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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
In this lesson, we’ll cover an extremely important phrase - “Where is the toilet?”.
BODY
In Swahili, “Where is the toilet?” is
Msala uko wapi?
Let’s break it down:
(slow) M - sa - la u- ko wa - pi?
Once more:
Msala uko wapi?
Let’s look at the components. The first word, msala, means “toilet.”
(slow) m - sa - la
msala.
This is followed by uko, which acts as the place indicator, roughly translated as “there.”
(slow) u - ko
uko.
After that is wapi, which means “where”. Therefore, together with uko, it means “where is.”
All together, that’s
(slow) m-sala u - ko wa - pi?
msala uko wapi?
・
A formal way to ask "Where can I find the bathroom?” is
Bafu liko wapi?
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Ba - fu li - ko wa - pi?
Once more:
Bafu liko wapi?
The first word bafu, means bathroom.
(slow) bafu
bafu
After that is liko, acting as a place indicator, which when followed with wapi means “where is”
liko wapi?
All together, that’s
(slow) li - ko wa - pi?
liko wapi?
If you are looking for the ladies’ room, the phrase is
Msala wa wanawake uko wapi?
Let’s break it down:
(slow) M - sa - la wa wa - na - wa - ke u - ko wa - pi?
Once more:
Msala wa wanawake uko wapi?
msala means “toilet.”
(slow) m - sa - la
msala
Next is wa, a preposition connecting msala and wanawake.
Wanawake literally means “women.”
(slow) wa - na - wa - ke
wanawake.
Then we have uko, which again is the place indicator. It is followed by the word wapi, which means “where.”
So now we have:
(slow) uko - wa - pi?
uko wapi?
All together, that’s
(slow) M - sa - la wa wa - na - wa - ke u - ko wa - pi?
Msala wa wanawake uko wapi?
・
If you are looking for the men’s room, the question for that is
Msala wa wanaume uko wapi?
Let’s break it down:
(slow) M - sa - la wa wa - na - u -me u - ko wa - pi?
Once more:
Msala wa wanaume uko wapi?
Wanaume means “men.”
(slow) Wa - na - u - me
Wanaume
To ask for the men’s room, just swap out the word wanawake (“women”) with wanaume (“men”)
(slow) M - sa - la wa wa - na - u -me u - ko wa - pi?
Msala wa wanaume uko wapi?
・
Let’s hear both of the sentences one more time:
Msala wa wanawake uko wapi?
Msala wa wanaume uko wapi?
When you finally get to the bathroom, there may be one last hurdle. At some bathrooms, only Swahili words are written on the doors! What do you do?
As we’ve heard before, the word for “men” is
wanaume.
And for “women” you’ll see either
wanawake or wake.
Let’s hear those once more.
The word for “men”is wanaume.
(slow) wa - na - u - me.
wanaume.
The word for “women”is wanawake.
(slow) wa - na - wa - ke
wanawake.
Or wake.
(slow) wa - ke
wake
・
There may not be many public bathrooms for tourists to use. This means your best option is to stop at either a café or a restaurant, and use the bathroom there. Understandably, café owners aren’t always too keen on having people stop in, just to use their bathroom. Since you’ll be a tourist, they will welcome you, and let you use the toilet. So to be polite, you might want to buy a bottle of water, or order a coffee before asking msala uko wapi?

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