Learn how to answer the first question you are asked at a restaurant
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| There is a wide variety of Swahili dishes, and your job as a visitor is to try as many different foods as possible! However, before you start eating, you have to get to the table! In this lesson, we'll cover getting a table in a restaurant. |
| BODY |
| When entering a restaurant in Kenya, you will be greeted with Karibu, which means “Welcome,” |
| (slow) Ka - ri - bu. |
| Karibu |
| When you enter a restaurant, or mkahawa in Swahili, you’ll usually be seated by a waiter or waitress. You might be asked the question “How many people in your party?”, so practicing it will come in handy at some point. “How many people are you?” in Swahili is |
| Mko watu wangapi? |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) M - ko wa - tu wa - nga - pi? |
| Once more: |
| Mko watu wangapi? |
| The first word, Mko, is a presence marker. |
| (slow) Mko |
| Mko |
| After this comes watu, a polite way to say “person.” |
| (slow) wa - tu |
| watu |
| The last word, wangapi, means “How many?”. |
| (slow) Wangapi? |
| Wangapi? |
| ・ |
| Now let’s go over how to answer. |
| You might tell the waiter or waitress |
| Tuko watatu. |
| which in English means “We are three people.” |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) Tu - ko wa- ta - tu. |
| Once again: |
| Tuko watatu. |
| The first word, tuko, acts as a presence indicator. |
| (slow) tu - ko |
| tuko |
| After this comes watatu, which is how you say “three people.” |
| This can be broken further into: |
| wa - which is a pronoun, in this case, for people. |
| (slow) wa |
| wa |
| The last word, tatu, means “three.” |
| (slow) ta - tu |
| tatu |
| Let’s take a look at some of the numbers you might need here, from two to five: |
| 2 mbili |
| (slow) mbi - li |
| 3 tatu |
| (slow) ta - tu |
| 4 nne |
| (slow) n - ne |
| 5 tano |
| (slow) ta - no |
| If you are just one person, the proper answer is “I am alone,” which in Swahili is |
| Niko pekee yangu. |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) Ni - ko pe -ke - e ya - ngu. |
| Once more: |
| Niko pekee yangu. |
Comments
Hide