Usimeze dawa hiyo; tema mara moja kama ina ladha mbaya sana.

Because usimeze is a negative command to one person: don’t swallow.

In Swahili, a negative command to you (singular) is often formed with:

usi- + verb in the subjunctive form

So:

• meza = swallow!
• usimeze = don’t swallow!

This is different from English, where you simply add don’t before the base verb.

That final -e is very important. After the negative command marker usi-, the verb usually appears in the subjunctive form.

So the verb changes like this:

• meza → meze
• tema → teme in a negative command, if needed

That means:

• Usimeze = don’t swallow
• Usiteme = don’t spit

A learner often notices that the ordinary command is meza!, but the negative command is usimeze!, not usimeza.

Yes. Tema is the affirmative singular imperative of -tema, meaning spit.

So in this sentence:

• Usimeze dawa hiyo = Don’t swallow that medicine
• tema mara moja = spit it out immediately

Swahili often gives commands very directly with the bare verb stem plus final vowel:

• meza! = swallow!
• tema! = spit!

In Swahili, demonstratives like this/that usually come after the noun, not before it.

So:

• dawa hiyo = that medicine
• kitabu hiki = this book
• mtu huyo = that person

This is one of the most noticeable word-order differences from English.

Hiyo is a demonstrative meaning roughly that.

With dawa, it means that medicine. It points to something already known, already mentioned, or near the listener.

Swahili has several demonstrative distinctions, but for a learner, it is enough at first to recognize:

• hii = this
• hiyo = that

So dawa hiyo is a natural way to say that medicine.

Mara moja literally relates to one time/one instant, but in real usage it means:

• immediately
• right away
• at once

So tema mara moja means spit it out immediately.

It is a very common expression in Swahili.

Here kama means if.

So:

• kama ina ladha mbaya sana = if it has a very bad taste

Be aware that kama can also mean like/as in other contexts, so learners often need to figure it out from the sentence.

In this sentence, it clearly introduces a condition, so it means if.

Ina means it has here.

More literally, it is built from:

• i- = subject marker for the noun class of dawa
• -na = have / with

Since dawa belongs to the noun class that uses i- in singular agreement, Swahili says:

• dawa ina ladha = the medicine has a taste

So ina agrees with dawa.

This is a very common Swahili pattern:

• chai ina sukari = the tea has sugar
• nyumba ina mlango mkubwa = the house has a big door

Swahili often expresses this idea with kuwa na ladha or -na ladha: literally, to have a taste.

So:

• ina ladha mbaya = it has a bad taste

That is a very natural Swahili way to say something tastes bad.

English often prefers a verb like taste, but Swahili commonly uses a structure with have.

It is built like this:

• ladha = taste
• mbaya = bad
• sana = very

So:

• ladha mbaya = bad taste
• ladha mbaya sana = very bad taste

Notice that mbaya describes ladha, and sana intensifies it.

A useful point: sana usually comes after the adjective or expression it strengthens.

• nzuri sana = very good
• mbaya sana = very bad

The semicolon separates two closely connected parts:

1. Usimeze dawa hiyo
2. tema mara moja kama ina ladha mbaya sana

The first part gives a warning or prohibition. The second part tells what to do instead under a condition.

You could also see this written with a comma in some contexts, but the semicolon helps show a strong pause between the two instructions.

For more than one person, the commands would change.

A natural plural version would be:

• Msimeze dawa hiyo; temeni mara moja kama ina ladha mbaya sana.

Changes:

• usimeze → msimeze = don’t swallow (plural)
• tema → temeni = spit (plural command)

If you also wanted the verb in the last clause to agree with a plural noun such as dawa in plural context, agreement might change depending on the noun phrase being used. But in this exact sentence, if dawa hiyo is still treated as one medicine, ina stays the same.

Yes. In context, tema can naturally mean spit or spit it out.

Swahili does not always need to state the object when it is obvious from context. Since the sentence has just mentioned dawa hiyo, listeners understand what should be spat out.

If you wanted to make the object explicit, you could add an object marker or noun, but it is not necessary here.

It sounds natural and clear, and it could fit:

• medical instructions
• caregiver speech
• everyday warning language

Words like dawa, mara moja, and ladha mbaya are standard and widely understandable. The sentence is direct, which is normal for instructions involving health or safety.