Learn how to count to ten
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| This lesson is very straightforward—we’re going to cover counting zero through ten. Let's jump right in. |
| BODY |
| 0 sufuri |
| (slow) su - fu - ri |
| sufuri |
| 1 moja |
| (slow) mo - ja |
| moja |
| 2 mbili |
| (slow) mbi - li |
| mbili |
| 3 tatu |
| (slow) ta - tu |
| tatu |
| 4 nne |
| (slow) n - ne |
| nne |
| 5 tano |
| (slow) ta - no |
| tano |
| 6 sita |
| (slow) si - ta |
| sita |
| 7 saba |
| (slow) sa - ba |
| saba |
| 8 nane |
| (slow) na - ne |
| na - ne |
| 9 tisa |
| (slow) ti - sa |
| tisa |
| 10 kumi |
| (slow) ku - mi |
| ku - mi |
| When you count things, the number comes second, after the thing you’re counting. For example, "one night" is "siku moja" |
| Let's break it down: |
| (slow) si-ku moja |
| siku moja |
| Two nights is: |
| siku mbili |
| (slow) siku mbili |
| siku mibili |
| and five nights is: |
| siku tano |
| (slow) siku tano |
| siku tano |
| When talking about people and animate creatures, the numbers change slightly. Basically, if the word is singular, you add an "m" to the front of both the noun and the number: |
| For example, “one person” is |
| mtu mmoja |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) m - tu mmo - ja |
| mtu mmoja |
| Once more: |
| m - tu mmo - ja |
| If, however, the noun is plural, you add a "wa" to both the noun and the number. |
| “Two people” would be |
| watu wawili |
| (slow) wa - tu wa - wi - li |
| watu wawili |
| “Five people” is |
| watu watano |
| (slow) wa - tu wa - ta - no. |
| watu watano |
| ・ |
| Numbers can be very useful, especially when you’re shopping in Kenya. |
| Imagine you are buying some presents to take back to your country. You’ve chosen two bottles of wine in a nice shop. |
| “Two bottles of wine, please.” |
| Chupa mbili ya mvinyo, tafadhali. |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) Chu - pa mbi - li ya m - vi - nyo, ta - fa - dha - li. |
| Once more: |
| Chupa mbili ya mvinyo, tafadhali. |
| chupa, means “bottle.” |
| (slow) chu - pa |
| chupa, |
| mbili, as you already know, means “two.” |
| And mvinyo, as you may recall from our lesson on restaurants, means “wine.” |
| (slow) m - vi - nyo |
| mvinyo |
| I’m sure you don’t need to be reminded that tafadhali is “please” |
| The whole request, then, is |
| Chupa mbili ya mvinyo, tafadhali. |
| Now imagine you want to buy someone a Kenyan souvenir. For example, a lion sculpture. |
| “One lion sculpture, please” is |
| Bombwe moja la simba tafadhali. |
| Let’s break that down: |
| Bombwe moja la simba tafadhali. |
| (slow) Bo - mbwe mo - ja la si - mba ta - fa - dha - |
| li. |
| Once again: |
| Bombwe moja la simba tafadhali. |
| Bombwe means “sculpture” or “carving.” |
| bombwe |
| (slow) bombwe |
| bombwe , |
| The second word moja means “one” |
| moja |
| (slow) moja |
| moja |
| next we have la, the preposition “of” |
| It’s followed by simba, which means “lion” |
| simba |
| (slow) simba |
| simba |
| you will remember that tafadhali means “please.” |
| tafadhali |
| (Slow) Ta - fa - dha - li |
| tafadhali |
| All together the whole sentence will be |
| Bombwe moja la simba tafadhali. |
Comments
Hide