Dada yangu aliweka mswaki wake karibu na sinki na chupa ya shampuu bafuni.

In Swahili, possessives usually come after the noun they describe.

• dada yangu = my sister
• kitabu changu = my book
• rafiki yako = your friend

So the normal order is:

noun + possessive

That is why it is dada yangu, not yangu dada.

Aliweka means she put or she placed.

It can be broken down like this:

• a- = she/he
• -li- = past tense
• -weka = put, place, set down

So:

• aliweka = she/he put
• niliweka = I put
• uliweka = you put
• waliweka = they put

In this sentence, because the subject is dada yangu (my sister), we understand aliweka as my sister put.

Yes, wake here means her (or his, depending on context).

So:

• mswaki wake = her toothbrush

A useful point for English speakers is that Swahili wake can mean:

• his
• her
• their (in some contexts with singular/plural possessed forms, depending on agreement and structure)

But in this sentence, because we are talking about my sister, it means her.

Also, Swahili possessives agree with the thing possessed, not with the owner. That is why you see different possessive forms in different noun classes.

They are both possessives, but they mean different things:

• yangu = my
• wake = his/her

So:

• dada yangu = my sister
• mswaki wake = her toothbrush

The sentence is talking about my sister, and then about her toothbrush.

Karibu na means near or close to.

Examples:

• karibu na nyumba = near the house
• karibu na mlango = near the door
• karibu na sinki = near the sink

The na is part of the expression here. So it is best to learn karibu na as one unit meaning near.

Do not confuse this with karibu meaning welcome. Swahili words often have more than one use depending on context.

Because na can mean different things depending on how it is used.

In this sentence:

• karibu na sinki = near the sink
• na chupa ya shampuu = and the bottle of shampoo

So the first na belongs to the expression karibu na = near and the second na is the normal and.

That means the structure is roughly:

My sister put her toothbrush near the sink and the shampoo bottle in the bathroom.

Chupa ya shampuu means a bottle of shampoo or the shampoo bottle, depending on context.

It is built like this:

• chupa = bottle
• ya = of (linking word)
• shampuu = shampoo

So literally it is:

bottle of shampoo

This ya is a connecting word often used in phrases like:

• kikombe cha chai = cup of tea
• mlango wa nyumba = door of the house
• chupa ya maji = bottle of water

The form of this connector changes with noun class, and with chupa it is ya.

The ending -ni often marks a location in Swahili.

So:

• bafu = bath / bathroom area
• bafuni = in the bathroom / at the bathroom

In this sentence, bafuni tells you the location where this scene happens.

Other examples:

• nyumbani = at home
• shuleni = at school
• mezani = on the table / at the table
• dukani = at the shop

So bafuni is a very common locative form.

It most naturally gives the overall location of the event: this is happening in the bathroom.

So the sentence is understood as something like:

My sister put her toothbrush near the sink and the shampoo bottle in the bathroom.

In practice, English speakers may notice a slight ambiguity:

• Did she put the toothbrush near both the sink and the shampoo bottle?
• Or is bafuni just setting the scene?

Usually context clears this up. A native speaker will generally understand that the objects mentioned are in the bathroom and that the action took place there.

No, sinki is a loanword, borrowed from English sink.

Swahili uses many loanwords, especially for modern objects. A learner will often see words from:

• English
• Arabic
• Portuguese
• Hindi
• German

So sinki is completely normal Swahili, even though its origin is foreign.

Yes. Shampuu comes from shampoo.

Swahili spelling often adapts borrowed words to Swahili sound patterns, so the written form may look slightly different from English.

Examples of similar loanwords include:

• televisheni = television
• baiskeli = bicycle
• kompyuta = computer

So shampuu is a standard borrowed noun.

Swahili does not usually have separate words for a/an or the the way English does.

So a noun like mswaki can mean:

• a toothbrush
• the toothbrush

depending on context.

The same is true for:

• sinki = a sink / the sink
• chupa ya shampuu = a bottle of shampoo / the bottle of shampoo

Context tells you which one sounds most natural in translation.

The sentence follows a very common Swahili pattern:

Subject + verb + object + location/details

Here that is:

• Dada yangu = subject
• aliweka = verb
• mswaki wake = object
• karibu na sinki na chupa ya shampuu bafuni = location/details

So literally:

My sister put her toothbrush near the sink and shampoo bottle in the bathroom.

This is quite similar to English word order, which is helpful for beginners.

Grammatically, wake just means his/her, so by itself it does not name the owner. In this sentence, the natural interpretation is that it refers back to dada yangu.

So:

• dada yangu aliweka mswaki wake
  = my sister put her toothbrush

Without extra context, that is the most normal reading.

If the speaker wanted to make a different owner clearer, context or a fuller sentence would usually be needed.