Learn how to express opinions politely and by using negation
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| INTRODUCTION |
| John: Hi everyone, and welcome back to SwahiliPod101.com. This is Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 6 - Getting Some Good Swahili Advice. John Here. |
| Medina: Hamjambo, I'm Medina. |
| John: In this lesson, you’ll learn about expressing an opinion politely using negation. The conversation takes place at a cafe. |
| Medina: It's between Victor and Rehema. |
| John: The speakers are co-workers, therefore, they will speak informal Swahili. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Victor: Nafikiria itanibidi niende kwa masomo zaidi. |
| Rehema: Wazo njema. Je, kazi nayo? |
| Victor: Sitafanya kazi hadi nimalize kusomo. |
| Rehema: Nadhani umelipa wazo jambo hilo. |
| Victor: Kwa kweli, ninawasiwasi kuwa nitatumia hakiba yangu yote. |
| Rehema: Sinahakika kama unaweza pata udhamini wa masomo lakini siujaribu kutafuta? |
| Victor: Tayari nilijiandikisha lakini sikufanikiwa. |
| Rehema: Mbona usijaribu masomo ya mbali? Unaweza soma huku ukifanya kazi. |
| Victor: Nijambo nitalofikiri kuhusu. |
| Rehema: Tafadhali, chukua muda wako. |
| Victor: Asante kunisaidia kufikiri kuhusu suala hili. |
| Rehema: Karibu. |
| John: Listen to the conversation with the English translation |
| Victor: I think I might be forced to go for further studies. |
| Rehema: Sounds great. How about work? |
| Victor: I will not work until after the studies. |
| Rehema: I guess you must have thought about it. |
| Victor: Actually, I'm worried I might end up using all my savings. |
| Rehema: I'm not quite sure if you can get a scholarship, but won't you try and search? |
| Victor: I already applied, but it didn’t go through. |
| Rehema: Why not try distance learning? You could work while you study. |
| Victor: It might be something I'll have to think about. |
| Rehema: Please, take your time. |
| Victor: Thanks for helping me think through this issue. |
| Rehema: My pleasure. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| John: It sounds like Victor had some financial concerns about his studies. |
| Medina: Yes, and thankfully Rehema was able to help. |
| John: Is it common to share troubles and opinions like this in Kenya? |
| Medina: Actually, it can be difficult for people in Kenya to disclose personal struggles. |
| John: Really? |
| Medina: Yes. There is a saying kufa na shida zako. |
| John: This means “die with your problems.” |
| Medina: Exactly. It implies that people have many problems and have no space for others. |
| John: But, there must be some people you can turn to? |
| Medina: Of course! There are some ready to lend their ears, such as church leaders and professional counsellors, called mshauri. |
| John: That’s good to hear. I’m sure that friends and family will help out a little too. |
| Medina: Yes, they will. |
| John: Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| John: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Medina: bidi [natural native speed] |
| John: to be forced to |
| Medina: bidi[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: bidi [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Medina: masomo [natural native speed] |
| John: education |
| Medina: masomo[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: masomo [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Medina: wazo [natural native speed] |
| John: idea |
| Medina: wazo[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: wazo [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Medina: wasiwasi [natural native speed] |
| John: to worry |
| Medina: wasiwasi[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: wasiwasi [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Medina: udhamini [natural native speed] |
| John: scholarship |
| Medina: udhamini[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: udhamini [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Medina: fanikiwa [natural native speed] |
| John: to succeed |
| Medina: fanikiwa[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: fanikiwa [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Medina: kuhusu [natural native speed] |
| John: about |
| Medina: kuhusu[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: kuhusu [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Medina: suala [natural native speed] |
| John: issue |
| Medina: suala[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: suala [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Medina: fikiri [natural native speed] |
| John: to think |
| Medina: fikiri[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: fikiri [natural native speed] |
| John: And last.. |
