Asha anapenda kuigiza, lakini Juma anakosoa uigizaji.

Both verbs follow the same basic pattern:

• a- = he/she
• -na- = present / ongoing / habitual
• -penda = like, love
• -kosoa = criticize

So:

• anapenda = he/she likes / loves
• anakosoa = he/she criticizes

Because both are third-person singular human subjects.

In Swahili, the subject marker does not change just because the person is male or female. For a single person, you normally use a-. So both Asha and Juma take:

• a-
  • -na-
    • verb stem

That is why you get anapenda and anakosoa for both names.

-na- is the common present tense / present-time marker in Swahili.

Depending on context, it can express:

• something happening now
• something generally true
• something habitual

So this sentence can sound like a general statement, such as Asha likes acting, but Juma criticizes acting.

Because ku- is the infinitive marker, like to in English.

• igiza is the verb stem
• kuigiza = to act, to perform, or sometimes acting as an activity

After anapenda, Swahili often uses the infinitive:

• anapenda kuigiza = she likes to act

Because they are doing different jobs in the sentence.

• kuigiza is a verb form: to act
• uigizaji is a noun: acting, performance, the art/activity of acting

So:

• Asha anapenda kuigiza = Asha likes to act
• Juma anakosoa uigizaji = Juma criticizes acting / the performance

English does something similar with to act vs acting / performance.

Yes. They come from the same verb root.

You can think of them like this:

• kuigiza = to act
• uigizaji = acting / performance

Swahili often builds related words from the same root, so learners should watch for these families of words.

It is an abstract noun.

The prefix u- often helps form nouns that refer to:

• qualities
• states
• activities
• abstract ideas

So uigizaji refers not to a person, but to the activity or concept of acting/performance. In many contexts, it behaves like a mass or abstract noun rather than a countable item.

Lakini means but.

It joins two contrasting ideas:

• Asha anapenda kuigiza
• lakini
• Juma anakosoa uigizaji

It commonly appears between two clauses, just like but in English.

It can mean either, depending on context.

-penda covers a range that can include:

• like
• love
• be fond of
• enjoy

So Asha anapenda kuigiza could be understood as Asha likes acting or Asha loves acting, depending on how strong the feeling is in context.

Because Swahili does not use articles the way English does.

English says things like:

• the acting
• a performance

Swahili usually leaves that idea to context. So uigizaji can mean:

• acting
• the acting
• performance
• the performance

depending on the situation.

Yes, fairly similar.

The structure is basically:

• Asha
  • anapenda
    • kuigiza
• lakini
• Juma
  • anakosoa
    • uigizaji

That is close to English subject + verb + object/complement order, which makes this sentence relatively beginner-friendly.

Yes, that can work, but the meaning shifts slightly.

• Asha anapenda kuigiza = Asha likes to act
• Asha anapenda uigizaji = Asha likes acting / the art of acting / performance more generally

So the original sentence focuses more on the action to act, while the alternative sounds a bit more like liking the field or activity as a whole.

A helpful way to break them up is:

• ku-i-gi-za
• u-i-gi-za-ji

A few tips:

• Swahili vowels are usually pronounced clearly.
• The u and i are both heard; they do not collapse into one English-style sound.
• Stress in Swahili is usually on the second-to-last syllable.

So roughly:

• kuigiza → stress on gi
• uigizaji → stress on za