Learn how to describe events
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| INTRODUCTION |
| John: Hi everyone, and welcome back to SwahiliPod101.com This is Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 4 - Describing Something You've Witnessed in Swahili. John Here. |
| Medina: Hamjambo, I'm Medina. |
| John: In this lesson, you’ll learn about describing events and using more Swahili tenses. The conversation takes place at a police box. |
| Medina: It's between a police officer and Victor. |
| John: The speakers are strangers, therefore, they will speak both formal and informal Swahili. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Polisi: Je, ulikuwa pahali pa ajali, ajali ilipotokea? |
| Victor: Ndio, nilikuwa nimesimama barabarani nikingojea kuvuka. |
| Polisi: Tueleze kilichotokea kwa ufupi. |
| Victor: Nakumbuka kumwona mvulana mdogo kwa sketibodi lakini alipotea kwa ghafla. |
| Polisi: Unafahamu alikoenda? |
| Victor: Alianguka na kuteleza chini ya gari lililokuwa linaendeshwa. |
| Polisi: Je, dereva alisimama? |
| Victor: Alisimama kwa gutuko mkubwa. Nilikimbia kuchunguza mvulana yule. |
| Polisi: Hali yake ilikuwa vipi? |
| Victor: Alikuwa analia huku akijaribu kujivuta kutoka chini ya gari. Ambulensi ilimpeleka hospitalini. |
| Polisi: Habari njema. Asante kwa wakati wako. |
| John: Listen to the conversation with the English translation |
| Police: Were you at the accident scene when it happened? |
| Victor: Yes, I was standing by the road waiting to cross. |
| Police: Briefly, tell us what happened. |
| Victor: I remember seeing a little boy on a skateboard, but he suddenly disappeared. |
| Police: Do you know where he went? |
| Victor: He fell and slid under a moving car! |
| Police: Did the driver stop? |
| Victor: He did with a loud screech. I ran to check on the boy. |
| Police: How was he? |
| Victor: He was crying while trying to pull himself out from under the car! An ambulance rushed him to the hospital. |
| Police: Good to hear. Thank you for your time. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| John: Medina, are Kenyan roads safe? |
| Medina: Kenyan roads are notoriously dangerous and prone to accidents. The annual number for road traffic deaths is over 3,000. |
| John: Wow, that’s a lot! |
| Medina: Some places have been dubbed "black spots," or sehemu hatari, because of the number of tragic accidents that have occurred in these areas. |
| John: Has the government ever tried to improve the situation? |
| Medina: Yes, actually the situation improved after the government required motorists to install digital speed governors. |
| John: Are there cameras that are used to check the speed of vehicles? |
| Medina: Yes, flash cameras have been mounted on the roads to crack down on speeding drivers. |
| 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: ajali [natural native speed] |
| John: accident |
| Medina: ajali[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: ajali [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Medina: kuvuka [natural native speed] |
| John: to cross |
| Medina: kuvuka[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: kuvuka [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Medina: ufupi [natural native speed] |
| John: briefly |
| Medina: ufupi[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: ufupi [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Medina: ghafla [natural native speed] |
| John: sudden |
| Medina: ghafla[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: ghafla [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Medina: fahamu [natural native speed] |
| John: to understand |
| Medina: fahamu[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: fahamu [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Medina: teleza [natural native speed] |
| John: to slip, to slide |
| Medina: teleza[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: teleza [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Medina: dereva [natural native speed] |
| John: driver |
| Medina: dereva[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: dereva [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Medina: gutuko [natural native speed] |
| John: bang |
| Medina: gutuko[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: gutuko [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Medina: pahali [natural native speed] |
| John: place |
| Medina: pahali[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: pahali [natural native speed] |
| John: And last.. |
| Medina: potea [natural native speed] |
| John: to get lost |
| Medina: potea[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: potea [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 phrase is.. |
| Medina: pahali pa ajali |
| John: meaning "accident scene." Can you break this phrase down? |
| Medina: Pahali means "place," while pa is a preposition usually used to indicate location. Ajali refers to "accident" in English. |
