Si kwamba mhubiri huyo alikuwa mkali, bali sauti yake ilikuwa kubwa kidogo.

Si kwamba is a very common way to say It’s not that... or Not that...

It introduces an idea the speaker wants to reject before giving the real explanation. So the structure here is:

Si kwamba X, bali Y
= It’s not that X; rather, Y

In this sentence, the speaker is saying that the issue was not the preacher’s character, but the volume of the preacher’s voice.

Kwamba usually means that and introduces a clause.

Here it connects si with the full statement mhubiri huyo alikuwa mkali. So:

• si kwamba... = it’s not that...

English often drops that, but Swahili commonly keeps kwamba in this kind of structure.

Bali means something like rather, instead, or but rather. It is especially natural when the first idea is being denied and replaced with a more accurate one.

So:

• Si kwamba... bali... = It’s not that... rather...

Lakini just means but in a general sense. You may hear lakini in similar sentences, but bali is better for a correction or contrast after a negative statement.

In Swahili, demonstratives such as this and that usually come after the noun, not before it.

So:

• mhubiri huyo = that preacher
• not huyo mhubiri in normal neutral usage

This is a very common word order in Swahili:

• mtu huyo = that person
• kitabu hiki = this book
• watoto wale = those children

Huyo is a demonstrative meaning roughly that, often referring to:

• someone already mentioned
• someone near the listener
• someone identifiable from context

So mhubiri huyo can mean that preacher, the preacher in question, or that particular preacher.

This is because Swahili verbs must agree with the subject’s noun class.

• mhubiri is a person noun, so it takes the class 1 subject marker a-
• sauti is a class 9 noun, so it takes the subject marker i-

So:

• a-li-kuwa = he/she was
• i-li-kuwa = it was

Both verbs are from kuwa = to be, with -li- marking past tense.

In Swahili, a whole verb often includes the subject and the tense inside one word.

alikuwa breaks down as:

• a- = he/she
• -li- = past tense
• -kuwa = be

So alikuwa literally means he/she was.

Likewise:

• ilikuwa = it was

So unlike English, Swahili does not need a separate word for was.

Mkali comes from -kali, which has a general sense of being sharp, fierce, harsh, severe, or intense.

When describing a person, mkali can mean things like:

• strict
• harsh
• severe
• tough

In this sentence, it most likely means the preacher was not personally harsh or stern. The problem was just that the voice was a little too loud.

Because the possessive must agree with the thing being possessed, not with the person who owns it.

Here, the possessed noun is sauti = voice, and sauti is not a class 1 person noun. So the possessive form is:

• sauti yake = his/her voice

A very common learner mistake is to choose the possessive based on the owner. But in Swahili, agreement follows the noun being possessed.

Compare:

• mhubiri wake = his/her preacher
  because mhubiri is class 1

• sauti yake = his/her voice
  because sauti takes the class 9 singular possessive form

It can mean his, her, or sometimes its, depending on context.

Swahili does not normally mark gender in words like this. So:

• sauti yake = his voice or her voice

The context tells you which one is meant. If the meaning shown to the learner says his voice, that is an interpretation from context, not something marked directly by yake itself.

Yes, kubwa literally means big or large, but with sauti it naturally means loud.

So:

• sauti kubwa = a loud voice
• literally, something like a big voice

This is just how Swahili expresses loudness in many cases. In the same way:

• sauti ndogo = a soft/quiet voice

So the phrase is completely natural, even if the literal wording looks different from English.

Kidogo means a little, slightly, or somewhat.

Here it softens kubwa:

• kubwa kidogo = a little loud
• more naturally in English: a bit loud or slightly too loud

So the speaker is not saying the voice was extremely loud. The criticism is mild.

Yes. The structure is quite polite and nuanced.

Instead of bluntly saying:

• Sauti yake ilikuwa kubwa = His voice was loud

the speaker says something more careful:

• Si kwamba mhubiri huyo alikuwa mkali, bali sauti yake ilikuwa kubwa kidogo.

This makes the comment sound more balanced:

• the preacher’s character is not being attacked
• only one small issue is being mentioned
• kidogo makes it even softer

So this is a good example of how Swahili can express disagreement or criticism gently.