| Medina: hakiba [natural native speed] |
| John: savings |
| Medina: hakiba[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: hakiba [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| John: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is.. |
| Medina: masomo zaidi |
| John: meaning "further studies" |
| John: What can you tell us about this? |
| Medina: Masomo is the plural form of somo. |
| John: In this context, it means “studies.” |
| Medina: Zaidi is an adverb that implies “further” in this case. |
| John: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Medina: Sure. For example, you can say.. Masomo zaidi imetia fora miongoni mwa wafanyakazi. |
| John: ..which means "Further studies have become popular among workers." |
| John: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Medina: ninawasiwasi |
| John: meaning "I am worried" |
| John: Let’s break this word down into the different parts. |
| Medina: First is ni, the subject pronoun. Then na; the present tense marker. And finally, wasiwasi. |
| John: This means “worry.” |
| Medina: Ni and na together make nina, which means “I have.” |
| John: So you can use this in many circumstances to say “I have something.” |
| Medina: Yes. If you add kwa right before wasiwasi, then it makes an adverb to mean "anxiously." |
| John: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Medina: Sure. For example, you can say.. Ninawasiwasi hadi kukosa usingizi. |
| John: .. which means "I am worried that I cannot fall asleep. " |
| John: Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Medina: udhamini wa masomo |
| John: meaning "scholarship" |
| John: We came across the last word just a moment ago where it meant “studies”, but in this context it means “education.” |
| Medina: Yes, masomo. The first word udhamini in this context means “scholarship,” and wa is a preposition meaning “for.” |
| John: Altogether, it literally means “scholarship for education.” |
| Medina: That’s right. Udhamini is a noun that has other meanings too, like "guarantee," and "pledge." |
| John: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Medina: Sure. For example, you can say.. Ni bahati kupata udhamini wa masomo. |
| John: .. which means "It takes luck to get a scholarship." |
| John: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| John: In this lesson, you'll learn about expressing opinions politely using negation. Let’s look at using negation with personal pronouns first. |
| Medina: As I’m sure our listeners already know, the personal pronoun often comes before the tense marker of the verb. |
| John: This is the case regardless of whether the personal pronoun is affirmative or not. |
| Medina: That’s right. But of course, when negating, the personal pronouns are different. |
| John: Okay, so that’s the explanation, now let’s see it in action. We’ll work through an example using the verb “to read.” |
| Medina: Soma. So “I’m reading” is ninasoma. |
| John: The pronoun has been added at the front. |
| Medina: The negation would be sisomi. |
| John: “I’m not reading.” The pronoun is different. |
| Medina: This is the case for other pronouns too. For example, tunakuja and hatukuji. |
| John: “We are coming” and “we aren’t coming,” respectively. Let’s hear one last example with pronouns. First, “you are talking.” |
| Medina: Mnaongea. |
| John: And, “you are not talking.” |
| Medina: Hamuongei. When you are negating verbs, the rules change depending on the tense. |
| John: For example, with future tenses, the only part that changes is the pronoun. |
| Medina: Right. The future tense is marked by the tense marker ta, and this stays the same for both affirmative and negative sentences. For example, nitafanya and sitafanya. |
| John: But the rules are different for other tenses. The present tense marker in affirmative sentences is deleted in negative sentences. |
| Medina: Yes, we delete na and the last vowel -a is changed to -i. Ninafanya and Sifanyi. |
| John: There is a table in the lesson notes that shows all of the tenses and the changes. |
| Medina: The different noun classes also have different ways of being negated. |
| John: Okay. Let’s go through one as an example. |
| Medina: Let’s look at the KI noun class and the example Kijiko kimevunjika. |
| John: “The spoon is broken.” |
| Medina: When this is made negative, the ki changes to haki. Kijiko hakijavunjika |
| John: “The spoon is not broken.” Let’s look at one more noun class. |
| Medina: We’ll take the M class. We can say Mtu anakuja. |
| John: “Someone is coming.” How do we say “someone is not coming?” |
| Medina: Mtu hakuji. The a- changes to ha- |
Outro |
| John: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Medina: Tuonane! |
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