Tulipeleka sandaali zenye tope nyuma ya nyumba, tukachukua nguo kutoka beseni na kuzibandika kwa kibanio cha nguo.

They are both past-time forms, but they do slightly different jobs.

• tulipeleka = tu- (we) + -li- (past tense) + peleka (take/carry)
• tukachukua = tu- (we) + -ka- (consecutive/narrative marker) + chukua (take/pick up)

The -ka- form is very common in storytelling and descriptions of a sequence of actions. It often means something like and then we...

So the flow is:

• Tulipeleka... = We took/carried...
• tukachukua... = then we took/picked up...

Here it is plural in meaning: sandals.

A learner may notice that sandaali does not visibly change form the way many Swahili nouns do. That is because this is a loanword, and words like this often behave in noun class 9/10, where singular and plural can look the same.

What shows that it is plural here is the agreement word zenye:

• zenye = class 10 plural agreement
• so sandaali zenye tope = sandals that have mud / muddy sandals

You may also see the spelling sandali.

Literally, it means that have mud.

• -enye means having / with
• zenye is the form that agrees with a class 10 plural noun
• tope = mud, slush, muck

So:

• sandaali zenye tope = sandals with mud on them
• in more natural English, muddy sandals

Because the agreement must match the noun class of sandaali.

In this sentence, sandaali is being treated as a class 10 plural noun, so the correct agreement is:

• zenye for class 10 plural

If the noun belonged to another class, the agreement would change. Swahili agreement is based on noun class, not just on whether something is singular or plural in the English sense.

Because nyuma is used with a linking word to show what something is behind.

• nyuma = back / behind
• ya = linking word meaning roughly of
• nyumba = house

So nyuma ya nyumba literally means the back of the house, and in natural English that becomes behind the house or at the back of the house.

This pattern is very common in Swahili:

• mbele ya nyumba = in front of the house
• ndani ya nyumba = inside the house
• karibu na nyumba = near the house

Beseni means basin, tub, or washbasin, depending on context.

In this sentence, it is the container the clothes were taken out of:

• kutoka beseni = from the basin / from the tub

Also, Swahili normally does not use words for a or the, so beseni can mean a basin or the basin, depending on context.

Because zi- is the object marker that matches nguo here.

• nguo = clothes / clothing / garment(s)
• in this sentence it is being treated as class 10
• class 10 object marker = zi-

So:

• kuzibandika
• ku- = infinitive to
• zi- = them (the clothes)
• bandika = attach / pin up

So the whole word means to pin them up / to attach them.

Because some Swahili nouns do not change form between singular and plural, especially loanwords and certain class 9/10 nouns.

So nguo can refer to:

• clothing in a general sense
• a garment
• clothes as a plural group

The agreement around the word helps show how it is being understood. In this sentence, zi- tells you the clothes are being treated as plural.

Its basic meaning is to stick, attach, paste, or fasten something onto something else.

With clothes, the meaning becomes more natural as:

• pin up
• clip up
• hang up

So kuzibandika kwa kibanio cha nguo means something like:

• to clip them up with a clothespin
• to pin them up with a clothes peg

Because that is how Swahili builds verbs.

A Swahili verb can contain several parts in one word. Here:

• ku- = infinitive marker, to
• zi- = object marker, them
• bandika = verb stem, attach / pin up

So kuzibandika literally breaks down as to-them-attach, which English expresses as to attach them.

This is very normal in Swahili. Object markers can appear inside finite verbs and infinitives.

It means with a clothes peg / with a clothespin.

Piece by piece:

• kwa = with / by means of
• kibanio = clip / peg / fastener
• cha nguo = of clothes

The cha is a linking word that agrees with kibanio. So:

• kibanio cha nguo literally = peg of clothes
• natural English = clothes peg or clothespin

Yes, in real life you might use several, but the singular is still natural here.

Swahili often uses a singular noun after kwa to name the kind of instrument being used, much like English can say with a clothespin even if more than one may actually be involved.

If you wanted to be very explicit about multiple pegs, you could say:

• kwa vibanio vya nguo = with clothes pegs / clothespins

But the singular kwa kibanio cha nguo is not strange.

Because Swahili can link actions in more than one way.

Here, na kuzibandika uses na + infinitive to continue the action with the same understood subject. It gives the sense:

• and [we] pinned them up

A more explicitly sequential storytelling version could be:

• tukazibandika = and then we pinned them up

So the sentence as written keeps the last two actions tightly connected:

• tukachukua nguo kutoka beseni na kuzibandika
• we then took the clothes from the basin and pinned them up

Both styles are understandable; the version in the sentence is a compact way to join the actions.