Baada ya mchezo wa tenisi, Juma alikunywa maji.

Baada ya means after.

In this sentence, it introduces a time expression:

• Baada ya mchezo wa tenisi = After the tennis game

So baada ya is followed here by a noun phrase, not a fully conjugated verb.

A very useful pattern is:

• baada ya + noun
• baada ya + infinitive

For example:

• baada ya kazi = after work
• baada ya kula = after eating

In your sentence, the speaker chose baada ya mchezo wa tenisi to mean after the tennis game / after playing tennis.

Swahili usually links nouns like game of tennis with the connector -a, which changes form to agree with the first noun.

Here:

• mchezo = game
• wa = of
• tenisi = tennis

So:

• mchezo wa tenisi = tennis game / game of tennis

The wa here is the class agreement form used with mchezo.

This pattern is very common in Swahili:

• kitabu cha mwanafunzi = the student's book / book of the student
• chakula cha jioni = evening meal
• mchezo wa mpira = ball game / football match, depending on context

So mchezo wa tenisi is the normal Swahili structure.

Alikunywa can be broken down like this:

• a- = he/she
• -li- = past tense marker
• kunywa = drink

So:

• a-li-kunywa = he/she drank

Because the subject is Juma, it means:

• Juma alikunywa = Juma drank

This is a very important Swahili verb pattern:

subject marker + tense marker + verb stem

Examples:

• alisoma = he/she read
• alikuja = he/she came
• alicheza = he/she played

In Swahili, the verb normally includes a subject marker even when the subject noun is stated explicitly.

So Swahili does this:

• Juma alikunywa maji

not usually:

• Juma likunywa maji

The a- is the normal 3rd person singular subject marker for a person:

• he
• she
• Juma
• Asha
• the child, etc.

This is different from English, where the subject is usually separate and the verb changes only a little. In Swahili, the subject is built right into the verb.

The marker -li- is one of the main Swahili past tense markers.

So:

• anakunywa = he/she is drinking
• alikunywa = he/she drank
• amekunywa = he/she has drunk / has drunk already

In your sentence, alikunywa tells us the action happened in the past as a completed event.

Because the sentence begins with Baada ya mchezo wa tenisi, the past tense fits naturally: first the tennis game happened, then Juma drank water.

Maji means water, and it behaves a little unusually for English speakers.

It looks plural because it has the ma- form, but in actual meaning it is usually treated as a mass noun: water.

So even though its form may remind you of plural nouns, you usually just learn maji as the normal word for water.

Examples:

• ninataka maji = I want water
• alikunywa maji = he drank water

You do not need an article like a or the before it in Swahili.

Swahili does not use articles the way English does.

English often requires words like:

• a
• an
• the
• some

Swahili usually leaves those ideas to context.

So:

• alikunywa maji can mean he drank water
• depending on context, it could also feel like he drank some water or he drank the water

The listener usually understands from the situation.

This is very normal in Swahili, so learners should not expect a separate word for the in every sentence.

Mostly, yes.

The basic order here is:

• Baada ya mchezo wa tenisi = time expression
• Juma = subject
• alikunywa = verb
• maji = object

So the main clause is:

• Juma alikunywa maji = Juma drank water

That is basically Subject + Verb + Object, which is familiar to English speakers.

The time phrase is placed at the beginning for context:

• After the tennis game, Juma drank water.

You could also hear similar sentences with the time expression elsewhere, but this fronted order is very natural.

Yes. Swahili often uses baada ya + infinitive to express after doing something.

For example:

• Baada ya kucheza tenisi, Juma alikunywa maji.
• After playing tennis, Juma drank water.

Your original sentence uses a noun phrase:

• Baada ya mchezo wa tenisi...
• After the tennis game...

Both are natural, but the nuance is slightly different:

• baada ya mchezo wa tenisi focuses on the event as a noun: the tennis game
• baada ya kucheza tenisi focuses more on the action: playing tennis

A simple pronunciation guide is:

• Baada ya = bah-AH-dah yah
• mchezo = m-CHEH-zoh
• wa = wah
• tenisi = teh-NEE-see
• Juma = JOO-mah
• alikunywa = ah-lee-KOON-ywah
• maji = MAH-jee

A few useful pronunciation points:

• ch is like the ch in church
• j is like the j in jam
• ny is like the ny sound in canyon
• Swahili words usually have stress on the second-to-last syllable

So:

• te-NI-si
• a-li-KU-nywa
• MA-ji

The comma is helpful, but it is not always strictly necessary.

Because Baada ya mchezo wa tenisi is an introductory time phrase, writers often put a comma before the main clause:

• Baada ya mchezo wa tenisi, Juma alikunywa maji.

This works like English:

• After the tennis game, Juma drank water.

In less formal writing, people sometimes leave out commas, but using one here is clear and natural.

Yes. By itself, a- in the verb can mean:

• he
• she

So:

• alikunywa = he drank or she drank

The noun Juma tells you the subject here is Juma, so in context it means:

• Juma drank

This is common in Swahili: the verb form itself does not always show gender, so you often rely on the noun or context.