Learn how to express distance and talk about housing
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| INTRODUCTION |
| John: Hi, everyone, and welcome back to SwahiliPod101.com. This is Intermediate Season 1, Lesson 15 - Finding a Place to Call Home in Kenya. John here. |
| Medina: Hamjambo, I'm Medina. |
| John: In this lesson, you’ll learn about expressing distance and talking about housing. The conversation takes place over the phone. |
| Medina: It's between Rehema and a real estate agent. |
| John: The speakers are strangers, therefore, they will speak formal Swahili. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Rehema: Je, hii ni kampuni ya JJ ya nyumba halisi? |
| Ajenti wa mali isiyohamishika: Jina langu ni Juma. Naweza kukusaidia? |
| Rehema: Ndio. Natafuta jumba katika sehemu nyamavu. |
| Ajenti wa mali isiyohamishika: Tunajumba mbili kubwa Muthaiga. Moja liko karibu na kilabu ya gofu. |
| Rehema: Je, ni nyamavu na karibu na nyanda za maduka? |
| Ajenti wa mali isiyohamishika: Zote zipo sehemu nyamavu na karibu dakika 7 hadi madukani kwa gari. |
| Rehema: Bora. Zina vyumba ngapi vya kulala? Zina bafu pamoja? |
| Ajenti wa mali isiyohamishika: Jumba moja lina vyumba tatu vya kulala ilhali lingine lina vyumba tano na bafu mbili pamoja. |
| Rehema: Zipo karibu na pakuogea? |
| Ajenti wa mali isiyohamishika: Pakuogea pako dakika 15 kutoka kwa jumba la kwanza. Jumba la pili lina pakuogea. |
| Rehema: Ni lile la vyumba tano? |
| Ajenti wa mali isiyohamishika: Ndio. |
| Rehema: Nitalichukua. |
| John: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Rehema: Hello, am I calling the JJ real estate company? |
| Real estate agent: Yes, my name is Juma. May I help you? |
| Rehema: Yes, I’m looking for a spacious house in a quiet place. |
| Real estate agent: I see. We have two bungalows in Muthaiga. One is near a golf club. |
| Rehema: Is it quiet and close to a shopping center? |
| Real estate agent: They are both in quiet areas within a seven-minute drive to malls. |
| Rehema: Sounds good. How many bedrooms do they have? Are they en suite? |
| Real estate agent: One has three bedrooms while the other has five bedrooms with two en suites. |
| Rehema: Are they near a swimming pool? |
| Real estate agent: There is a public swimming pool, 15 minutes drive away. The second house has a swimming pool though. |
| Rehema: Is it the five bedroom house? |
| Real estate agent: Yes. |
| Rehema: I'll take it. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| John: Rehema had some pretty specific things in mind for her house. |
| Medina: She managed to get them pretty easily, too. |
| John: Yeah, that might have been the easiest house hunting ever! |
| Medina: It’s important to pick the right part of the city to live in. |
| John: Why is that? |
| Medina: There’s a tendency to classify your status by where you live. |
| John: Right. I guess that there are modern and trendy areas that are more expensive than others. |
| Medina: Yeah, some expensive areas have gated roads and 24 hour security. |
| John: With the price tag to match, too! How about cheaper areas, what are they like? |
| Medina: They can be heavily congested. Also, outside the house it might not be safe at night. |
| John: Is there anything else to be wary of? |
| Medina: Rationing of water and electricity is common. However, the cost of living is low, and there might be shops so close that they’re at your gate. |
| 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: jumba [natural native speed] |
| John: (large) house |
| Medina: jumba [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: jumba [natural native speed] |
| John: Next, we have... |
| Medina: gofu [natural native speed] |
| John: golf |
| Medina: gofu [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: gofu [natural native speed] |
| John: Next, there’s... |
| Medina: nyamavu [natural native speed] |
| John: quiet |
| Medina: nyamavu [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: nyamavu [natural native speed] |
| John: Next up is.... |
| Medina: pakuogea [natural native speed] |
| John: swimming pool |
| Medina: pakuogea [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: pakuogea [natural native speed] |
| John: Next, we have... |
| Medina: kulala [natural native speed] |
| John: to sleep |
| Medina: kulala [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: kulala [natural native speed] |
| John: Then, we have... |
| Medina: bafu [natural native speed] |
| John: bathroom |
| Medina: bafu [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: bafu [natural native speed] |
| John: Next, we have... |
| Medina: maduka [natural native speed] |
| John: shops |
