Dialogue

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
In the last lesson, we learned how to make a reservation in a restaurant. Now that you know how to get a table, you have another big issue to tackle. If you want to enjoy your meal, the smoking issue is very important. If you are a smoker in a non-smoking establishment, or a non-smoker in a smoking establishment, this can ruin your meal.
In this lesson, we'll cover how to ask for a smoking or non-smoking table.
BODY
Let’s imagine first that you are a smoker. Before entering a restaurant, you need to ask, “Excuse me, is smoking allowed here?”:
Samahani, uvutaji sigara unaruhusiwa hapa?
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Sa -ma - ha - ni, u - vu - ta-ji si - ga - ra u - na - ru - hu - si - wa ha - pa?
Once more:
Samahani, uvutaji sigara unaruhusiwa hapa?
Samahani, as we have seen, means “Excuse me.”
(slow) Sa -ma - ha - ni
We follow this with uvutaji, which means “smoking.”
(slow) u - vu - ta - ji
uvutaji
And then with sigara, which means “cigarette.”
(slow) si - ga - ra
sigara
Next we have unaruhusiwa to mean “permitted”
(slow) u - na - ru - hu - si - wa
unaruhusiwa
Last is hapa, which means “here.”
(slow) ha - pa.
hapa
Here’s the whole sentence:
Samahani, uvutaji sigara unaruhusiwa hapa?
(slow) Sa -ma - ha - ni, u - vu - ta-ji si - ga - ra u - na - ru - hu - si - wa ha - pa?
・
The answer to this question is very simple: Ndio, unaruhusiwa, “Yes, you can smoke”, or La, hauruhusiwi, “No, no smoking”.
Let’s break those down:
(slow) Ndio, unaruhusiwa.
(slow) La, hauruhusiwi.
If the answer is “You are not allowed to smoke here,” the expression “I’m sorry” often comes before the negative answer:
samahani.
・
Another way of asking is
Samahani, uvutaji sigara hauruhusiwi humu?
This literally means “Excuse me, is smoking prohibited in here?”.
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Sa -ma - ha - ni, u - vu - ta-ji si - ga - ra ha - u -ru - hu - si - wi hu - mu?
Once more at natural speed:
Samahani, uvutaji sigara hauruhusiwi humu?
Samahani, you’ll remember, means “Excuse me.”
uvutaji sigara means “to smoke a cigarette.”
(slow) u - vu - ta - ji
uvutaji
hauruhusiwi means “forbidden.”
(slow) ha - u - ru - hu - si - wi
hauruhusiwi
that humu means “in here.”
The whole question is:
Samahani, uvutaji sigara hauruhusiwi humu?
(slow) Sa -ma - ha - ni, u - vu - ta-ji si - ga - ra ha - u -ru - hu - si - wi hu - mu?
Once more:
Samahani, uvutaji sigara hauruhusiwi humu?
・
On some signs, you will see the phrase Sigara limeharamishwa .This means “Smoking cigarettes is prohibited,” and you’ll see it next to the familiar image of a cigarette inside a cancel sign.
・
Now let’s go over the possible answers to the question, “Is smoking prohibited in here?” If it’s a positive answer, you might hear
Ndio hauruhusiwi.
All we did was add the Swahili word for “yes,” ndio, in front of the sentence. Because the question has a negative meaning—we’re asking whether smoking is prohibited—a “yes” answer will mean “Yes, it is prohibited”:
Ndio hauruhusiwi.
If what you’re pointing at is a smoking table, you’ll hear
La, unaruhusiwa.
Let’s break that down:
(slow) La, unaruhusiwa.
The first word, la, means “no.”
(slow)la
la
The second word unaruhusiwa
means “permitted.”
(slow) u - na - ru - hu - si - wa
unaruhusiwa
All together, it’s
(slow) La, unaruhusiwa.

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