Kadiria gharama ya safari kabla hujanunua tiketi.

Kadiria means estimate, calculate roughly, or work out approximately.

It is a command form, specifically the singular imperative. In other words, the sentence is telling one person what to do: Estimate the cost...

A useful comparison:

• Kadiria = estimate! (to one person)
• Kadirieni = estimate! (to more than one person)

Because in Swahili, the imperative already implies you.

So:

• Kadiria = Estimate
• not necessarily You estimate

English works similarly in commands:

• Sit down
• Open the door
• Estimate the cost

You do not need to say you unless you want extra emphasis.

gharama ya safari literally means cost of the trip/journey.

Breakdown:

• gharama = cost, expense
• safari = trip, journey, travel
• ya = of

So the structure is:

• gharama ya safari = cost of the trip

The word ya is a connector often translated as of. It agrees with the noun gharama, which is in the N noun class, so ya is the correct form here.

Not exactly.

In Swahili, safari usually means journey, trip, or travel in a general sense. English borrowed the word safari, but in English it became much narrower, often meaning a wildlife trip.

So in this sentence, safari just means trip/journey, not specifically an animal-viewing safari.

Because kabla means before, and Swahili commonly follows it with a verb phrase showing that the action has not happened yet.

So:

• kabla = before
• hujanunua tiketi = you have not bought a ticket

Together:

• kabla hujanunua tiketi = before you buy a ticket / before you have bought a ticket

This is a very normal Swahili pattern.

hujanunua comes from the verb -nunua, meaning to buy.

This form means:

• you have not bought

So the basic idea is:

• hujanunua tiketi = you have not bought a ticket

Inside kabla ..., it naturally becomes:

• before you buy a ticket
• or more literally, before you have bought a ticket

Because the idea after before is that the action has not happened yet.

English says:

• before you buy a ticket

Swahili often expresses that as:

• before you have not yet bought a ticket
• which appears as kabla hujanunua tiketi

So yes, the verb form is negative in shape, but the whole phrase is just the normal Swahili way to say before you buy.

Yes. That is also correct.

• kabla hujanunua tiketi = before you buy a ticket
• kabla ya kununua tiketi = before buying a ticket / before you buy a ticket

The difference is mostly in style:

• kabla hujanunua... addresses you more directly
• kabla ya kununua... is a little more neutral and more like before buying...

Both are common and natural.

Because Swahili does not use articles like English a, an, and the.

So:

• safari can mean a trip, the trip, or just travel
• tiketi can mean a ticket or the ticket

The exact meaning depends on context, not on a separate article word.

You would usually change both the command and the verb in the before clause:

• Kadirieni gharama ya safari kabla hamjanunua tiketi.

Breakdown:

• Kadirieni = estimate! (to several people)
• hamjanunua = you all have not bought

So:

• Kadiria ... kabla hujanunua ... = to one person
• Kadirieni ... kabla hamjanunua ... = to several people