Mama alisema kiporo cha dengu kiko kwenye jokofu, kwa hiyo hatutapika tena leo usiku.

Yes. A natural breakdown is:

• Mama = Mom / Mother
• alisema = said
• kiporo = leftover food / leftovers
• cha dengu = of lentils / lentil
• kiko = it is located / it is there
• kwenye jokofu = in the fridge
• kwa hiyo = so / therefore
• hatutapika = we will not cook
• tena = again / anymore
• leo usiku = tonight / this evening

A very literal gloss would be:

• Mom said the leftover lentils are in the fridge, so we will not cook again tonight.

Natural English would usually be:

• Mom said there are lentil leftovers in the fridge, so we won’t cook again tonight.

Kiporo usually means leftover food, especially food left from an earlier meal.

A few useful points:

• It is often singular in Swahili, even where English might prefer leftovers.
• It refers to the remaining food itself, not just the idea of waste.
• In everyday family speech, it is a very common word.

So in this sentence, kiporo cha dengu means leftover lentils or lentil leftovers.

Because cha agrees with kiporo, not with dengu.

Here is the idea:

• kiporo belongs to noun class 7, which uses the agreement prefix ki-
• the connector meaning of for this class is cha
• so kiporo cha dengu = leftover food of lentils

This is a very common Swahili pattern:

• kitabu cha mwanafunzi = the student’s book / book of the student
• kikombe cha chai = cup of tea
• kiporo cha dengu = leftovers of lentils

So cha is there because the main noun is kiporo.

In normal usage, dengu usually means lentils as a food, not one single lentil.

For English speakers, this is important because Swahili often treats food words more like mass nouns:

• English: lentils
• Swahili: dengu

So kiporo cha dengu is best understood as:

• lentil leftovers
• leftover lentils

not as leftover of one lentil.

Kiko is used because kiporo is in noun class 7, and Swahili verbs and related forms often agree with the noun class of the subject.

Here, kiko means something like:

• it is there
• it is located

It can be analyzed as:

• ki- = class 7 subject agreement
• -ko = a locative form meaning is present / is located

So:

• kiporo kiko kwenye jokofu = the leftovers are in the fridge

A useful comparison:

• chakula kiko mezani = the food is on the table
• kitabu kipo chumbani = the book is in the room

English just says is, but Swahili often shows both agreement and location more explicitly.

Because ni and kiko do different jobs.

• ni is often used to identify something:
  
  • Hiki ni kitabu = This is a book
• kiko is used to show location/existence:
  
  • Kitabu kiko mezani = The book is on the table

In this sentence, the point is not identifying the leftovers. The point is saying where they are. That is why kiko is the natural choice.

Kwenye is a very common locative word meaning:

• in
• on
• at

The exact English translation depends on context.

In this sentence:

• kwenye jokofu = in the fridge

With containers or enclosed spaces, English usually uses in, so that is the best translation here.

You may also see related locative expressions such as:

• katika jokofu = in the fridge
• jokofuni = in the fridge

But kwenye jokofu is very natural everyday Swahili.

Because Swahili often omits kwamba after verbs like said, just like English often omits that.

So both of these are possible:

• Mama alisema kiporo cha dengu kiko kwenye jokofu
• Mama alisema kwamba kiporo cha dengu kiko kwenye jokofu

Both mean:

• Mom said that the lentil leftovers are in the fridge

The version without kwamba is very normal and natural.

Alisema is a past tense form meaning she said.

It breaks down like this:

• a- = she/he
• -li- = past tense
• sema = say

So:

• alisema = she said

By contrast, amesema usually means she has said or she says/has said, often with a sense of present relevance.

Very roughly:

• alisema = she said
• amesema = she has said

In this sentence, alisema simply reports what Mom said.

Hatutapika can be broken into parts:

• ha- = negative
• tu- = we
• -ta- = future
• pik- = cook
• -a = final vowel

So:

• hatutapika = we will not cook

Compare:

• tutapika = we will cook
• hatutapika = we will not cook

This is a very useful pattern to learn, because Swahili tense markers are often very regular.

Tena often means again, but in negative sentences it very often has the sense of anymore.

So:

• hatutapika tena = we won’t cook again / we won’t cook anymore

In this sentence, the natural meaning is:

• there is already food
• so we are not cooking any more tonight

That is why anymore is often the best English sense here.

Yes. Literally, it is something like today night, but natural English is:

• tonight
• this evening, depending on context

So:

• leo usiku = tonight

This is a normal Swahili time expression. English speakers often notice it because Swahili does not need a preposition here.

Kwa hiyo links the two ideas and means:

• so
• therefore
• for that reason

It shows that the second part is a result of the first part:

• the lentil leftovers are in the fridge
• therefore, we will not cook tonight

So it works much like so in everyday English.

Not very much in this sentence. The basic order is fairly English-friendly:

• Mama alisema ... = Mom said ...
• kiporo cha dengu kiko kwenye jokofu = the lentil leftovers are in the fridge
• kwa hiyo hatutapika tena leo usiku = so we won’t cook again tonight

What feels different to English speakers is mainly:

• noun class agreement, as in cha and kiko
• the locative form kiko
• expressions like leo usiku
• the way tena can mean anymore in negative sentences

So the overall word order is fairly approachable, but the grammar inside the phrase is very Swahili.