that it not break / so that it doesn’t break

This kind of form is very common after ili.

Because glasi belongs to a noun class that often takes i- for singular agreement.

Swahili uses noun classes, and other words in the sentence must agree with the noun’s class. Here, glasi is treated like a class 9 singular noun, so the verb in the purpose clause uses i-:

• glasi hiyo = that glass
• i-si-vunjike = so that it does not break

So i- is basically the it referring back to glasi.

Because vunjika and vunja are different verbs.

• vunja = break something (transitive)
• vunjika = break / become broken (intransitive)

In this sentence, the glass is not breaking something else. The meaning is that the glass itself might break. So Swahili uses the intransitive idea:

• isivunjike = so that it does not break not
• isivunje = so that it does not break something

This distinction is very important in Swahili.

Yes. After ili, Swahili often uses the subjunctive, and here it is also negative.

That is why you see:

• the negative marker -si-
• the final vowel -e

So isivunjike is a good example of a negative subjunctive form meaning something like: that it should not break / so that it doesn’t break

It is polite because of tafadhali, but grammatically it is still a direct command to one person.

So the tone is something like: Please, hold that glass carefully so it doesn’t break.

Without tafadhali, it would sound more direct: Shika glasi hiyo vizuri ili isivunjike.

Still normal, but less polite.

The main change would be the imperative verb:

• singular: shika
• plural: shikeni

So to more than one person:

Tafadhali, shikeni glasi hiyo vizuri ili isivunjike.

The rest of the sentence can stay the same, because isivunjike still refers to glasi, not to the people.

The overall structure is actually quite similar:

• Tafadhali = please
• shika glasi hiyo vizuri = hold that glass carefully
• ili isivunjike = so that it doesn’t break

So the big pattern is:

Please + command + object + adverb + so that + it not break

What feels different to English speakers is mainly:

• noun class agreement
• the compact verb form isivunjike
• the difference between vunja and vunjika

But the basic logic of the sentence is very close to English.