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Let's Learn Swahili by Nobody: 5:52pm On Jul 08, 2015 |
I have received a lot of demands from people in Nairaland asking me that they want to learn swahili, I don't know why its hard to get an ebook online and learn then refer when you're stuck, maybe it's one of the human peculiarities that I'll never understand. Anyway, I've decided to create this thread for the same purpose, I do not know where to start, so it's by no means a comprehensive guide, nor do I promise that it will follow a chronological order such as the one taught in Kenyan/Tanzanian schools. My fellow Kenyan and Tanzanian forumers are welcome to contribute and correct me whenever I'm wrong. 2 Likes |
Re: Let's Learn Swahili by Nobody: 6:24pm On Jul 08, 2015 |
We'll start with the history first. As many people were taught or have seen all over the internet, the prevailing story is that Swahili is a mixture of Arabic and Bantu languages, this is of course not true as that theory has already been debunked. The language has about 25-30% Arabic loan words in varying degrees depending on the dialects, that's it, the only thing Swahili has taken from Arabic is the loan words, the core, grammar, sentence structure, noun class, verb conjugation all that language structure is Bantu. There're many types of Swahili, main ones can roughly be divided into three categories that's when you include all the accents and dialects. There's mainland Kenyan, Tanzanian and coastal Swahili (Kenyan/Tanzanian coast). Swahili came from the Kingozi dialect which developed in Lamu Island in Kenya, as it spread south, it changed to accommodate the Bantu populations in those areas. Standard Swahili however is the Zanzibar Unguja dialect which contains more Arabic morphology than the Kenyan northern dialects. Most people from the coast however speak their own dialects. The coastal Swahili is the purest as many east africans say, it's very beautiful and poetic to hear especially if you grew up in the mainland. Also the coastal people use lots of proverbs, idioms and puzzles when speaking, so it's very entertaining when speaking to them. So you could say that the coastal people have full command of the language to the point that people from the mainland can get lost in the conversation when speaking to them since they use more archaic vocabulary. In Kenya as you advance more into the mainland, it changes, every tribe in Kenya has their own accent (including the mzungus and the indians ) which is often the subject of much humour and comedy, when you get to Nairobi however you get Sheng' which is even more complicated, it is a mixture of English and almost all languages in Kenya. It changes rapidly so that if you spoke it in the 90's you wouldn't understand it now, it is very popular in Kenyan music, schools and movies, so we won't deal with it for now since only Nairobians understand it. In mainland Tanzania they don't have as many accents as Kenyans do, they speak a more standard and nationalized form, they do however speak it more than Kenyans do since they do not depend on English as much. They do not understand Sheng' and blame Kenyans for degrading the beautiful language, there's a lot of conflict and disagreement on how both countries use the language with Tanzanians blaming Kenyans of not using polite language and Kenyans blaming Tanzanians of depending too much on the language and for using their own vocabulary when speaking to Kenyans. Both countries use their own vocabulary (although a small subset of the whole language) native to them only for describing certain event/phenomena only found in their respective regions. But as musicians collabo and people move around east africa, the countries are beginning to understand each other better. 3 Likes |
Re: Let's Learn Swahili by Nobody: 7:27pm On Jul 08, 2015 |
