Benki yetu inapokea amana za muda mfupi, lakini riba yake si kubwa sana.

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

So:

• benki yetu = our bank
• literally: bank our

This is very normal Swahili word order. The same pattern appears in many phrases:

• rafiki yangu = my friend
• nyumba yao = their house

Also, yetu is the form of our that agrees with benki.

Inapokea can be broken down like this:

• i- = subject marker for a class 9 singular noun
• -na- = present / habitual tense marker
• pokea = receive, accept

So inapokea means it receives or it accepts.

In this sentence, it has a general or habitual meaning: the bank accepts this kind of deposit as a service.

Because the subject is benki, and benki is treated as a class 9 singular noun in Swahili.

Class 9 singular nouns often use:

• i- on the verb

So:

• Benki yetu inapokea... = Our bank accepts...

If you changed it to plural, the noun might still stay benki, but the agreement would change:

• Benki zetu zinapokea... = Our banks accept...

So even when the noun itself does not visibly change, the agreement helps show singular vs. plural.

Many Swahili nouns in classes 9 and 10 have the same form in singular and plural.

So amana can mean:

• a deposit
• deposits

The clue here is the agreement word za, which shows that the phrase is plural:

• amana za muda mfupi = short-term deposits

If it were singular, you would expect:

• amana ya muda mfupi = a short-term deposit

Za is a form of the connective -a, often meaning something like of.

Here it links amana with muda mfupi:

• amana za muda mfupi
• literally: deposits of short time

In natural English, that becomes short-term deposits.

Because amana is plural here, the connective appears as za.

In Swahili, adjectives usually come after the noun.

So:

• muda mfupi = short time / a short period
• literally: time short

Also, mfupi is the adjective -fupi with agreement for muda.

This is a very common pattern:

• mtu mkubwa = big/important person
• kitabu kizuri = good book
• muda mfupi = short time

Lakini means but.

It links the first idea and the second idea:

• Benki yetu inapokea amana za muda mfupi, lakini riba yake si kubwa sana.

So the sentence structure is:

• statement 1
• lakini
• contrasting statement 2

This works very much like English but.

Literally, riba yake means its interest.

• riba = interest, interest rate
• yake = his / her / its

In this sentence, yake is understood as its, referring to the bank.

So:

• riba yake = its interest or its interest rate

This is a very important point: in Swahili possessives, the possessive form agrees with the thing possessed, not the possessor.

Here, the thing possessed is riba:

• riba yake = its interest

So the form yake is used because riba is a class 9 singular noun.

The possessor is still the bank, but the agreement is controlled by riba, not by benki as the owner.

Also, -ake means his/her/its. Swahili does not mark gender here, so context tells you that its is the right translation.

Si is the normal negative form used in sentences like X is not Y, especially with noun or adjective predicates.

So:

• riba yake si kubwa = its interest is not big / not high

This is similar to negating ni-type sentences.

You may also hear sio or siyo in speech, but si is perfectly standard and very common.

Swahili often uses kubwa, which literally means big or large, in places where English might prefer high.

So:

• riba kubwa = high interest
• literally: big interest

This is a normal difference between the two languages. English talks about rates being high or low, while Swahili may describe them as big or small.

Sana means very.

It intensifies the adjective:

• kubwa sana = very big / very high

So:

• si kubwa sana = it is not very high

In Swahili, sana usually comes after the word it strengthens, not before it.

Swahili generally does not use articles like English a, an, or the.

So a phrase like:

• benki yetu

naturally means our bank, without needing a separate word for the.

Likewise:

• amana
• can mean a deposit or deposits, depending on context

English speakers often notice this quickly, because English relies heavily on articles, while Swahili usually leaves that meaning to context.