Wakiwa wamefika supermarketi mapema, mama na Rahma walipata troli karibu na mlango.

Wakiwa means something like while they are, when they are, or being.

It is built like this:

• wa- = they
• -ki- = a marker often used for while/when/if
• -wa = be

So wakiwa introduces a background situation. In this sentence, it helps create the sense when they had already arrived or having arrived.

Because wakiwa by itself only gives the frame while/when they are. It does not yet say what state they are in.

wamefika adds that information:

• wa- = they
• -me- = perfect tense, often have
• fika = arrive

So wakiwa wamefika literally suggests when they are having arrived, which in natural English becomes when they had arrived, once they had arrived, or having arrived.

In Swahili, the verb agrees with the subject even if the subject noun appears after the verb.

Here the subject is mama na Rahma, which means two people, so the verbs use the plural human subject marker wa-:

• wakiwa
• wamefika
• walipata

If it were just one person, you would expect singular human agreement such as a- instead.

Both can be translated in a similar way, but the nuance is slightly different.

• walipofika = when they arrived

  • focuses on the arrival event itself

• wakiwa wamefika = when they had arrived / once they were already there

  • focuses more on the state after arrival

So the sentence sounds a bit more like the trolley was found after they had already gotten there.

Because with fika, Swahili often allows the destination directly.

So:

• wamefika supermarketi = they have arrived at the supermarket

You may also hear forms with a locative expression, such as kwenye supermarketi, but it is very normal for fika to be followed directly by the place.

Mapema means early.

In this sentence, it belongs with the arrival clause:

• wakiwa wamefika supermarketi mapema = having arrived at the supermarket early

So it tells us when they arrived, not when they found the trolley.

Walipata is the past tense of kupata, which often means:

• get
• obtain
• find

Breakdown:

• wa- = they
• -li- = past tense
• pata = get/find

In this sentence, walipata troli most naturally means they got or they found a trolley.

Because karibu na is the normal way to say near in Swahili.

So:

• karibu na mlango = near the door

Here:

• mlango = door, entrance

This is a fixed and very common pattern, so learners should remember karibu na as a unit.

They are loanwords, adapted to Swahili pronunciation and spelling.

• supermarketi comes from supermarket
• troli comes from trolley

This is very common in modern Swahili, especially for newer objects or places. The final vowel is also typical of how borrowed words are shaped in Swahili.

Yes. Swahili allows some flexibility in word order.

For example, you could say:

• Mama na Rahma, wakiwa wamefika supermarketi mapema, walipata troli karibu na mlango.

The original sentence begins with the background clause first, which is a natural way to set the scene before the main action.