Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
John: Hi everyone, and welcome back to SwahiliPod101.com. This is Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 6 - Getting Some Good Swahili Advice. John Here.
Medina: Hamjambo, I'm Medina.
John: In this lesson, you’ll learn about expressing an opinion politely using negation. The conversation takes place at a cafe.
Medina: It's between Victor and Rehema.
John: The speakers are co-workers, therefore, they will speak informal Swahili. Okay, let's listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
Victor: Nafikiria itanibidi niende kwa masomo zaidi.
Rehema: Wazo njema. Je, kazi nayo?
Victor: Sitafanya kazi hadi nimalize kusomo.
Rehema: Nadhani umelipa wazo jambo hilo.
Victor: Kwa kweli, ninawasiwasi kuwa nitatumia hakiba yangu yote.
Rehema: Sinahakika kama unaweza pata udhamini wa masomo lakini siujaribu kutafuta?
Victor: Tayari nilijiandikisha lakini sikufanikiwa.
Rehema: Mbona usijaribu masomo ya mbali? Unaweza soma huku ukifanya kazi.
Victor: Nijambo nitalofikiri kuhusu.
Rehema: Tafadhali, chukua muda wako.
Victor: Asante kunisaidia kufikiri kuhusu suala hili.
Rehema: Karibu.
John: Listen to the conversation with the English translation
Victor: I think I might be forced to go for further studies.
Rehema: Sounds great. How about work?
Victor: I will not work until after the studies.
Rehema: I guess you must have thought about it.
Victor: Actually, I'm worried I might end up using all my savings.
Rehema: I'm not quite sure if you can get a scholarship, but won't you try and search?
Victor: I already applied, but it didn’t go through.
Rehema: Why not try distance learning? You could work while you study.
Victor: It might be something I'll have to think about.
Rehema: Please, take your time.
Victor: Thanks for helping me think through this issue.
Rehema: My pleasure.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
John: It sounds like Victor had some financial concerns about his studies.
Medina: Yes, and thankfully Rehema was able to help.
John: Is it common to share troubles and opinions like this in Kenya?
Medina: Actually, it can be difficult for people in Kenya to disclose personal struggles.
John: Really?
Medina: Yes. There is a saying kufa na shida zako.
John: This means “die with your problems.”
Medina: Exactly. It implies that people have many problems and have no space for others.
John: But, there must be some people you can turn to?
Medina: Of course! There are some ready to lend their ears, such as church leaders and professional counsellors, called mshauri.
John: That’s good to hear. I’m sure that friends and family will help out a little too.
Medina: Yes, they will.
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: bidi [natural native speed]
John: to be forced to
Medina: bidi[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Medina: bidi [natural native speed]
John: Next we have..
Medina: masomo [natural native speed]
John: education
Medina: masomo[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Medina: masomo [natural native speed]
John: Next we have..
Medina: wazo [natural native speed]
John: idea
Medina: wazo[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Medina: wazo [natural native speed]
John: Next we have..
Medina: wasiwasi [natural native speed]
John: to worry
Medina: wasiwasi[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Medina: wasiwasi [natural native speed]
John: Next we have..
Medina: udhamini [natural native speed]
John: scholarship
Medina: udhamini[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Medina: udhamini [natural native speed]
John: Next we have..
Medina: fanikiwa [natural native speed]
John: to succeed
Medina: fanikiwa[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Medina: fanikiwa [natural native speed]
John: Next we have..
Medina: kuhusu [natural native speed]
John: about
Medina: kuhusu[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Medina: kuhusu [natural native speed]
John: Next we have..
Medina: suala [natural native speed]
John: issue
Medina: suala[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Medina: suala [natural native speed]
John: Next we have..
Medina: fikiri [natural native speed]
John: to think
Medina: fikiri[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Medina: fikiri [natural native speed]
John: And last..
Medina: hakiba [natural native speed]
John: savings
Medina: hakiba[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Medina: hakiba [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: masomo zaidi
John: meaning "further studies"
John: What can you tell us about this?
Medina: Masomo is the plural form of somo.
John: In this context, it means “studies.”
Medina: Zaidi is an adverb that implies “further” in this case.
John: Can you give us an example using this phrase?
Medina: Sure. For example, you can say.. Masomo zaidi imetia fora miongoni mwa wafanyakazi.
John: ..which means "Further studies have become popular among workers."
John: Okay, what's the next word?
Medina: ninawasiwasi
John: meaning "I am worried"
John: Let’s break this word down into the different parts.
Medina: First is ni, the subject pronoun. Then na; the present tense marker. And finally, wasiwasi.
John: This means “worry.”
Medina: Ni and na together make nina, which means “I have.”
John: So you can use this in many circumstances to say “I have something.”
Medina: Yes. If you add kwa right before wasiwasi, then it makes an adverb to mean "anxiously."
John: Can you give us an example using this word?
Medina: Sure. For example, you can say.. Ninawasiwasi hadi kukosa usingizi.
John: .. which means "I am worried that I cannot fall asleep. "
John: Okay, what's the next phrase?
Medina: udhamini wa masomo
John: meaning "scholarship"
John: We came across the last word just a moment ago where it meant “studies”, but in this context it means “education.”
Medina: Yes, masomo. The first word udhamini in this context means “scholarship,” and wa is a preposition meaning “for.”
John: Altogether, it literally means “scholarship for education.”
Medina: That’s right. Udhamini is a noun that has other meanings too, like "guarantee," and "pledge."
John: Can you give us an example using this phrase?
Medina: Sure. For example, you can say.. Ni bahati kupata udhamini wa masomo.
John: .. which means "It takes luck to get a scholarship."
John: Okay, now onto the lesson focus.