Swahili is as straightforward as they come, the way you see a word is the way you pronounce it, although it may be pronounced differently in different regions. There are five vowels in swahili, so nothing special there. When it comes to the consonants, we don't have q and x, we do however have kh and dh which are mostly used in words of arabic origin. Also we have ny and ng'. Examples: For 'kh' coastal speakers use the arabic pronunciation, it's like k and h said in rapid succession masalkheri (pronounced as masalheri) - good evening shekhe(pronounced as shehe) - sheikh For 'dh' coastal speakers who are mostly muslim use the arabic pronunciation, it's like d and h said in rapid succession dhahabu(pronounced as thahabu as in the) - gold For 'gh' coastal speakers who are mostly muslim use the arabic pronunciation, it's like g and h said in rapid succession lugha(pronounced as luha/luga) For ny pronounced like when you say Kenya and not Kenia nyama - meat For ng' pronounced as in dung ng'ombe - cow I thin those are the hard ones, we also have aa, ee, ii, oo, uu for the long vowels Mbaazi - peas Zee - old kiini - core choo - toilet upuuzi - foolishness mb mp bw pw mbw mpw These you just pronounce in rapid succession, practice till you get it mboga - vegetable mpira - ball bweka - bark pwani - coast mbwa - dog mpwa - niece/nephew nt Same rapid succession nta - wax nj ng Same rapid succession njaa - hunger ngamia - camel nd Same rapid succession ndama - calf nz Same rapid succession nz - housefly sh ch Same as in English shamba - farm chama - club/group/association sw Same rapid succession swara - gazelle/antelope tw chw Same rapid succession twiga - giraffe pronounce as tuiga with a subtle w sound uchwara - worthless/bogus fy vy mv Same rapid succession fyata - close/squeeze although you can pronounce it as fiata with a subtle y sound vyote - all mvua - rain 1 Like |
Re: Let's Learn Swahili by Nobody: 7:30pm On Jul 08, 2015 |
For 'kh' coastal speakers use the arabic pronunciation, it's like k and h said in rapid succession masalkheri (pronounced as masalheri) - good evening shekhe(pronounced as shehe) - sheikh For 'dh' coastal speakers who are mostly muslim use the arabic pronunciation, it's like d and h said in rapid succession dhahabu(pronounced as thahabu as in the) - gold For 'gh' coastal speakers who are mostly muslim use the arabic pronunciation, it's like g and h said in rapid succession lugha(pronounced as luha/luga) For 'ny' pronounced like when you say Kenya and not Kenia nyama - meat For " ng' " pronounced as in dung ng'ombe - cow |
Re: Let's Learn Swahili by Nobody: 7:33pm On Jul 08, 2015 |
I think those are the hard ones, we also have aa, ee, ii, oo, uu for the long vowels Mbaazi - peas Zee - old kiini - core choo - toilet upuuzi - foolishness mb mp bw pw mbw mpw These you just pronounce in rapid succession, practice till you get it mboga - vegetable mpira - ball bweka - bark pwani - coast mbwa - dog mpwa - niece/nephew nt Same rapid succession nta - wax nj ng Same rapid succession njaa - hunger ngamia - camel |
Re: Let's Learn Swahili by Nobody: 8:10pm On Jul 08, 2015 |
Nafuatilia, Kazi kwako, |
Re: Let's Learn Swahili by LadyX(f): 8:13am On Jul 09, 2015 |
Let me leave my mark here too Kuja- come Enda- go Nyumbani- home Ninakuja - I'm coming. Ninakuja nyumbani- I'm coming home. Ninakuja Nairobi - I'm coming to Nairobi. Ninaenda- I'm going Ninaenda nyumbani- I'm going home. Ninaenda Nairobi- I'm going to Nairobi. Ni- represents the first person singular (I) Na- used in present tense Sometimes people drop the "ni" and start with "na"e.g Naenda Lagos- Am going to Lagos. 2 Likes |
Re: Let's Learn Swahili by Nobody: 7:32pm On Jul 09, 2015 |
I'm back people Somebody should really do something about that annoying spambot, I mean it should specify the number or length of characters that are allowed before it is alerted, @Fulaman198 @Seun please do something about this, it is restricting information flow on this site |
