Mama anapika mchicha na mihogo ya kuchemsha, lakini mimi napendelea mchele.

Swahili verbs often bundle several pieces into one word. anapika can be broken down like this:

• a- = he/she
• -na- = present or ongoing action
• -pik- = the verb root cook
• -a = the usual final vowel

So anapika means she is cooking or she cooks, depending on context.

The fuller, more textbook-style form is ninapendelea:

• ni- = I
• -na- = present
• -pendelea = prefer

In everyday speech and informal writing, many speakers shorten ninapendelea to napendelea. So both can be understood, but ninapendelea is the more explicit full form.

It is there for emphasis or contrast.

• napendelea mchele = I prefer rice
• lakini mimi napendelea mchele = but I prefer rice / but as for me, I prefer rice

Because the sentence contrasts Mama with me, adding mimi makes that contrast clearer and more natural.

Mchicha is a leafy green vegetable, often translated as spinach, though it is usually closer to amaranth greens. In learner materials, spinach is often used as the easiest English equivalent.

As a food word, it is often treated like an uncountable noun, similar to how English uses spinach rather than a spinach.

Because mihogo is the plural form.

• muhogo = one cassava root
• mihogo = cassava roots / pieces of cassava

When talking about cassava as food, the plural is very natural, because you usually mean multiple pieces rather than one single root.

Literally, ya kuchemsha means something like for boiling or to boil.

So mihogo ya kuchemsha is literally cassava for boiling or cassava to boil. In natural English, that often becomes boiled cassava or cassava for boiling, depending on the context and the translation style being used.

The linker changes to match the noun class of the noun it describes. Mihogo belongs to the mi- plural noun class, and that class uses ya in this kind of construction.

So:

• mihogo ya kuchemsha = cassava for boiling

This is an example of noun-class agreement, which is a major feature of Swahili grammar.

Yes.

• kuchemsha = to boil something
• kuchemshwa = to be boiled

So:

• mihogo ya kuchemsha suggests cassava for boiling
• mihogo ya kuchemshwa would more clearly suggest cassava that has been boiled

That distinction is useful because Swahili often marks active and passive meaning directly in the verb form.

Swahili usually does not use articles the way English does. There is normally no separate word for the or a/an.

So mchicha, mihogo, and mchele can mean:

• spinach
• the spinach
• some spinach

The exact meaning depends on context.

It can mean either, depending on the sentence. Here it links two foods, so it is best understood as and:

• mchicha na mihogo = spinach and cassava

In other contexts, na can mean with:

• Ninakuja na rafiki yangu = I am coming with my friend

Lakini means but or however. It connects two contrasting ideas:

• Mama anapika...
• lakini mimi napendelea mchele

Its position here is very similar to English but.

Yes, but there is a nuance worth knowing:

• mchele often refers to rice as a grain or ingredient
• wali often refers to cooked rice

In everyday use, people may still say mchele generally for rice, but if you want to be very precise about the food on the plate, wali is often the more idiomatic word.

Yes. Mama can mean:

• mother / mom
• a respectful way to refer to an adult woman

In a sentence like this, learners will usually understand it as Mom or Mother, but context can broaden the meaning.