Lesson focus

John: In this lesson, you'll learn about expressing opinions politely using negation. Let’s look at using negation with personal pronouns first.
Medina: As I’m sure our listeners already know, the personal pronoun often comes before the tense marker of the verb.
John: This is the case regardless of whether the personal pronoun is affirmative or not.
Medina: That’s right. But of course, when negating, the personal pronouns are different.
John: Okay, so that’s the explanation, now let’s see it in action. We’ll work through an example using the verb “to read.”
Medina: Soma. So “I’m reading” is ninasoma.
John: The pronoun has been added at the front.
Medina: The negation would be sisomi.
John: “I’m not reading.” The pronoun is different.
Medina: This is the case for other pronouns too. For example, tunakuja and hatukuji.
John: “We are coming” and “we aren’t coming,” respectively. Let’s hear one last example with pronouns. First, “you are talking.”
Medina: Mnaongea.
John: And, “you are not talking.”
Medina: Hamuongei. When you are negating verbs, the rules change depending on the tense.
John: For example, with future tenses, the only part that changes is the pronoun.
Medina: Right. The future tense is marked by the tense marker ta, and this stays the same for both affirmative and negative sentences. For example, nitafanya and sitafanya.
John: But the rules are different for other tenses. The present tense marker in affirmative sentences is deleted in negative sentences.
Medina: Yes, we delete na and the last vowel -a is changed to -i. Ninafanya and Sifanyi.
John: There is a table in the lesson notes that shows all of the tenses and the changes.
Medina: The different noun classes also have different ways of being negated.
John: Okay. Let’s go through one as an example.
Medina: Let’s look at the KI noun class and the example Kijiko kimevunjika.
John: “The spoon is broken.”
Medina: When this is made negative, the ki changes to haki. Kijiko hakijavunjika
John: “The spoon is not broken.” Let’s look at one more noun class.
Medina: We’ll take the M class. We can say Mtu anakuja.
John: “Someone is coming.” How do we say “someone is not coming?”
Medina: Mtu hakuji. The a- changes to ha-

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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