Daktari alimwambia mtoto, “Tema mate kwenye sinki.”

Because kuambia means to tell someone / say to someone, while kusema just means to say.

So:

• Daktari alisema... = The doctor said...
• Daktari alimwambia mtoto... = The doctor told the child...

Since the sentence includes the person being spoken to, -ambia is the natural verb.

Alimwambia can be broken into parts:

• a- = he/she
• -li- = past tense
• -mw- = him/her
• -ambia = tell / say to

So alimwambia literally means he/she told him/her.

In this sentence, the subject is daktari and the -mw- refers to mtoto.

This is very common in Swahili.

The -mw- object marker already means him/her, and then mtoto names that person explicitly. Swahili often does this with specific or animate objects, especially people.

So alimwambia mtoto is something like:

• told him/her, the child
• or more naturally, simply told the child

To an English speaker this can feel repetitive, but in Swahili it is normal.

Because Swahili does not need a separate preposition there.

In English we say told the child or said to the child, but in Swahili the idea of to someone is built into kuambia and reinforced by the object marker -mw-.

So:

• alimwambia mtoto = told the child
• not something like alimwambia kwa mtoto

Tema is the singular positive imperative of kutema = to spit.

In Swahili, a simple positive command to one person is often just the verb stem:

• kutema → tema!

So Tema mate means Spit saliva / Spit.

If speaking to more than one person, or using a plural command, you would usually say:

• Temeni

For a negative singular command, you would use a different form, such as:

• Usiteme... = Don’t spit...

Mate means saliva or spit.

Even though it begins with ma-, you should not assume it works like a normal plural noun in translation. In everyday use, mate is usually treated as a substance or mass noun, much like saliva in English.

So in this sentence, tema mate is naturally understood as spit or spit out saliva, not necessarily spit salivas or anything plural.

Kwenye is a very common locative word meaning something like:

• in
• on
• at
• sometimes into, depending on context

So kwenye sinki is most naturally understood here as into the sink or in the sink.

Swahili often uses kwenye where English has to choose more specifically between in, on, at, or into.

Yes. Sinki is a normal Swahili borrowing from English sink.

Swahili uses many loanwords, especially for modern objects. So a sentence can contain a fully native Swahili structure with a borrowed noun like sinki.

That is completely normal.

Swahili generally does not use articles like English the and a/an.

So:

• daktari can mean the doctor or a doctor
• mtoto can mean the child or a child
• sinki can mean the sink or a sink

Context tells you which one is meant. In this sentence, English would usually translate them as the doctor, the child, and the sink because the situation feels specific.

A helpful rough guide:

• alimwambia ≈ ah-lee-mwahm-bee-ah
• kwenye ≈ kwe-nye

A couple of useful pronunciation points:

• mw in alimwambia is pronounced together, not with an extra vowel inserted before it.
• ny in kwenye sounds like the ny in canyon.

As usual in Swahili, vowels are pronounced clearly:

• a as in father
• e as in bed but often a bit tenser
• i as in machine
• o as in more without a big glide
• u as in rule