Mama alisema kwamba baada ya kujifungua, mkunga atakagua afya ya mtoto.

Kwamba means that and introduces a subordinate clause, just like in English:

• Mama alisema kwamba...
• Mother said that...

It is often used after verbs of saying, thinking, or knowing.

In many cases, Swahili speakers may omit kwamba if the meaning is still clear:

• Mama alisema baada ya kujifungua, mkunga atakagua afya ya mtoto.

That said, including kwamba makes the sentence structure clearer, especially for learners.

Baada ya means after.

Literally:

• baada = after / afterwards
• ya = a linking word that connects baada to what follows

So:

• baada ya kujifungua = after giving birth

This is a very common structure in Swahili:

• baada ya kula = after eating
• baada ya kazi = after work
• baada ya kusoma = after studying

Because kujifungua is the verb that means to give birth.

It contains several parts:

• ku- = infinitive marker, like to
• ji- = reflexive marker, often meaning oneself
• fungua = open

Historically/literally, kujifungua can be understood as something like to deliver oneself, but in normal usage it simply means to give birth.

Be careful:

• kufungua usually means to open
• kujifungua means to give birth

So the ji- is very important here.

Yes. The ji- in kujifungua is reflexive, so it refers back to the person giving birth.

In this sentence, that person is understood to be Mama. So:

• baada ya kujifungua = after she gives birth / after giving birth

Swahili often leaves some things understood from context rather than repeating them explicitly.

Mkunga means midwife.

It refers to the person who assists during childbirth and checks on the mother and baby. In this sentence:

• mkunga atakagua afya ya mtoto
• the midwife will examine/check the baby’s health

A useful note: mkunga is a noun for a person, but unlike many Swahili person nouns, it does not obviously look like the usual m-/wa- pair such as mtoto/watoto or mwalimu/walimu. Learners usually just memorize it as a vocabulary item.

Atakagua can be broken down like this:

• a- = he/she
• -ta- = future tense marker (will)
• kagua = examine / inspect / check

So:

• atakagua = he/she will check/examine

Because mkunga comes right before it, the meaning is:

• mkunga atakagua = the midwife will check

This is a very common Swahili tense pattern:

• atasoma = he/she will read
• atapika = he/she will cook
• atakuja = he/she will come

Both can involve looking at something, but they are not the same.

• kuangalia = to look at, watch, check in a general sense
• kukagua = to inspect, examine, check carefully

In a medical context, atakagua afya ya mtoto sounds appropriate because the midwife is doing a more careful examination, not just casually looking.

Afya ya mtoto means the health of the child or the baby’s health.

Here, ya is a possessive/genitive connector, often translating as:

• of
• sometimes ’s

So:

• afya ya mtoto = health of the child / child’s health

This structure is extremely common in Swahili:

• kitabu cha mwanafunzi = the student’s book
• mlango wa nyumba = the door of the house
• jina la mtoto = the child’s name

The connector changes depending on the noun class of the first noun. Since afya takes the agreement form ya, we get afya ya mtoto.

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

So a noun like mtoto can mean:

• a child
• the child
• child

The exact meaning depends on context.

In this sentence:

• Mama = mother / the mother
• mkunga = a midwife / the midwife
• mtoto = a baby / the baby

English requires articles, but Swahili usually does not.

Because Mama is a normal and very common way to say mother, mom, or sometimes even to address a woman respectfully, depending on context.

In this sentence, Mama alisema simply means:

• Mother said
• The mother said
• possibly Mom said

The most natural English translation depends on the broader situation. Swahili leaves that a bit more open.

It can correspond to either in English, depending on context.

Swahili does not always mark the same tense distinctions as English in subordinate phrases like this. So:

• baada ya kujifungua can be understood as
  • after giving birth
  • after she gives birth
  • after she has given birth

In this sentence, natural English would often be:

• Mother said that after giving birth, the midwife will check the baby’s health. or
• Mother said that after she gives birth, the midwife will check the baby’s health.

The comma helps readability, but it does not change the basic meaning much.

• Mama alisema kwamba baada ya kujifungua, mkunga atakagua afya ya mtoto.

The comma separates the time phrase baada ya kujifungua from the main action mkunga atakagua...

Without the comma, the sentence would still usually be understandable in Swahili. Punctuation in written Swahili is useful, but often less rigid than in English.

Yes, to some extent. Swahili word order is fairly flexible, especially with time expressions.

For example, you could also say:

• Baada ya kujifungua, mama alisema kwamba mkunga atakagua afya ya mtoto.

But this version changes the emphasis and may slightly affect the meaning depending on context. It could sound more like:

• After giving birth, mother said that the midwife would check the baby’s health.

That is different from the original, where mother said first, and what she said includes the after giving birth part.

So while word order can change, it may also shift what is being emphasized or attached to what.

Context and structure tell you that:

• kujifungua refers to Mama as the person giving birth
• afya ya mtoto refers to the child’s health

So the meaning is:

• Mother said that after she gives birth, the midwife will check the baby’s health.

Swahili often relies on context instead of repeating pronouns like she or possessives like her and the baby’s as explicitly as English does.

Yes. Mtoto literally means child, but it can also mean baby, depending on context.

Because this sentence is about childbirth and a midwife, English baby is the most natural choice here:

• afya ya mtoto = the baby’s health

In another context, mtoto might be better translated as child.

It is normal, standard, and natural Swahili. It is not especially slangy or especially literary.

A few things make it sound standard and clear:

• alisema kwamba = a normal way to say said that
• baada ya kujifungua = standard phrasing
• atakagua afya ya mtoto = clear, natural wording for a medical context

So this is a good model sentence for learners.