Dialogue

Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Louise: Hi everyone, and welcome back to SwahiliPod101.com This is Absolute Beginner Season 1 Lesson 25 - Making Plans for the Weekend in Kenya. Louise here.
Medina: Hello everyone. I'm Medina.
Louise: In this final lesson of the series, you’ll learn how to use the word “kwa” meaning “for” in Swahili. The conversation takes place in a classroom.
Medina: It's between three friends, Mary, Imani and Juma.
Louise: The speakers are close friends, so they’ll be using informal Swahili. Okay, let's listen to the conversation.

Lesson conversation

Imani: Nasafiri kuenda Nairobi mwezi ujao.
Mary: Kufanya nini?
Imani: Dadangu mdogo anafanya arusi.
Juma: Hongera. Hivyo ni vyema.
Mary: Mazuri hayo. Umefurahia sana?
Imani: Ndiyo. Nitafurahia kutoka huku Mombasa. Baadaye tutaenda Kisumu. Kwa nyanya na babu yangu.
Juma: Ukweli? Wow!
Louise: Listen to the conversation one time slowly.
Imani: Nasafiri kuenda Nairobi mwezi ujao.
Mary: Kufanya nini?
Imani: Dadangu mdogo anafanya arusi.
Juma: Hongera. Hivyo ni vyema.
Mary: Mazuri hayo. Umefurahia sana?
Imani: Ndiyo. Nitafurahia kutoka huku Mombasa. Baadaye tutaenda Kisumu. Kwa nyanya na babu yangu.
Juma: Ukweli? Wow!
Louise: Listen to the conversation with the English translation
Imani: I'm going to Nairobi next month.
Mary: To do what?
Imani: My little sister is getting married.
Juma: Congratulations. That's nice.
Mary: Good news. Are you very happy?
Imani: Yes! I’ll be happy to travel out of Mombasa. Afterwards we will go to Kisumu to see my grandmother and grandfather.
Juma: Really? Wow!
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Louise: Medina, is it true that Kenyan women love to go to weddings?
Medina: It is! And it’s not just because we’re glad to be included in someone’s most precious moment, but we also love to catch up with relatives and friends at the wedding, too.
Louise: And I've heard there are some special events you can only see in Kenyan wedding ceremonies.
Medina: Definitely. The most amazing thing is when the bride decorates her body with hina. Hina is a kind of a dye used as a temporary body decoration. Hina tradition is especially unique in the coastal areas.
Louise: I can imagine the patterns are really beautiful.
Medina: Yes, that’s right. The music also varies greatly depending on the area. In the coastal region especially, you will hear a type of music called Taarab played during wedding ceremonies.
Louise: That sounds interesting!
Medina: Also, some tribes use the occasion to show off their cultural heritage, by performing splendid dances and music during the wedding ceremony.
Louise: I hope I get a chance to go to a Kenyan wedding some day! Okay, now onto the vocab.
VOCAB LIST
Louise: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is..
Medina: nasafiri [natural native speed]
Louise: I am going
Medina: nasafiri [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Medina: nasafiri [natural native speed]
Louise: Next we have..
Medina: mwezi [natural native speed]
Louise: month
Medina: mwezi [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Medina: mwezi [natural native speed]
Louise: Next we have..
Medina: dadangu [natural native speed]
Louise: my sister
Medina: dadangu [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Medina: dadangu [natural native speed]
Louise: Next we have..
Medina: funga ndoa [natural native speed]
Louise: wedding
Medina: funga ndoa [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Medina: funga ndoa [natural native speed]
Louise: Next we have..
Medina: hongera [natural native speed]
Louise: congratulations
Medina: hongera [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Medina: hongera [natural native speed]
Louise: Next we have..
Medina: baadaye [natural native speed]
Louise: afterwards
Medina: baadaye [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Medina: baadaye [natural native speed]
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Louise: Let's take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is..
Medina: mwezi
Louise: And it means “month.”
Medina: Each month has about siku thelathini meaning “thirty days” or wiki nne “four weeks.”
Louise: Can you give us an example using this word meaning “month”?
Medina: Sure! To say “next month” in Swahili, that’s "mwezi ujao". "ujao" is the word meaning “next”.
Louise: Great. Talking about months, let’s go over the words from January to December. Medina, I’ll say the name of the month in English. Could you say it in Swahili?
Medina: Sure!
Louise: First, “January”
Medina: Januari
Louise: “February”
Medina: Februari
Louise: “March”
Medina: Machi
Louise: “April”
Medina: Aprili
Louise: “May”
Medina: Mei
Louise: “June”
Medina: Juni
Louise: “July”
Medina: Julai
Louise: “August”
Medina: Agosti
Loiuse: “September”
Medina: Septemba
Louise: “October”
Medina: Octoba
Louise: “November”
Medina: Novemba
Louise: and finally “December”
Medina: Desemba
Louise: Now let’s take a look at the next word. Next we have..
Medina: Dadangu
Louise: Which means “My sister” or “Female sibling.” Is there a special word for “little sister” in Swahili?
Medina: You can say "Dadangu mdogo". “Older sister” would be.. "dadangu mkubwa".
Louise: And finally we have the phrase..
Medina: Hongera
Louise: Which means “congratulations”. Okay, now onto the grammar.

Lesson focus

Louise: In this lesson you’ll learn how to use the word “kwa”, which is the Swahili word that means “for”. Medina, can you give us an example?
Medina: Of course! First let’s take a look at this sentence. Nitaenda Nairobi mwezi ujao.
Louise: Let’s break it down. What’s the first element we have to look at?
Medina: First we have "Nitaenda". Listeners, as you know, "Ni" is the prefix for the first person singular, and conjugates the verb into the future tense. .."taenda" is the verb meaning “to go” so "Nitaenda" means “I’m going to” or “I will go.”
Louise: Okay. Next we have the word..
Medina: “Nairobi”, which is the place name. In this case, we’re talking about the capital city of Kenya.
Louise: And the next part means “next month,” right?
Medina: Yes. "mwezi ujao" is the Swahili word for “next month.”
Louise: What if I want to add more detail, such as “I’ll go to Nairobi for my younger sister’s wedding?”
Medina: In that case, you can use the word "kwa" which is like “for” in English.
Louise: And then..?
Medina: Then you can put the noun indicating the reason. "Harusi ya dadangu mdogo" means “younger sister’s wedding”, so you can say "kwa harusi ya dadangu mdogo" to mean “for my younger sister’s wedding.”
Louise: Great. How would you say it all together?
Medina: Nitaenda Nairobi mwezi ujao kwa harusi ya dadangu mdogo.
Louise: “I will go to Nairobi for my younger sister’s wedding.”

Outro

Louise: Okay, that’s all for this lesson and for this series. Remember to check the lesson notes for more information, and if you have any questions or comments, please leave us a post at SwahiliPod101.com.
Medina: Yes, we’re happy to help!
Louse: Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you again in another series. Bye!
Medina: Bye.

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