Dialogue

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Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
In the last lesson, we learned how to get a waiter’s attention and order food and drinks at a restaurant. Once you have the beverages and entrées you ordered, you can enjoy the mouthwatering meal.
BODY
Normally, when the waiter sees that you have finished, he will come to your table and kindly ask, “Would you like anything else?”. In Swahili this is
Ungelipenda kitu kingine chochote?
Let’s break that down:
(slow) U - nge - li - pe - nda ki - tu ki - ngi - ne cho - cho - te?
Once again: Ungelipenda kitu kingine chochote?
Ungelipenda means “Would you like.”
(slow) U - nge - li - pe - nda
Ungelipenda
Here kitu means “something.” and kingine means “another,” So kitu kingine means “anything else” altogether.
(slow) ki - tu ki - ngi - ne
kitu kingine.
The last word chochote means “anything”
(Slow) cho - cho -te
chochote
You are sure to hear this from waiters in restaurants or cafés.
Again, the whole question is:
Ungelipenda kitu kingine chochote?
Unless you’re still hungry—very unlikely after a Swahili meal—you can say “No, thanks”:
La, asante.
(slow) La, a - sa - nte.
You may recall that la means “no” and asante means “thanks.”
La, asante.
・
Instead, you can ask for a hot drink:
Una kinywaji moto?
Which means, “do you have hot drink?”
(Slow) U - na ki - nywa - ji mo - to?
Una kinywaji moto?
The first word una literally means “to have.“
In this case it implies, “do you have”, raising the intonation of the sentence to form a question.
You will recall that kinywaji means “ drink” and
moto means “hot”
Usually the waiters will respond;
Ndio, Ungelipenda kahawa au chai
Which means something like: “Yes, would you like to have coffee or tea?”
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Ndi - o, U - nge - li - pe - nda ka - ha - wa au cha - i?
And again at natural speed:
Ndio, Ungelipenda kahawa au chai?
You may recall from our previous lesson that Ndio is a word for “yes” and Ungelipenda is a word for, “would you like?”
(slow) U - nge - li - pe - nda
Ungelipenda
You can probably tell that kahawa means “coffee.”
(slow) ka - ha - wa
kahawa
The second word, au, means “or.”
(slow) au
au
Next is chai, the Swahili word for “tea.”
(slow) cha - i
cha - i
Altogether, the question is
Ndio, Ungelipenda kahawa au chai?
If you prefer coffee, answer
kahawa, tafadhali.
(slow) ka - ha - wa, ta - fa - dha - li.
kahawa, tafadhali.
Or if you want tea, say
chai, tafadhali.
(slow) cha - i, ta - fa - dha - li.
chai, tafadhali.
・
When you’re ready to leave, you’ll want to ask for the check. In Swahili this is
bili, tafadhali.
Let’s break it down:
(slow) bi - li, ta - fa - dha - li.
Once more:
bili, tafadhali.
Surprisingly, the first word is derived from the English word “bill”. This is a good example of an English word that has been borrowed by Swahili speakers.
And by now you’re no stranger to tafadhali.
(“please”).
Here’s the whole sentence:
bili, tafadhali.
(slow) bi - li, ta - fa - dha - li.
And now you’re ready to go!

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