Re: Let's Learn Swahili by Nobody: 7:39pm On Jul 09, 2015 |
AGAIN, SWAHILI IS NOT A MIXTURE OF ARABIC AND BANTU LANGUAGES, IT EXISTED WELL BEFORE THE ARABS SET FOOT IN EAST AFRICA, THE ONLY ARABIC THING IS THE LOANWORDS DESCRIBING PHENOMENA NOT AVAILABLE/EXPERIENCED/WITNESSED BY THE EAST AFRICAN BANTUS AT THE TIME, NOTHING MORE, NOTHING LESS 1 Like |
Re: Let's Learn Swahili by Nobody: 9:25pm On Jul 09, 2015 |
For the first lesson on vowels and consonants please refer to the third post, the others were made confusedly after the spambot banned me. So today we learn about nouns - nomino and their noun classes - ngeli. As with any other Bantu language, noun classes are one of the most prevalent characteristics in these languages, almost everything depends on them, verb conjugation, order and semantic of adjectives, etc. If you do not master your ngeli then you cannot master Swahili or any other Bantu language for that matter. Bantu languages don't use articles (definite/indefinite - a/the) so we'll use the determiner/pronoun/adverb - this, it'll be used since it's different in every ngeli, in Swahili it's called kiashiria cha karibu meaning, a determiner/pronoun/adverb describing nouns that are close by, in contrast to that (which we'll see has two forms and we'll describe later) which is a determiner/pronoun/adverb describing nouns a little far off. There are 13 noun classes in Swahili: Ngeli (noun class) 1. Ngeli ya A-WA Aina za nomino husika (Types of nouns used) Animals (humans, fish, insects, mammals, etc) umoja (singular)...........wingi (plural) mtu huyu.............watu hawa (this person)........(these people) 2. Ngeli ya U-I General nouns including trees, nouns starting with m and their plural with mi mti huu.........................miti hii(trees) (this tree).....................(these trees) |
Re: Let's Learn Swahili by Nobody: 9:59pm On Jul 09, 2015 |
3. Ngeli ya LI-YA Most nouns take the form ji for singular and ma for plural jani hili........................majani haya (this leaf)...................(these leaves) 4. Ngeli ya KI-VI Used in nouns that start with ki/ch singular and vi/vy in plural kiti hiki ........................ viti hivi (this chair)........................ (these chairs) choo hiki ........................ vyoo hivi (this toilet) ........................ (these toilets) 5. Ngeli ya I-ZI Used in nouns that remain the same even in plural form but takes the kiashiria ending with i when singular and zi when plural. Nouns usualy start with /u/, /ng/, /ny/, /mb/ sounds. nyumba hii ........................ nyumba hizi (this house)........................ (these houses) 6. Ngeli ya U-ZI Used in nouns whose kiashiria ends with (this wall) (these walls) u in singular form and with zi in plural ukuta huu ........................ kuta hizi (this wall) ........................ (these walls) |
Re: Let's Learn Swahili by Nobody: 10:10pm On Jul 09, 2015 |
7. Ngeli ya U-YA Comprises of very few words, those whose kiashiria ends with u in singular and ya in plural uyoga huu ........................ mayoga haya (this mushroom) ........................ (these mushrooms) 8. Ngeli ya I-I Nouns whose kiashiria ends with[i]i[/i] both in singular and plural form. Nouns are usually those that are uncountable sukari hii ........................ sukari hii (this sugar) ........................ (this/these sugar) 9. Ngeli ya YA-YA Nouns whose kiashiria ends with ya both in singular and plural form. Most nouns start with ma and are usually thosereferring to liquids and uncountable quantities. maji haya ........................ maji haya (this water) ........................ (this water) 10. Ngeli ya U-U These nouns have no plural and usually start with /u/ or /m/ sounds. unga huu ........................ unga huu (this flour) ........................ (this flour) |
Re: Let's Learn Swahili by Nobody: 10:24pm On Jul 09, 2015 |
