Learn how to compare things
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| INTRODUCTION |
| John: Hi, everyone, and welcome back to SwahiliPod101.com. This is Intermediate Season 1, Lesson 14 - Choosing the Right Phone in Kenya. John here. |
| Medina: Hamjambo, I'm Medina. |
| John: In this lesson, you’ll learn about comparing things. The conversation takes place at someone’s house. |
| Medina: It's between Maria and Frank. |
| John: The speakers are family members, therefore, they will speak informal Swahili. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Maria: Nataka kununua simu lakini sijui ni modeli ipi nzuri. |
| Frank: Nakubaliana nawe. Kuna modeli nyingi kwenye soko ambazo ni nzuri. |
| Maria: Hilo ndilo shida langu kubwa. |
| Frank: Je, unadhania nini kuhusu iphone 6 na Samsung Galaxy S5? |
| Maria: Nadhania zote ni nzuri lakini gani bora zaidi? |
| Frank: Samsung inaufahamu na umbo kubwa kushinda Iphone 6. Pia inazinda maji. |
| Maria: Je, na iphone 6? |
| Frank: Ina vipengele vingine kama Samsung isipokuwa ni ndogo na haizindi maji. |
| Maria: Samsung inaonekena bora. |
| Frank: Hivyo divyo tunavyodhania, lakini inadumu kwa muda mfupi ukilinganishwa na iphone 6. |
| Maria: Mbona? |
| Frank: Umbo wa Samsung ni ya plastiki ilhali ya iphone ni aluminiam. |
| Maria: Nimelipenda Samsung tayari. |
| John: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Maria: I want to buy a phone but I wonder which is the best model. |
| Frank: I agree with you. There are so many models in the market, most of which look good. |
| Maria: And that's my biggest problem. |
| Frank: What do you think about the iPhone 6 or Samsung Galaxy S5? |
| Maria: I guess they’re both good, but which is better? |
| Frank: Samsung has better features than the iPhone 6. It’s also water resistant. |
| Maria: What about the iPhone 6? |
| Frank: It has some similar features as the Samsung, but it's small in size and not water resistant. |
| Maria: Samsung looks good. |
| Frank: Sounds like it, but it seems to have a shorter lifespan than the iPhone. |
| Maria: Why is that so? |
| Frank: The Samsung's main body is plastic, whereas the iPhone is aluminum. |
| Maria: I like Samsung already. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| John: Do Kenyan people like using smartphones? |
| Medina: Yes, we do, but you should know that there are lots of counterfeit goods on the Kenyan market, especially phones. |
| John: How can you know if you bought a counterfeit phone? |
| Medina: Most of these phones are copies of popular brands and models made from low-quality materials and they are not licensed by the companies.They’re fairly cheap compared to the real handsets. |
| John: Is the government trying to address the issue? |
| Medina: In 2012, handsets whose unique numbers were not recognized by an international database were switched off. |
| John: I wouldn’t want to be a victim if I visit Kenya. |
| Medina: To be safe, buy or rent phones from mobile operators who can check the authenticity of your handset. |
| John: Also, which is the Swahili word for "counterfeit"? |
| Medina: It’s bandia |
| John: Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| John: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Medina: modeli [natural native speed] |
| John: model |
| Medina: modeli [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: modeli [natural native speed] |
| John: Next, we have... |
| Medina: fanana [natural native speed] |
| John: to resemble |
| Medina: fanana [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: fanana [natural native speed] |
| John: Next up is... |
| Medina: tegemea [natural native speed] |
| John: to depend |
| Medina: tegemea [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: tegemea [natural native speed] |
| John: Next, we have... |
| Medina: umbo [natural native speed] |
| John: shaped |
| Medina: umbo [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: umbo [natural native speed] |
| John: Next, we have... |
| Medina: ufahamu [natural native speed] |
| John: memory |
| Medina: ufahamu [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: ufahamu [natural native speed] |
| John: Next, there’s... |
| Medina: zinda [natural native speed] |
| John: to be resistant |
| Medina: zinda [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: zinda [natural native speed] |
| John: Next up is... |
| Medina: vipengele [natural native speed] |
| John: features |
| Medina: vipengele [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: vipengele [natural native speed] |
| John: And lastly... |
| Medina: dumu [natural native speed] |
| John: to last |
| Medina: dumu [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: dumu [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| John: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Medina: kununua simu |
| John: ...meaning "to buy a phone." |
