Mama alisema ufizi wa bibi unahitaji kusafishwa kwa upole.

A useful breakdown is:

• Mama = mother / mom
• alisema = said
• ufizi wa bibi = grandmother’s gum / gums
• unahitaji = needs
• kusafishwa = to be cleaned
• kwa upole = gently / with gentleness

So the structure is basically:

Mama alisema + [clause]
Mother said + [that-clause]

and the clause is:

ufizi wa bibi unahitaji kusafishwa kwa upole
Grandmother’s gum(s) need to be cleaned gently

In Swahili, kwamba can mean that in a sentence like Mother said that..., but it is often omitted.

So both of these are natural:

• Mama alisema ufizi wa bibi unahitaji kusafishwa kwa upole.
• Mama alisema kwamba ufizi wa bibi unahitaji kusafishwa kwa upole.

English often likes that, but Swahili very often drops it.

Alisema comes from the verb kusema = to say.

It breaks down like this:

• a- = he/she
• -li- = past tense
• -sema = say

So alisema means he/she said.

Because Mama is singular, a- is the correct subject marker.

Swahili usually expresses possession with this pattern:

possessed thing + possessive linker + possessor

So:

• ufizi wa bibi = the gum(s) of grandmother
• natural English translation: grandmother’s gum(s)

This is very common in Swahili:

• kitabu cha mtoto = the child’s book
• nyumba ya baba = father’s house
• jina la mwalimu = the teacher’s name

So ufizi wa bibi follows a normal Swahili possession pattern.

The linker agrees with the noun being possessed, not with the owner.

Here, the possessed noun is ufizi, and that noun takes agreement of a class that uses wa in this possessive pattern.

So:

• ufizi wa bibi = grandmother’s gum(s)

This can feel strange to an English speaker, because English just uses ’s or of without changing form. In Swahili, the possessive linker changes depending on the noun class of the possessed noun.

The verb has to agree with ufizi.

Unahitaji comes from kuhitaji = to need, and here it breaks down like this:

• u- = subject marker agreeing with ufizi
• -nahitaji = need / is needing

So ufizi ... unahitaji means the gum(s) need(s).

The important point is that Swahili verbs agree with their subject through a subject marker. English does this only a little bit (he needs vs they need), but Swahili does it much more systematically.

Grammatically, it is being treated as singular, which is why the verb is unahitaji and not a plural form.

But body-part words do not always line up perfectly with English expectations. A word like ufizi can refer to the gums as a body area, even though English usually says gums in the plural.

So the key thing for a learner is:

• in this sentence, ufizi takes singular agreement
• that is why you see u- in unahitaji

If someone used a clearly plural form such as fizi, you would expect different agreement.

Because the meaning is to be cleaned, not to clean.

• kusafisha = to clean
• kusafishwa = to be cleaned

This is the passive.

So:

• unahitaji kusafisha = needs to clean
• unahitaji kusafishwa = needs to be cleaned

In this sentence, the gums are receiving the action, not doing the cleaning, so the passive is the right choice.

It is built from the verb kusafisha.

A simple way to see it is:

• ku- = infinitive marker, like to
• safish- = verb base
• -w- = passive element
• final -a

So kusafishwa means to be cleaned.

You do not need to memorize every technical detail at once, but it is very useful to recognize that -w- / -wa often signals a passive meaning in Swahili.

Literally, it is something like with gentleness.

• kwa often means by, with, in, in the manner of
• upole = gentleness / softness / mildness

So kwa upole means:

• gently
• softly
• with care

This is a very common Swahili way to express manner.

That is a normal place for an adverbial phrase of manner in Swahili.

The sentence first gives the main idea:

• what was said
• what needs to happen

and then adds how it should be done:

• kwa upole = gently

So the order feels very natural:

... unahitaji kusafishwa kwa upole
... needs to be cleaned gently

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

So a noun like bibi can mean:

• grandmother
• the grandmother
• a grandmother

and context tells you which meaning is intended.

The same is true for ufizi. English forces you to choose the gum, a gum, or the gums, but Swahili usually leaves that to context.

Yes. Bibi can mean:

• grandmother
• old lady
• sometimes a respectful form of address depending on context

So the exact meaning comes from the situation. If the translation you were given says grandmother, that is the intended meaning here.

This is a good reminder that one Swahili word may cover several English possibilities.

Yes, very normal.

The overall order is:

• subject: Mama
• verb: alisema
• reported clause: ufizi wa bibi unahitaji kusafishwa kwa upole

Inside that clause, the order is also standard:

• subject noun phrase: ufizi wa bibi
• verb: unahitaji
• infinitive/passive complement: kusafishwa
• adverbial phrase: kwa upole

So even though the sentence may look long at first, it follows common Swahili patterns.