Mkunga alimwambia shangazi apumzike vizuri kabla ya kujifungua.

Alimwambia can be broken down like this:

• a- = he/she
• -li- = past tense
• -mw- = him/her
• -ambia = tell / speak to

So alimwambia means he/she told him/her.

In this sentence, the subject is mkunga (the midwife), so a- refers to the midwife. The -mw- refers to shangazi.

Because after a verb like kuambia (to tell someone), Swahili often uses the subjunctive for what the person is told to do.

So:

• apumzike = that she should rest / to rest
• alipumzika = she rested

Here, the idea is not that the aunt already rested. It is that the midwife told her to rest. That is why apumzike is the correct form.

The ending -e is a key sign of the subjunctive here.

It refers to shangazi.

So the structure is:

• Mkunga alimwambia shangazi... = The midwife told the aunt...
• apumzike vizuri = that she should rest well

Even though a- can mean he or she, the context shows that it is the aunt who is supposed to rest.

This is normal in Swahili. The object marker inside the verb can appear even when the full noun is also stated.

So:

• alimwambia = told her
• alimwambia shangazi = literally told her, the aunt

This often happens with people, especially when they are specific and definite. To an English speaker, it may feel a bit repetitive, but in Swahili it is very natural.

Because Swahili usually puts the subject information inside the verb.

For example:

• alimwambia already includes he/she
• apumzike already includes he/she

So Swahili does not need a separate pronoun like English she unless you want extra emphasis or contrast.

Kabla ya means before.

In this sentence:

• kabla ya kujifungua = before giving birth

A very common pattern in Swahili is:

• kabla ya + noun
• kabla ya + infinitive

Here, kujifungua is an infinitive, so kabla ya kujifungua works like before giving birth.

Yes. Kujifungua is a very common verb meaning to give birth.

It contains:

• ku- = infinitive marker (to)
• -ji- = reflexive marker (oneself)
• -fungua = open / loosen / unfasten

So historically or literally, it has the idea of opening oneself or being delivered, but in normal modern usage it simply means to give birth.

So in this sentence, kabla ya kujifungua means before giving birth, not something like before being born.

Because vizuri is an adverb meaning well, and in Swahili adverbs often come after the verb.

So:

• apumzike vizuri = rest well

This word order is very natural in Swahili.

In many learning materials, shangazi is translated simply as aunt, and that is fine for basic understanding.

More specifically, in traditional usage it often refers to the father’s sister. In everyday modern use, though, people may understand it more loosely depending on context.

So for a learner, aunt is the right basic meaning, but it can carry a more specific family sense in some contexts.

Yes. A more literal translation would be:

The midwife told the aunt that she should rest well before giving birth.

Natural English often changes that to:

The midwife told the aunt to rest well before giving birth.

So the Swahili structure is a little closer to told her that she should rest than to the English infinitive structure told her to rest.

Yes. Mkunga is the grammatical subject of alimwambia.

So:

• Mkunga = the one doing the telling
• shangazi = the one being told
• apumzike = what the aunt is told to do

That means the midwife is the speaker or adviser in the sentence, not the aunt.

In this kind of sentence, apumzike is the more standard and natural choice, because Swahili usually uses the subjunctive after kuambia when expressing a command, instruction, or advice.

So:

• alimwambia apumzike = natural
• alimwambia kupumzika = not the usual way for this meaning

For English speakers, this is an important pattern to get used to: Swahili often uses a subjunctive clause where English uses to + verb.