Dialogue

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Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
In this lesson, we’ll introduce the directions that will help you find the place you are looking for. We’ve already introduced “Is there a place near here?” and “Where is …(something)?” But while we can ask now, we haven’t learned how to understand the answer. This time, we’re going to work on understanding what someone tells us. And we’ll go over some basic directions. First, we have “go straight.”
BODY
In Swahili, “go straight” is
Enda wima.
Let’s break it down:
(slow) E - nda wi - ma.
Once more:
Enda wima.
The first word, enda, means “go.”
(slow) enda
enda
And the second word, wima, means “straight.”
(slow) wi - ma
wima
Together, they make
Enda wima.
(slow) Enda wima.
Enda wima.
If you want to say this more politely, you can add the obvious word tafadhali, for “please.”
tafadhali
(slow) tafadhali
tafadhali
Altogether this is,
Enda wima tafadhali .
Let’s break it down:
(slow) E - nda wi - ma ta - fa - dha - li .
Enda wima tafadhali
.
Here’s how to tell someone to turn left.
Geuka kushoto.
Let’s break it down:
Geuka kushoto.
(slow) Geuka ku - sho - to.
Once more:
Geuka kushoto.
The first word, geuka, means “turn.”
(slow) ge - u - ka
geuka
The second word, kushoto, means “left.”
(slow) ku - sho - to
kushoto
Together, they make
Geuka kushoto.
If you want to make this more polite, you add tafadhali meaning “please” at the end.
Geuka kushoto tafadhali.
(slow) Ge - u - ka ku - sho - to ta - fa - dha - li.
Geuka kushoto tafadhali.
・
Now for the opposite. “Turn right” in Swahili is
Geuka kulia.
(slow) Ge - u - ka ku - li - a.
Ge - u - ka ku - li - a.
As you’ve probably figured out, kulia means “right.”
(slow) ku - li - a
ku - li - a
And the polite form of this phrase is:
Geuka kulia tafadhali.
(slow) Ge - u - ka ku - li - a ta - fa - dha - li.
Geuka kulia tafadhali.
・
In real life, of course, you’ll need to know *where* to turn left or right.
Here’s “Turn right at the traffic light”:
Geuka kulia tafadhali katika taa ya barabarani .
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Ge - u - ka ku - li - a ta - fa - dha - li ka - ti - ka ta - a ya ba - ra - ba - ra - ni .
Again at natural speed:
Geuka kulia tafadhali katika taa ya barabarani .
First we have geuka kulia , which we know means “turn right.”
(slow) ge - u - ka ku - li - a.
geuka kulia.
To say this more politely, we can use the polite version of “turn right”, which we learned before.
Geuka kulia tafadhali.
(slow) Geuka kulia tafadhali.
Geuka kulia tafadhali.
katika means “at”
then taa ya barabarani means “traffic light.”
Let’s break down taa ya barabarani,
taa means “light.”
ya is the preposition “of”
barabarani is “road”
These three combined become taa ya barabarani and mean “traffic light.”
Together with katika, it becomes katika taa ya barabarani which means, “at the traffic light.”
(slow) ka - ti - ka ta - a ya ba - ra - ba - ra - ni
katika taa ya barabarani.
Therefore, to say “Turn right at the traffic light”
it will be,
Geuka kulia tafadhali katika taa ya barabarani .
・
Here’s how to say “it’s on the right”:
iko kulia
(slow) i - ko ku - li - a
iko kulia
And “it’s on the left” is
iko kushoto
(slow) i - ko ku - sho - to
i - ko kushoto

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