| Medina: maduka [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: maduka [natural native speed] |
| John: And lastly... |
| Medina: pamoja na bafu [natural native speed] |
| John: en suite |
| Medina: pamoja na bafu [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: pamoja na bafu [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: sehemu nyamavu |
| John: ...meaning "quiet place." |
| John: What can you tell us about this phrase? |
| Medina: The first word sehemu, is the Swahili word for "place" and the second word is nyamavu. |
| John: This means “quiet” and is used as an adjective. |
| Medina: The noun sehemu has many meanings, such as “part,” “district,” and “installments.” |
| John: But when matched with this adjective, it means “place.” |
| Medina: That’s right. In other contexts, it might take the other meanings. |
| John: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Medina: Sure. For example, you can say Sehemu nyamavu ni pazuri pa kusoma. |
| John: ...which means "A quiet place is good for studying." |
| John: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Medina: bafu pamoja na chumba |
| John: ...meaning "ensuite." |
| John: This is a pretty long expression for something expressed so easily in English, so let’s break down the words. |
| Medina: First is bafu, which means “bathroom” or “bathtub.” Pamoja means "joint," and na is a conjunction. |
| John: The final word means “room,” so together it means “joint bathroom with a room,” or “ensuite.” |
| Medina: Yeah, there isn’t an actual word for “ensuite,” but this phrase works. |
| John: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Medina: Sure. For example, you can say Vyumba vyote vya kulala vina bafu pamoja na chumba. |
| John: ...which means "All the bedrooms are ensuite." |
| John: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Medina: nyanda za maduka |
| John: ...meaning "shopping mall." |
| Medina: Nyanda is the plural form of uwanda ("plaza"). |
| John: The middle word is a preposition, meaning “of.” |
| Medina: Finally. Maduka is the plural for "shops." |
| John: Together, it literally means “plaza for shops,” or what we know as “shopping mall.” |
| Medina: Maduka is a good word to know for places where you can shop for items |
| John: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Medina: Sure. For example, you can say Nyanda za maduka ziko kadhaa jijini. |
| John: ...which means "There are several shopping malls in the city." |
| John: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| John: In this lesson, you'll learn about expressing distance and talking about housing. Let’s look at some words that help express distance. |
| Medina: First is karibu. This is an adjective meaning “near” or “close by.” |
| John: Usually, it’s used to reference how close a place is from the current point of the speaker. We can use this to say “close to a place.” |
| Medina: Yes, that phrase is Kuwa karibu na. The second word I want to introduce is jirani. |
| John: This acts as an adverb, meaning “close by” or “near.” |
| Medina: Another word is mbali, an adverb that means “distant” or “far.” |
| John: It’s often used to describe a place that is far from the speaker’s current reference point. You can use it to say “far from place.” |
| Medina: Kuwa mbali na. |
| John: Let’s hear some example sentences about distance. |
| Medina: Nyumba moja liko karibu na kilabu ya gofu |
| John: “One house is near a golf club.” |
| Medina: Zote zipo sehemu nyamavu na karibu dakika 7 hadi madukani kwa gari. |
| John: “They are both in quiet areas within a seven-minute drive to malls.” Let’s look at talking about housing in more detail. Medina, can you tell us a few words that would be useful when talking about real estate? |
| Medina: Sure! kununua |
| John: “to buy.” |
| Medina: kukodisha |
| John: “to rent” |
| Medina: mchango |
| John: “deposit” |
| Medina: mkopo |
| John: “mortgage” Now, how about a couple of sentences? |
| Medina: Okay. When talking about housing, a good word to remember is lina. |
| John: This means “has” or “have,” so you can use it to describe what the house has. |
| Medina: Right. For example, Nyumba lina vyumba tatu kubwa vya kulala na mahali pa kuogelea. |
| John: “It has three big bedrooms and a swimming pool.” |
| Medina: To talk about what you want a house to have, use liwe, meaning “should have,” or lililona. |
| John: ...meaning “that has.” Let’s end this lesson with one more example sentence. |
| Medina: Nyumba liwe na ulinzi mkali. |
| John: “The house should have tight security.” |
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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