Ngeli za mahali za PA KU MU/ PO KO MO (Noun classes representing places) 11. Ngeli ya PA-PA Used in nouns referring to specific places. mahali hapa ........................ mahali hapa (this place) ........................ (this place) 12. Ngeli ya KU-KU Used in nouns referring to general places. shuleni huku/huku shuleni ........................ shuleni huku/huku shuleni (this school/in this school) ........................ (this school/in this school) 13. Ngeli ya MU-MU Used in nouns referring to places located in the interior of something bigger. humu shimoni/shimoni humu ........................ humu shimoni/shimoni humu (inside this holw) ........................ (inside this hole) humu chumbani ........................ humu chumbani (inside this room) ........................ (inside this room) I hope you the pattern used to name these ngeli. Tomorrow we learn about determiner/pronoun/adverb - that and its two forms and the various prepositions unique to each ngeli. |
Re: Let's Learn Swahili by Nobody: 1:23am On Jul 10, 2015 |
Ngeli has always confused me. No one has ever told me you know the right Ngeli by the kiashiria¡¡¡ |
Re: Let's Learn Swahili by Nobody: 11:35am On Jul 10, 2015 |
muafrika:Yeah it's confusing for many people too, if you find it confusing try using the kiashiria and see if it makes sense. |
Re: Let's Learn Swahili by Nobody: 11:47am On Jul 10, 2015 |
So we learn about the kiashiria that, in Swahili it takes two forms: kiashiria cha mbali kidogo and kiashiria cha mbali kabisa (this has no english equivalent so we'll leave it blank) which means that the kiashiria describes nouns that are a little far off and those are too far off respectively. Like I said everything is ngeli cause all nouns in Swahili belong to different ngeli The format we'll take is: Ngeli kiashiria cha mbali kidogo kiashiria cha mbali kabisa 1. Ngeli ya A-WA mtu huyo.............watu hawo (that person)........(those people) mtu yule.............watu wale 2. Ngeli ya U-I mti huo.........................miti hiyo(trees) (that tree).....................(those trees) mti ule.........................miti ile |
Re: Let's Learn Swahili by Nobody: 11:53am On Jul 10, 2015 |
3. Ngeli ya LI-YA jani hilo........................majani hayo (that leaf)...................(those leaves) jani lile.......................majani yale 4. Ngeli ya KI-VI kiti hicho ........................ viti hivyo (that chair)........................ (those chairs) kiti kile.............................viti vile choo hicho ........................ vyoo hivyo (that toilet) ........................ (those toilets) choo kile.............................vyoo vile 5. Ngeli ya I-ZI nyumba hiyo ........................ nyumba hizo (that house)........................ (those houses) nyumba ile...........................nyumba zile 6. Ngeli ya U-ZI ukuta huo ........................ kuta hizo (that wall) ........................ (those walls) ukuta ule..........................kuta zile |
Re: Let's Learn Swahili by Nobody: 11:58am On Jul 10, 2015 |
7. Ngeli ya U-YA uyoga huo ........................ mayoga hayo (that mushroom) ........................ (those mushrooms) uyoga ule.........................mayoga yale 8. Ngeli ya I-I sukari hiyo ........................ sukari hiyo (that sugar) ........................ (that sugar) sukari ile...........................sukari ile 9. Ngeli ya YA-YA maji hayo ........................ maji hayo (that water) ........................ (that water) maji yale..........................maji yale 10. Ngeli ya U-U unga huo ........................ unga huo (that flour) ........................ (that flour) unga ule..........................unga ule |
Re: Let's Learn Swahili by Nobody: 12:04pm On Jul 10, 2015 |
