Mtoto alizaliwa jana usiku.

Mtoto means child or baby. It is singular, and it does not show gender, so it can mean boy, girl, baby boy, or baby girl, depending on context.

Its plural is watoto = children.

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

So mtoto can mean:

• a child
• the child
• a baby
• the baby

The exact meaning comes from context, not from a separate article.

Alizaliwa can be understood as:

• a- = subject marker for a singular human noun like mtoto
• -li- = past tense
• -zaliwa = be born

So alizaliwa means he/she was born or simply was born.

Because in Swahili, the verb normally agrees with the subject even when the subject noun is stated.

So in Mtoto alizaliwa:

• mtoto = the child
• a- on the verb agrees with that singular human subject

This agreement is required in normal Swahili.

Yes, effectively it is.

The basic verb kuzaa means to give birth to.
Its passive form kuzaliwa means to be born.

So Swahili expresses be born with a passive-type form, just as English also uses was born rather than something like birthed.

Alizaliwa is the simple past: was born.
It fits very naturally with a finished time expression like jana usiku = last night.

Amezaliwa is more like has been born or is born / has just been born, and it is usually not the best choice with a specific finished time such as jana.

So:

• Mtoto alizaliwa jana usiku = natural
• Mtoto amezaliwa jana usiku = usually less natural

Literally, jana usiku means yesterday night.

But in natural English, the correct meaning is last night.

So:

• jana = yesterday
• usiku = night
• jana usiku = last night

That is a very normal word order in Swahili.

Mtoto alizaliwa jana usiku follows a common pattern:

• subject
• verb
• time expression

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

Jana usiku mtoto alizaliwa.

That version puts a little more focus on last night.

Yes. Mtoto is often used for both child and baby.

In a sentence about birth, English often prefers baby, but Swahili still naturally uses mtoto.

So depending on context, this sentence could be understood as:

• The child was born last night
• The baby was born last night

If you want to say The children were born last night, you would say:

Watoto walizaliwa jana usiku.

The changes are:

• mtoto → watoto = child → children
• a- → wa- in the verb, to agree with a plural human subject

So:

• Mtoto alizaliwa = The child was born
• Watoto walizaliwa = The children were born

A simple pronunciation guide is:

MTO-to a-li-za-LI-wa JA-na u-SI-ku

Swahili words usually have stress on the second-to-last syllable, so you hear:

• mTOto
• alizaLIwa
• JAna
• uSIku

Also, Swahili spelling is very regular, so words are usually pronounced much as they are written.