Lesson Notes

Unlock In-Depth Explanations & Exclusive Takeaways with Printable Lesson Notes

Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.

Or sign up using Facebook
By clicking Join Now, you agree to our Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and to receive our email communications, which you may opt out at any time.
Already a Member?

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 few lessons, we learned some different ways to use the verb ni, which means “to be”. In this lesson, we’ll continue with this, but now in the form of -na. It can also be used to indicate possession, like "to have" in English. We will use this to learn how to talk about things that you own.
Una gari? “Do you have a car?”
[slowly] Una gari?
Let’s take a closer look at this question.
Although it's actually comprised of several different parts of speech. When broken down, we have the base word una, meaning “you have”. U is a pronoun for “you” and na is the verb “to have”.
Next is gari, which means “a car”.
So when you want to talk about possession, you always use the verb -na, and put the appropriate pronoun in front.
Nina, “I have”, Una, “You have” Ana, “He" or "she has”, Tuna, “We have”, Mna, “They have”.
Just remember these conjugations and you will have no problem talking about possessions.
So if you *do* have a car, how can you answer this question?
Now that you know how to conjugate, it will be easier!
Just start with the pronoun, add the verb na, and then the noun.
So in this case, when someone asks you Una gari? you could say
Nina gari “I have a car.”
[slowly] Nina gari.
Let’s try another example. If your friend asks you, Una mbwa? they want to know if you have a dog. If you do, how would you answer? Just simply, Nina mbwa. “I have a dog.”
Adding ndio, the Swahili word for “yes”, to the beginning will make it sound more natural! Ndio, nina mbwa.
Here’s another situation when you would use “nina”. This is when you are talking about how you’re feeling physically.
If you haven’t eaten in a while, in English you would simply say “I am hungry.” However, in Swahili, you would literally say “I have hunger”, Nina njaa.
Also, other human sensations, such as being cold, are expressed in the same way.
For example,
Nina hisi baridi, “I’m cold”.
Nina hisi joto, “I’m warm”.
Nina hisi uchovu, “I’m bored”.
Nina shughuli, “I’m busy”.
Now it’s time for Medina’s Insights.
Here’s one more common way to use nina that’s somewhat different from English. Ninakukosa. Could you guess what this means? Kosa in this sentence means “longing”. Ninakukosa means “I miss you”.
Or, Ninakosa nyumbani, which would mean “I am homesick”, or “I miss home”.
In recent lessons, we have learned many different ways to use the verb ni and na.
But how can we make the sentences negative, and say “I am not” or “I don’t have”?
It’s quite simple! It all starts with adding one little negative word in the sentence. Can you guess what that word is?
You’ll find it out in the next Kiswahili kwa dakika tatu lesson.
Tuonane!

Comments

Hide