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Lesson Transcript

Hamjamboni. Mimi ni Medina. Hi everybody! I’m Medina.
Welcome to Swahilipod101.com's “Kiswahili kwa dakika tatu,” The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Swahili.
In the last two lessons, we learned the main usages of the verb ni, which means “to be” in Swahili.
In this lesson, we will find out another situation when it’s commonly used. It’s when you’re talking about your age.
If someone asks you Unamiaka mingapi? they’re asking “How old are you?”
[slowly] Unamiaka mingapi?
So how do you answer? This should be no problem at all, since you have learned both the numbers and the ni verb in previous lessons. Let’s put your knowledge to the test!
Here are some examples.
“I’m 18” is Nina miaka kumi na nane.
“I’m 20” is Nina miaka ishirini.
“I’m 35” is Nina miaka thelathini na tano.
“I’m 50” is Nina miaka hamsini.
and so on.
This sentence follows the exact same pattern as in the previous lessons.
Do you still remember?
Nina means “I am”. This is the conjugated version of ni.
Miaka is Swahili for "years"
kumi na nane is “18”. We learned about numbers back in lessons 6 and 7.
[slowly] Nina miaka kumi na nane.
Now it’s time for Medina’s Insights.
What if you aren’t really that eager to tell someone your age? Don’t worry, many Kenyans, especially girls, throw the ball back to the person asking the question by saying kisia? which means “guess?” If the guess goes horribly wrong and you still don’t want to reveal your age, you can brush it off by saying hiyo ni siri. That means “It’s a secret.”
In this lesson, we practiced talking about your age with the help of the verb ni. Next time, we’ll learn one more way to use this very versatile verb - for talking about possessions.
I'll be waiting for you in the next Kiswahili kwa dakika tatu lesson.
Tuonane!

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