Ngeli za mahali za PA KU MU/ PO KO MO (Noun classes representing places) 11. Ngeli ya PA-PA mahali hapo ........................ mahali hapo (that place) ........................ (that place) mahali kule..........................mahali kule 12. Ngeli ya KU-KU shuleni huko/huko shuleni ........................ shuleni huko/huko shuleni (that school/in that school) ........................ (that school/in that school) shuleni kule/kule shuleni..............................shuleni kule/kule shuleni. 13. Ngeli ya MU-MU humo shimoni/shimoni humo ........................ humo shimoni/shimoni humo (inside that hole) ........................ (inside that hole) mle shimoni/shimoni mle.................... mle shimoni/shimoni mle humo chumbani ........................ humo chumbani (inside that room) ........................ (inside that room) mle chumbani............................mle chumbani I hope you see the pattern. |
Re: Let's Learn Swahili by Nobody: 12:15pm On Jul 10, 2015 |
I know all this ngeli stuff is boring but it's the foundation of a lot of what we are going to learn. So we are going to diverge a little from the topic and learn about the different types of swahili greetings (maamkizi) all over Kenya. In mainland Kenya (excluding the coast) most people use the same form of greeting throughout the day. Habari yako/mambo? and you answer mzuri/poa sana which literally means how's your news and you answer it's great In Nairobi sheng': Niaje? and you answer poa sana Niaje means: how is it or in proper notation is how from the words ni(is) and aje(how) Is vipi/how?..................Is poa/fiti Vipi/aje means how In proper coastal Swahili : In the morning/mid-day: Asubuhi/adhuhuri Sabalkheri.....................Sabalnuri/akheri In the afternoon: Jioni/alasiri Masalkheri.....................Masalnuri/akheri In the evening/night when saying goodbye: usiku wakati wa kuagana Alamsiki........................binuru And the general greetings for any time/anywhere is the Islamic/greeting: Assalaam alaikum.................Alaikum (as)salaam |
Re: Let's Learn Swahili by HumbledbYGrace(f): 1:49pm On Jul 10, 2015 |
Hi, nice, I came to pay my dues. I need your help, may I pm you? |
Re: Let's Learn Swahili by Nobody: 1:51pm On Jul 10, 2015 |
HumbledbYGrace:Ok, you do that. |
Re: Let's Learn Swahili by Nobody: 2:11pm On Jul 10, 2015 |
So we learn about the preposition of, because of ngeli it'll be different in each case but will make things easier for the other prepositions. These prepositions also act as conjuctions (and) and prefixes to certain nouns in plural form. 1. Ngeli ya A-WA We use wa for both singular and plural mtu huyu wa Naijeria...........watu hawa wa Naijeria This person of Nigeria.................These people of Nigeria 2. Ngeli ya U-I We use wa for singular and ya for plural mti huu wa uhai .........................miti hii ya uhai(trees) (this tree of life).....................(these trees of life) 3. Ngeli ya LI-YA Here we use la in singular and ya in plural so li-ya see the pattern? jani hili la kijani........................majani haya ya kijani (this leaf of green (colour))...................(these leaves of green (colour)) 4. Ngeli ya KI-VI Here we use cha for singular and vya for plural kiti hiki cha mbao ........................ viti hivi vya mbao (this wooden chair)........................ (these wooden chairs) 5. Ngeli ya I-ZI We use ya singular and za for plural nyumba hii ya Rais ........................ nyumba hizi za Rais (this president's house/these house of the president)...................(these president's houses/these houses of the president) 6. Ngeli ya U-ZI We use wa singular and za for plural ukuta huu wa mawe ........................ kuta hizi za mawe (this stone wall/this wall of stone) ........................ (these stone walls/these walls of stone) |
Re: Let's Learn Swahili by Nobody: 2:31pm On Jul 10, 2015 |
