Dialogue

Want to Understand & Master the Swahili Dialogue 100%?

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.

Vocabulary (Review)

Learn New Words FAST with this Lesson’s Vocab Review List

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.

Lesson Notes

Unlock In-Depth Explanations & Exclusive Takeaways with Printable Lesson Notes

Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.

Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
In this lesson you’ll learn how to get to places by taxi.
BODY
Imagine you want to go Bomas of Kenya, an important place in Nairobi.
In Swahili, “To Bomas of Kenya, please.” is
Hadi Bomas of Kenya, tafadhali.
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Ha - di Bomas of Kenya, ta - fa - dha - li.
Once more:
Hadi Bomas of Kenya, tafadhali.
Just add hadi, which means “to” before your destination.
hadi
(slow) hadi
hadi
This is the easiest way to say where you want to go.
・
Of course, it’ s good to have more than one option!
You can also say “Let’s go to Bomas of Kenya please.”
Twende Bomas of Kenya, tafadhali.
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Twe - nde Bo - ma - s of Ke - nya, ta - fa - dha - li.
And again:
Twende Bomas of Kenya, tafadhali.
The first word, Twende, means something like “let’s go.”
Twende
(slow) Twende
Twende
This is followed by the destination, in this case, it’s “Bomas of Kenya”
Finally, the familiar tafadhali which means “please”.
Altogether, we have,
Twende Bomas of Kenya, tafadhali.
・
When you want to get out, you can say “Here, please.”
Hapa, tafadhali.
Just say these words and the driver will stop.
Hapa, tafadhali.
(slow) Ha - pa, ta - fa - dha - li.
Hapa, tafadhali.
Hapa, as we’ve seen, means “here.”
(slow) Hapa
Hapa
Once more, all together, that’s
(slow) Ha - pa, ta - fa - dha - li.
Hapa, tafadhali.
It could also be nice to add “thank you” after the driver stops:
Asante.
・
If you want to be really specific about it, you can say
Tutasimama hapa, tafadhali.
which means “We’ll stop here, please.”
(slow) Tu - ta - si - ma - ma ha - pa, ta - fa -
dha - li.
Tutasimama hapa, tafadhali.
Tutasimama means “we shall stop.”
(slow) Tu - ta - si - ma - ma
Tutasimama
hapa means “here” and is followed by the obvious
tafadhali (“please”)
All together, that’s (slow) Tu - ta - si - ma - ma ha - pa, ta - fa - dha - li.
Tutasimama hapa, tafadhali.
・
When it’s time to pay, you may want to know
Naweza lipa kutimi kadi kope?
“Can I pay by credit card?”
Since Kenyan taxis might not accept credit cards, it helps to ask before you get in.
Naweza lipa kutumia kadi kope?
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Na - we - za li - pa ku - tu - mi - a ka -di ko - pe?
Again at natural speed:
Naweza lipa kutumia kadi kope?
The first word, naweza, means “can I.”
(slow) na - we - za.
naweza
The next word, lipa, means “pay,”
(slow) li - pa
lipa
It is followed by kutumia, which means “using.”
(slow) ku - tu - mi - a
kutumia
The last two words, kadi kope, mean “credit card,
kadi is a word for “card”
kadi
(slow) kadi
kadi
While kope is a literal word for “credit.”
kope
(slow) kope
kope
Together we have,
(slow) ka - di ko - pe
kadi kope
The entire question is
(slow) Na - we - za li - pa ku - tu - mi - a ka - di ko - pe?
Naweza lipa kutumia kadi kope?

Comments

Hide