Learn the top five phrases teachers want to hear
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Medina: Hamjamboni! Welcome back to SwahiliPod101.com! I’m Medina. |
| Joshua: Hello everybody, I’m Joshua! This is All About, Lesson 15 - Top 5 Swahili Phrases From the Hosts. In this final lesson of the series, we'll go over our 5 favorite phrases! |
| Medina: Yes, these are the phrases that we chose. We find these useful and interesting, and they’re used a lot in Swahili. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Joshua: That's right. So Medina, what's our first phrase? |
| Medina: ‘Hujambo?’ |
| Joshua: And what does it mean? |
| Medina: It means "How are you doing?" |
| Joshua: Do you hear this phrase often? |
| Medina: Every day. |
| Joshua: Is it slang? |
| Medina: No. It's used both in normal and in casual settings, though usually children don't use it with older people, but it can be used with people around your age. |
| Joshua: I see. So what's our next phrase? |
| Medina: ‘Sijambo.’ |
| Joshua: And what does this mean? |
| Medina: Actually, it’s a response to ‘hujambo’. It literally means "I'm well," but we use it like "I'm good." |
| Joshua: Do you hear this a lot? |
| Medina: It is common to hear this response, especially among young people to older people, or within people of the same age group. |
| Joshua: Is this the only way of greeting someone? |
| Medina: Not really. We have quite a few ways. Most of the time, you will hear, ‘habari gani?’ which means “How are you?” |
| Joshua: Is it also used by older people? |
| Medina It’s one of the most common greetings, both to the old and the young. |
| Joshua: And do you answer with ‘sijambo?’ |
| Medina: Not really. A shorter version, ‘nzuri’ is used to mean “I am fine.” |
| Joshua: Really? That's good to know. What's our next phrase? |
| Medina: ‘Wapi...’, which means… |
| Joshua: "Where." |
| Medina: ‘Wapi’ is a short, concise, and easy-to-use sentence. |
| Joshua: It appears in the textbooks too, but it’s a very practical phrase, and should always be included in a Swahili course. |
| Medina: ‘Wapi’ is used every day. |
| Joshua: What's our next phrase? |
| Medina: ‘Sivyo?’ |
| Joshua: Which means? |
| Medina: Uhhh… |
| Joshua: Come on Medina you can do it. Give it a try. |
| Medina: Uhhh…"it is?" |
| Joshua: Sounds good to me. ‘Sivyo’ is pretty easy to understand when you see someone using it, but extremely hard to define. |
| Medina: And people use it all the time. It's used mostly as a filler and it's like saying "yes" without actually agreeing. Like when you don't know what to say. Or when you don't agree with what someone said, but you don't want to be disagreeable. |
| Joshua: Exactly. And remember, it's a kind thing to say, so don't get worked up if someone says that to you. |
| Medina: Right. |
| Joshua: What's our last vocabulary word? |
| Medina: ‘Pengine.’ |
| (pause) |
| Joshua: I love this word. |
| Medina: Really? Why? |
| Joshua: It’s such an easy one to use, and it dismisses all kinds of conversation. Let’s say you’re watching a movie, and someone asks a question like “Isn’t that person actually that person” or something like that. |
| Medina: Ah, you can answer with ‘Pengine’. And the person asking will shut their mouth afterwards, right!? |
| Joshua: Yes, it dismisses any sort of conversation you don’t want. |
| Medina: But then again, aren’t we here to teach people conversation? |
| Joshua: Well, ‘Pengine.’ |
| Medina: By the way, ‘pengine’ means “may be.” Just so we don’t confuse you. |
| Joshua: Yes. It is a lot like the English “may be.” But that doesn’t mean you can use it exactly like that. |
| Medina: Why? |
| Joshua: Well, if someone asks you “Are you driving?” you can’t answer with ‘pengine.’ |
| Medina: Good point! Answering ‘pengine’ means that you agree with the question, but aren’t really sure of the correct answer. Sort of. |
| Joshua: It might be a bit hard to understand how to use it at first. But don’t worry, you’ll hear many people use it and gradually incorporate it into your own Swahili as well. |
| Medina: So there you have it! Five phrases that we find really useful, that we have now passed on to you! Try using them the next time you have a conversation in Swahili! |
Outro |
| Joshua: And that’s all for this lesson, and this series. |
| Medina: That's right! We hope you enjoyed it. Listeners, please visit SwahiliPod101.com and check out our other series, like our Basic Boot Camp, Pronunciation, and Survival Phrases. |
| Joshua: And we’ll see you in another series. Thanks everyone! |
| Medina: Bye! |
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