7. Ngeli ya U-YA We use wa for singular and ya for plural same as in U-I uyoga huu wa kupika ........................ mayoga haya ya kupika (this cooking mushroom) ........................ (these cooking mushrooms) 8. Ngeli ya I-I sukari hii ya chai ........................ sukari hii ya chai (this tea's sugar/this sugar of tea) ........................ (this tea's sugar/this sugar of tea) 9. Ngeli ya YA-YA maji haya ya kuoga ........................ maji haya ya kuoga (this water of bathing/this bathing water) ........................ (this water of bathing/this bathing water) 10. Ngeli ya U-U unga huu wa chapati ........................ unga huu wa chapati (this flour of(cooking) chapati) ........................ (this flour of(cooking) chapati) |
Re: Let's Learn Swahili by Nobody: 2:59pm On Jul 10, 2015 |
Ngeli za mahali za PA KU MU/ PO KO MO (Noun classes representing places) 11. Ngeli ya PA-PA Here we use pa for both singular and plural mahali hapa pa kukulia ........................ mahali hapa pa kukulia (this eating place) ........................ (these eating places) 12. Ngeli ya KU-KU Wu use kwa for both singular and plural shuleni huku kwa kufundisha ........................ shuleni huku kwa kufundisha (this teaching school/this school for teaching) ........................ (this teaching school/this school for teaching) 13. Ngeli ya MU-MU We use mwa for both singular and plural humo shimoni mwa kisima ........................ humo shimoni mwa kisima (inside this well hole) ........................ (inside this well hole) As you can see, Swahili has no possessive case as in Dad's car it's like in French where you say la voiture de papa in this case we say gari(li-ya) la baba |
Re: Let's Learn Swahili by Nobody: 3:20pm On Jul 10, 2015 |
Next we learn about conjuctions, here they are all the same for every ngeli: and - na or - ama/au but - lakini/ila if - ikiwa/kama Also I forgot to mention that here-hapa and there-pale/kule since those viashiria describe positions and places Also for the other prepositions, since we are talking about positions, we'll use the prepositions referring to ngeli of places i.e PA KU MU in - ndani (ya/kwa/mwa) from - kutoka (kwa) under - chini (ya/pa/mwa) beside/across - kando (ya/mwa) at - kwa/kwenye/katika Mostly when describing places people don't use the prepositions above coz there's a shorter route where you add the suffix -ni to the place, e.g shambani from the noun shamba (farm), so Niko shambani means I'm in the farm, This form is however limited to general places so you can't say Niko kenyani or Niko Nairobini, it's for general nouns e.g nchini from nchi (country), mjini from mji(town), nyumbani from nyumba(home/house). |
Re: Let's Learn Swahili by Nobody: 3:56pm On Jul 10, 2015 |
We conclude this week's topic with verb conjugation and tenses, then you can enjoy your weekend. the state or verb to be is very important and is often used to introduce verb conjugation in all language classes so we'll do the same: is represents the state to be and in Swahili it's ni So we conjugate for I, He/She, we, you, they. Fortunately/unfortunately Swahili doesn't have gender so he and she are the same. Note we don't have it in Swahili since different nouns are in different ngeli Pronouns: I - mimi/mie/mi He/she - yeye/ye we - sisi/sie/si you - wewe/we you (plural) - nyinyi/nyie they - hawo/wale I am going home - Mimi ninaenda nyumbani He/she is going home - Yeye anaenda nyumbani We are going home - Sisi tunaneda nyumbani You are going home - Wewe unaenda nyumbani You people are going home - Nyinyi watu mnaenda nyumbani They are going home - Hawo/Wale wanaenda nyumbani In the above ni didn't appear since we were using another verb going, so we use it here instead: I am good - Mimi ni mzuri He/she is good - Yeye ni mzuri We are good - Sisi ni wazuri You are good - Wewe ni mzuri You are good - Nyinyi ni wazuri They are good - Hawo/wale ni wazuri In the first example, as @ladyx already highlighted in an earlier post, here -enda is the verb root which means go (note kuenda means to go, so to is ku) and -na is the tense prefix in the present tense : I - ni-(tense prefix)-(verb root) He/she - a-(tense prefix)-(verb root) We - tu-(tense prefix)-(verb root) You - u-(tense prefix)-(verb root) You(plural) - m-(tense prefix)-(verb root) They - wa-(tense prefix)-(verb root) So whenever you want to conjugate a verb (express a verb using all the pronouns/tenses) remember those prefixes, also most speakers don't include the pronouns in their speech, so you'll usually hear Ninakupenda or Nakupenda which also means I love you or Ninakuja (I'm coming) Next week we look at all the tenses and how their prefixes apply in the above forms. |
