Tukifika nyumbani, weka viatu vyenye tope nje na uketi juu ya mkeka mpaka vikauke.

Tukifika breaks down as:

• tu- = we
• -ki- = a marker that often means if/when
• fika = arrive

So tukifika nyumbani literally means if/when we arrive home. In this sentence, the most natural English is when we get home.

Swahili often uses the locative ending -ni to express location.

• nyumba = house/home
• nyumbani = at home / home / to the house, depending on context

After fika (arrive), nyumbani is understood as home or at home. So tukifika nyumbani means when we arrive home.

Because the first part and the second part do different jobs.

• tukifika nyumbani = when we arrive home → this includes the speaker and at least one other person
• weka... na uketi... = put... and sit... → this is a command addressed to one person

So the speaker is saying something like: When we get home, you put the muddy shoes outside and sit on the mat until they dry.

It is a command.

• kuweka = to put / place
• weka = put! / place! (singular command)

So weka viatu... nje means put the shoes outside.

If the speaker were talking to more than one person, the command would normally be different, such as wekeni.

-enye means having / with. It changes form to agree with the noun it describes.

Here the noun is viatu (shoes), which belongs to the vi-/vy- noun class pattern, so:

• viatu vyenye tope = shoes that have mud
• more naturally: muddy shoes

So vyenye is there because it has to agree with viatu.

Yes. Very literally, it means shoes having mud or shoes with mud on them.

That is a normal Swahili way to describe something by saying it has a certain quality or substance. In natural English, we would usually just say muddy shoes.

After one command, Swahili often uses a following verb in a linked, dependent form to mean and then do... or and you should...

So:

• weka ... na uketi ... = put ... and sit ... / then sit ...

This is a very normal pattern in Swahili instructions.

Also, keti/kuketi is a verb for sit / be seated. You may also see kaa in other contexts, but uketi here works well as sit down / be seated in the sequence of actions.

Juu ya means on top of / on.

• juu ya mkeka = on the mat
• literally: on top of the mat

In this sentence, it simply tells you where to sit. Using juu ya emphasizes the surface of the mat.

Here mpaka means until.

So:

• mpaka vikauke = until they dry

In other contexts, mpaka can also mean up to, as far as, or even, but here the meaning is clearly until.

The vi- refers back to viatu (shoes).

• kukauka = to dry / become dry
• vikauke = that they dry / until they dry

Because viatu belongs to the vi- noun class, the verb must agree with it:

• viatu ... vikauke = the shoes ... dry

The ending -e is a dependent/subjunctive-type form often used after words like mpaka in this kind of sentence.

Because the sentence is talking about leaving the shoes outside and waiting until they dry. In Swahili, vikauke agrees with viatu, not with tope.

So the idea is:

• viatu vyenye tope = the muddy shoes
• mpaka vikauke = until the shoes dry

English might sometimes focus on the mud drying, but Swahili here grammatically treats the shoes as the thing that dries.