| John: Can you use these words independently? |
| Medina: Pahali pa, just like any other word that shows location, is very handy to show where an activity is or where it took place. |
| John: It only requires the name of the location after it. |
| Medina: Right for example pahali pa mkutano |
| John: meaning "a place for meetings." |
| Medina: Also ajali can be used by itself, to refer to any kind of accident. |
| John: Can you give us an example using the whole phrase? |
| Medina: Sure. For example, you can say.. Kuna umati wa watu pahali pa ajali. |
| John: ..which means "There is a crowd at the accident scene." |
| John: Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Medina: kupotea kwa ghafla |
| John: meaning "to suddenly disappear" |
| Medina: Kupotea is an infinitive verb with the prefix ku- and the root of the verb -potea, "disappear." Kwa is a preposition that relates potea, "disappear," to ghafla, "suddenly." |
| John: Can these words be used independently in different contexts? |
| Medina: Yes they can. Notice that -potea, as a root verb, can take different prefixes depending on the subject and the tense. |
| John: Can you give us an example using the entire phrase? |
| Medina: Sure. For example, you can say.. Kupotea kwa pasipoti yangu, ilinitia wasiwasi. |
| John: .. which means "The sudden disappearance of my passport made me worry." |
| John: Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Medina: gutuko mkubwa |
| John: meaning "loud bang." Let’s break it down. |
| Medina: Gutuko is the English equivalent of "bang." |
| John: It is often used to describe a sudden, loud sound. |
| Medina: Kubwa, or "big," is an adjective that describes how big the bang was. |
| John: This could be in terms of size, extent, quantity, or magnitude. Given their usage, both words can be used separately. |
| Medina: Here is an example that shows how to use them together, Gutuko hilo karibu linizimishe moyo. |
| John: .. which means "That bang almost silenced my heart." |
| John: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| John: In this lesson, you'll learn how to describe events and we will get into more detail with Swahili tenses. What is the first tense we’ll see in this lesson? |
| Medina: In Swahili it’s called Wakati uliopo unaoendelea |
| John: which is the “present progressive,” a tense that shows continuing action. In Swahili, you can identify the tense through the tense marker. What is that for the present progressive? |
| Medina: It’s: -na- |
| John: Can you give us some examples? First, let’s state the base form, then a conjugated form. Let’s start with “to cross” |
| Medina: the base form is -vuka and a progressive tense is Anavuka |
| John: Which means “he or she is crossing.” What about the verb meaning “to read”? |
| Medina: that is -soma and a conjugated form would be Wanasoma |
| John: meaning “they are reading.” Could you also give us some sample sentences? |
| Medina: Sure. Musa anavuka daraja. |
| John: Which means “Moses is crossing the bridge.” |
| Medina: Mamangu anashona kila siku. |
| John: “My mother sews every day.” Ok, what is next tense? |
| Medina: it’s wakati uliopo hali timilifu |
| John: which means “Present perfect” |
| Medina: You can recognize it by the tense marker me |
| John: This tense shows that an action was finished at some point in the past and/or the action could extend into the present. Let’s show some base and conjugated forms, with the same verbs we saw earlier. First, “to cross” |
| Medina: The base form is -vuka and a present perfect form could be Amevuka |
| John: meaning “he or she has crossed” |
| Medina: Next is “to read” -soma, a present perfect form could be Wamesoma |
| John: “They have read.” Let’s hear some sentences with this tense! |
| Medina: Wanafunzi wamesoma kwa bidii. |
| John: “The students have studied hard.” |
| Medina: Umepika chalula kitamu. |
| John: “You have cooked delicious food.” Ok, what is final tense we’ll see today? |
| Medina: In Swahili it’s called wakati wa mazoea |
| John: meaning “habitual tense.” |
| Medina: you can use this form for activities that are commonly used or practiced |
| John: What is its tense marker? |
| Medina: It’s hu |
| John: Let’s see similar examples to the ones we saw for the other two tenses. |
| Medina: First -vuka, “to cross.” A habitual tense form is Yeye huvuka |
| John: “he or she crosses” or “he or she usually crosses” |
| Medina: For -soma “to read,” you can say Wao husoma |
| John: “they read” or “they always read” |
| Medina: Here is an example sentence: Mimi hukunywa maji kila asubuhi. |
| John: “I drink water every morning.” |
| Medina: Wewe hucheka kwa sauti sana. |
| John: “You often laugh loudly.” As you may have noticed, in all three tenses, all components of the verb remain the same. |
| Medina: Right, the subject and the infinite verb do not change, except for the tense marker. |
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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