Learn how to ask for the bill at a restaurant
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| 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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