Re: Let's Learn Swahili by soilsista(f): 8:27pm On Jul 11, 2015 |
Solid lessons, finally!! I'm bookmarking this. Please continue |
Re: Let's Learn Swahili by Nobody: 3:02pm On Jul 13, 2015 |
Niajeni watu wangu wikendi yenu ilikuwaje? (How are you my people, how was your weekend?) and you answer poa tu ama(or) njema Today we continue with tenses(nyakati) We'll use the English model, in this case not all cases will be translatable. Past Tenses Simple Past tense - Wakati (U-Zi) uliopita Here we use -li- I went home - Mimi nilienda nyumbani He/she went home - Yeye alienda nyumbani We went home - Sisi tulienda nyumbani You went home - Wewe ulienda nyumbani You people went home - Nyinyi watu mlienda nyumbani They went home - Hawo/Wale walienda nyumbani Past progressive tense I was going home - Mimi nilikuwa ninaenda nyumbani He/she was going home - Yeye alikuwa anaenda nyumbani We were going home - Sisi tulikuwa tunaenda nyumbani You were going home - Wewe ulikuwa unaenda nyumbani You people were going home - Nyinyi watu mlikuwa mnaenda nyumbani They were going home - Hawo/Wale walikuwa wanaenda nyumbani Past perfect tense I had gone home - Mimi nilikuwa nimeenda nyumbani He/she had gone home - Yeye alikuwa ameenda nyumbani We had gone home - Sisi tulikuwa tumeenda nyumbani You had gone home - Wewe ulikuwa umeenda nyumbani You had gone going home - Nyinyi watu mlikuwa mmeenda nyumbani They had gone home - Hawo/Wale walikuwa wameenda nyumbani Past perfect progressive tense This is the same as past progressive tense An example sentence in English: I had been going home Simple present tense - Wakati wa mazoea Here we use -hu- I go home - Mimi huenda nyumbani He/she goes home - Yeye huenda nyumbani We had go home - Sisi huenda nyumbani You go home - Wewe huenda nyumbani You go going home - Nyinyi watu huenda nyumbani They go home - Hawo/Wale huenda nyumbani Present progressive tense - Wakati uliopo This we've already addressed in the previous post, we use -na- Present perfect tense - Wakati timilifu Here we use -me- I have gone home - Mimi nimeenda nyumbani He/she has gone home - Yeye ameenda nyumbani We have gone home - Sisi tumeenda nyumbani You have gone home - Wewe umeenda nyumbani You have gone going home - Nyinyi mmeenda nyumbani They have gone home - Hawo/Wale wameenda nyumbani Present perfect progressive tense I have been going home - Mimi nimekuwa nikienda nyumbani He/she has been going home - Yeye amekuwa akienda nyumbani We have been going home - Sisi tumekuwa tukienda nyumbani You have been going home - Wewe umekuwa ukienda nyumbani You have been going home - Nyinyi mmekuwa mkienda nyumbani They have been going home - Hawo/Wale wamekuwa wakienda nyumbani Simple future tense - Wakati ujao Here we use -ta- I will go home - Mimi nitaenda nyumbani He/she will go home - Yeye ataenda nyumbani We will go home - Sisi tutaenda nyumbani You will go home - Wewe utaenda nyumbani You will go home - Nyinyi mtaenda nyumbani They will go home - Hawo/Wale wataenda nyumbani Future progressive tense I will be going home - Mimi nitakuwa nikienda nyumbani He/she will be going home - Yeye atakuwa akienda nyumbani We will be going home - Sisi tutakuwa tukienda nyumbani You will be going home - Wewe utakuwa ukienda nyumbani You will be going home - Nyinyi mtakuwa mkienda nyumbani They will be going home - Hawo/Wale watakuwa wakienda nyumbani Future perfect tense I will have gone home - Mimi nitakuwa nimeenda nyumbani He/she will have gone home - Yeye atakuwa ameenda nyumbani We will have gone home - Sisi tutakuwa tumeenda nyumbani You will have gone home - Wewe utakuwa umeenda nyumbani You will have gone home - Nyinyi mtakuwa mmeenda nyumbani They will have gone home - Hawo/Wale watakuwa wameenda nyumbani Future perfect progressive tense Same as Future progressive tense Example: I will have been going home |
