Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
There is a wide variety of Swahili dishes, and your job as a visitor is to try as many different foods as possible! However, before you start eating, you have to get to the table! In this lesson, we'll cover getting a table in a restaurant.
BODY
When entering a restaurant in Kenya, you will be greeted with Karibu, which means “Welcome,”
(slow) Ka - ri - bu.
Karibu
When you enter a restaurant, or mkahawa in Swahili, you’ll usually be seated by a waiter or waitress. You might be asked the question “How many people in your party?”, so practicing it will come in handy at some point. “How many people are you?” in Swahili is
Mko watu wangapi?
Let’s break it down:
(slow) M - ko wa - tu wa - nga - pi?
Once more:
Mko watu wangapi?
The first word, Mko, is a presence marker.
(slow) Mko
Mko
After this comes watu, a polite way to say “person.”
(slow) wa - tu
watu
The last word, wangapi, means “How many?”.
(slow) Wangapi?
Wangapi?
Now let’s go over how to answer.
You might tell the waiter or waitress
Tuko watatu.
which in English means “We are three people.”
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Tu - ko wa- ta - tu.
Once again:
Tuko watatu.
The first word, tuko, acts as a presence indicator.
(slow) tu - ko
tuko
After this comes watatu, which is how you say “three people.”
This can be broken further into:
wa - which is a pronoun, in this case, for people.
(slow) wa
wa
The last word, tatu, means “three.”
(slow) ta - tu
tatu
Let’s take a look at some of the numbers you might need here, from two to five:
2 mbili
(slow) mbi - li
3 tatu
(slow) ta - tu
4 nne
(slow) n - ne
5 tano
(slow) ta - no
If you are just one person, the proper answer is “I am alone,” which in Swahili is
Niko pekee yangu.
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Ni - ko pe -ke - e ya - ngu.
Once more:
Niko pekee yangu.

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