Learn Hardcore Swahili: Si kwamba sipendi peremende, bali nataka kula matunda kwanza. - It is not that I do not like candy, but I want to eat fruit first.

Breakdown of Si kwamba sipendi peremende, bali nataka kula matunda kwanza.

What does Si kwamba do at the beginning of the sentence?

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

It introduces an idea that the speaker wants to reject or correct.

A useful pattern is:

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

So this sentence is not just giving two facts. It is correcting a possible misunderstanding.

Why are there two negatives here: Si and sipendi? Is that a double negative?

Not in the usual double negative sense.

Here is the structure:

So the whole idea is:

The first negative rejects the explanation.
The second negative belongs inside the explanation itself.

English does the same thing:

How is sipendi formed?