Re: Let's Learn Swahili by Nobody: 3:23pm On Jul 13, 2015 |
In addition we have other tenses that aren't translatable in English Wakati usiodhihirika literally meaning tense that isn't known/confirmed We can however translate it to the Simple progressive tense I am going home - Mimi naenda nyumbani He/she is going home - Yeye aenda nyumbani We are going home - Sisi twaenda nyumbani You are going home - Wewe waenda nyumbani You people are going home - Nyinyi watu mwaenda nyumbani They are going home - Hawo/Wale waenda nyumbani Then we have Wakati usiodhihirika timilifu which is used in telling (kusimulia) hadithi/ngano (stories/narration) This one although also not directly translatable, we can use Simple past tense He/she went home - Yeye akaenda nyumbani We went home - Sisi tukaenda nyumbani You went home - Wewe ukaenda nyumbani You people went home - Nyinyi watu mkaenda nyumbani They went home - Hawo/Wale wakaenda nyumbani Also there's another one that's not really standard, but is still used in speech, here you use all the tenses (not applicable to future tenses) but you have to add already I have already gone home - Mimi nishaenda nyumbani I already went home - Mimi nilishaenda nyumbani Tenses in Swahili are already(no pun intended) complicated as it is, no need to add already and repeat everything again, which is what you should do but not now. We still have more tenses mind you, it would be too confusing to outline all of them now though. |
Re: Let's Learn Swahili by Nobody: 3:39pm On Jul 13, 2015 |
We learn the basic msamiati (vocabulary) so that you can understand and make basic sentences. Numbers - Nambari 0 - sufuri 1 - moja 2 - mbili 3 - tatu 4 - nne 5 - tano 6 - sita 7 - saba 8 - nane 9 - tisa 10 - kumi 11- kumi na moja 12- kumi na mbili 20 - ishirini 21 - ishirini na moja 30 - thelathini 40 - arubaini 50 - hamsini 60 - sitini 70 - sabini 80 - themanini 90 - tisini 100 - mia/mia moja 200 - mia mbili 1000 - elfu/elfu moja 100,000 - laki/laki moja 1000,000 - milioni moja 1000,000,000 - bilioni moja Days of the week - Siku za wiki Sunday - Jumapili Monday - Jumatatu Tuesday - Jumanne Wednesday - Jumatano Thursday - Alkhamisi Friday - Ijumaa Saturday - Juma/Jumamosi |
Re: Let's Learn Swahili by Nobody: 3:49pm On Jul 13, 2015 |
Road - barabara (I-ZI) path - njia (I-ZI) car - gari (LI-YA) computer - kompyuta/tarakilishi (I-ZI) book - kitabu (KI-VI) pencil - kalamu (I-ZI) internet - mtandao (I-I) website - tovuti (I-ZI) bathroom - bafu (I-ZI) chair - kiti (KI-VI) tea - chai (I-I) food - chakula (KI-VI) coffee - kahawa (I-I) phone - rununu/simu (I-ZI) keys - kifunguo (KI-VI) cow - ng'ombe (A-WA) goat - mbuzi (A-WA) sheep - kondoo (A-WA) dog - mbwa (A-WA) cat - paka (A-WA) rat - panya (A-WA) music - wimbo (I-ZI)/ngoma(I-ZI)/mziki (U-U) drum - ngoma (I-ZI) TV - televisheni/runinga (I-ZI) disease - ugonjwa (LI-YA) business - biashara (I-ZI) debt - deni (LI-YA) room - chumba (KI-VI) town - mji (U-I) city - jiji (LI-YA) country - nchi (I-ZI) nation - taifa (LI-YA) plane -ndege (I-ZI) airport - kituo cha ndege (KI-VI) money - pesa(I-ZI)/hela(I-ZI)/fedha(I-ZI) general love - upendo (U-U) romantic love - mapenzi (YA-YA) joy/happiness - furaha (I-I) peace - imani(I-I)/usalama (U-U) elimu - education (I-I) ndoto - dream (I-ZI) wazo - thought (LI-YA) maisha - life (YA-YA) usingizi - sleep (U-U) daktari - doctor (A-WA) soko - market (I-ZI) jua - sun (I-I) maji - water (YA-YA) maziwa - milk (YA-YA) mkate - bread (U-I) nywele - hair (I-ZI) |
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