Learn how to use the verbs "to like" and "to love"
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| Karibuni tena kwa Swahilipod101.com, Welcome to Swahilipod101.com’s, “Kiswahili kwa dakika tatu,” The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Swahili. |
| In the last lesson, we learned how to use the verb fanya, which means "to do" in Swahili. |
| In this lesson, we will learn how to use penda, the third verb in our series dedicated to commonly used Swahili verbs. |
| penda actually has two completely different meanings. It can either mean “to love”, or the meaning we are going to learn about in this lesson, “to like”. |
| Let’s see how to conjugate it! |
| Ninapenda - “I like”, Unapenda- “You like”, Anapenda - “He/she likes”, Tunapenda - “We like”, Unapenda - “You like”, and Wanapenda - “They like.” |
| Here’s a question that Kenyans often like to ask. |
| Unapenda chakula gani? “Which food do you like?” |
| In case you like chapati, you would say, |
| Ninapenda chapati sana. |
| (Slowly) Ninapenda chapati sana. |
| Chapati is an unleavened flat bread commonly eaten in Kenya. It is also commonly eaten in India. Actually, Kenyans borrowed the chapati idea - both the name and manner of cooking from the Indians! |
| So let’s break down the answer. |
| First we had- ninapenda, which is "I like" in Swahili. Ninapenda is a one-word sentence that can be broken down further: |
| ni is a pronoun for the person involved. |
| na indicates present tense |
| penda means to “like” |
| After Ninapenda we have chapati, can you guess what it means? |
| And finally, the word sana which is “very much.” |
| Together we have, |
| Ninapenda chapati sana. |
| You can use this verb together with other verbs as well, to express that you like performing an action. For example, if you like swimming, you would say Ninapenda kuogelea. |
| [slowly] Ninapenda kuogelea. |
| kuogelea means “swimming.” |
| You can also use this verb when talking about a person. Just as you would say “I like you” in English, you would say |
| Ninakupenda in Swahili. |
| [slowly] Ninakupenda. |
| In this case, the verb is used casually to show affection towards someone, let’s say, a friend, a boyfriend, or a member of your family. But it can also be used to indicate deeper feelings, in which case it will mean “to love”. |
| The usage of penda is the same as it is in English. Even if you didn’t feel completely comfortable using it about a person, you can casually use it for other things you like a lot. To say “I love ice cream” in Swahili you would say |
| Ninapenda barafu ya krimu. |
| Now it’s time for Medina’s Insights. |
| I’d also like to introduce another verb derived from the verb penda. It is the verb pendeza, which means “likeable”. It is used in both casual and formal conversation when referring to something that is pleasant or attractive. So if you like a TV comedy called “Churchil live” you would say, Kipindi cha kuchekesha cha Churchil kinapendeza. |
| You may say this while talking to your superior, for example. |
| When using the verb penda, it’s quite straightforward to use as it can be used in both casual and formal contexts. |
| In this lesson, we learned how to use the verb penda and a few of its derivative verbs. |
| Next time we’ll learn another very useful verb, kuja. |
| Do you have any clues about what it might mean? You’ll find out in the next Kiswahili kwa dakika tatu! |
| Kwa heri! |
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