| Medina: Kununua means "to buy." You can create its infinitive form by adding the infinitive prefix ku to the stem verb -nunua ("buy"). Simu is the Swahili for "phone." |
| John: Both words can be used on their own in multiple contexts. Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Medina: Sure. For example, you can say Watu wengi wanajimudu kununua simu. |
| John: ...which means "Many people can afford to buy a phone." |
| John: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Medina: unaufahamu |
| John: This means "it has a memory." |
| Medina: Unaufahamu is a statement that can be broken down into u, in this case the pronoun "it;" na, the present tense marker; and ufahamu for "memory." |
| John: The translation of this word is very specific, "you/it has the memory" or "you have the understanding." |
| Medina: Right, una can be used to imply that someone or something has an item or character, like in this case, the phone has memory. Ufahamu can also mean "understanding." |
| John: Can you give us an example using the whole word? |
| Medina: Sure. For example, you can say Unaufahamu yale yaliyotendeka jadi? |
| John: ...which means "Do you have memory of what happened long ago?" |
| John: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Medina: zinda maji |
| John: ...meaning "to be water resistant" |
| Medina: Zinda means "to be resistant" and maji is "water." |
| John: This phrase is useful when referring to something that is water resistant, so it's very specific. |
| Medina: Zinda, as a verb, can be used in different contexts separate from maji (“water"). |
| John: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Medina: Sure. For example, you can say Saa hii inazinda maji. |
| John: ...which means "This watch is water resistant." |
| John: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| John: In this lesson, you'll learn about comparing elements. Let’s start by looking at the modifiers. |
| Medina: The modifier -ingi means “many” or “a lot” when a noun class marker is attached to it. |
| John: Since it refers to plural things, it cannot be used for noun classes denoting the singular form. |
| Medina: The modifier -ingine also has the noun class marker attached to it to mean “another” or “other.” Unlike -ingi, -ingine works for both singular and plural noun classes. |
| John: Let’s give some examples using different noun classes. |
| Medina: For example let’s consider mtu and watu for the M / WA class. |
| John: They respectively mean “person” and “persons.” |
| Medina: We can add both modifiers to the plural watu. Watu plus -ingi, will be watu wengi meaning “many people,” and watu plus -ingine is watu wengine, meaning “other people.” |
| John: What about the singular? |
| Medina: We can combine mtu and -ingine to get mtu mwingine meaning “another person.” |
| John: Let’s do another example with the class KI / VI. |
| Medina: For example, kijiko, meaning “spoon,” becomes kijiko kingine. The plural vijiko changes to vijiko vingine which means “other spoons.” |
| John: Listeners, be sure to check the lesson notes to get samples for all the noun classes. Medina, let’s give some sample sentences using the modifiers. |
| Medina: Using -ingi, for example, you can say Vitabu vingi vimetupwa. |
| John: ...meaning “Many books have been thrown away.” |
| Medina: Using -ingine, for example, you can say Juma amenunua gari lingine. |
| John: “Juma has bought another car.” Okay, now let’s see how to compare the features between two or more products. |
| Medina: Here is an example of a comparison sentence. Nadhania zote ni nzuri lakini gani bora zaidi? |
| John: “I guess they are both good, but which is better?” |
| Medina: Samsung ina ufahamu na umbo mkubwa kuliko Iphone 6. |
| John: This means “Samsung has a bigger memory and size than the iPhone 6.” From these examples, you can see that the Swahili comparatives do not follow similar set patterns like English comparatives. |
| Medina: In the first sentence, zaidi, meaning “more,” comes after the adjective bora (“fine”). So, bora zaidi literally means “more fine” or simply “better.” Zaidi is therefore a word you can use to form a comparison. |
| John: What about the second sentence? |
| Medina: The comparison is the phrase with kuliko meaning “than.” Note that it also comes after the adjective kubwa (“big”). |
| John: Together, they mean “bigger.” These two examples show the easiest pattern to follow - a comparative element preceded by an adjective. Let’s give some more examples. |
| Medina: Anapesa zaidi ya nchi yetu nzima. |
| John: “He has a lot of money, more than what our country has.” |
| Medina: Pale pengine ni pa zuri kuliko hapa. |
| John: “That other place is a better to live than here.” |
Outro |
| John: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Medina: Tuonane! |
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