Dialogue

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Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Exchanging money in Kenya is quite convenient. You can exchange money at airports, special money exchange kiosks, and banks, or withdraw money from an ATM. The rates charged when you withdraw money from an ATM are likely to be higher. As a general rule, try to find one of the many exchange offices. So, first things first: let's find a location that will exchange money.
BODY
Let's review some phrases and patterns we've already covered.
In Swahili, “Is there an ATM near here?” is
Kuna ATM hapa karibu?
(slow) Kuna ATM hapa karibu?
Kuna ATM hapa karibu?
We covered this sentence in a previous lesson. kuna literally means “there is” but in this case, it is asking the question, “is there?”
kuna
(slow) kuna
kuna
“ATM” remains as it is in Swahili.
hapa means “here”
(slow)hapa
hapa
The last word, karibu, means “near”
(slow) karibu
karibu
Altogether we have,
Kuna ATM hapa karibu?
(slow) Kuna ATM hapa karibu?
Kuna ATM hapa karibu?
Now, to ask for a bank, we can just replace the word for “ATM” with the word for “bank” and the phrase works just fine. “Is there a bank near here?” is
Kuna benki hapa karibu?
(slow) Kuna benki hapa karibu?
Kuna benki hapa karibu?
It’s not very different from the ATM sentence, and luckily for us, “bank” in Swahili is benki
benki
(slow) benki
benki
Let’s ask for an exchange office now. It is very similar: you just need to know the name duka la kubadilisha pesa “exchange office” and then add it in the place for benki:
duka la kubadilisha pesa
(slow) duka la kubadilisha pesa
duka la kubadilisha pesa
When we break this down, it will be;
duka which means “shop”
(slow) duka
duka
la which acts as the preposition “for”
(slow) la
la
kubadilisha means “exchange”
(slow) kubadilisha
kubadilisha
pesa is a word we learned in our previous lessons, and it means “money.”
(slow) pesa
pesa
When inserted in the previous sentence, it will become;
Kuna duka la kubadilisha pesa hapa karibu?
(slow) Kuna duka la kubadilisha pesa hapa karibu?
Kuna duka la kubadilisha pesa hapa karibu?
For times when there is neither a bank nor an ATM, you can ask, "Where can I exchange currency?" In Swahili, this is
Naweza kubadilisha wapi pesa?
Let’s break it down:
Naweza kubadilisha wapi pesa?
Once again:
Naweza kubadilisha wapi pesa?
The first word, naweza, literally means “can I.” But in this case, it’s used to convert the sentence into a really polite form.
(slow) naweza
naweza
Then we have kubadilisha, which in English is “to exchange”:
(slow) kubadilisha
kubadilisha
Then there’s wapi, which means “where.”
(slow) wapi
wapi
Finally, we have the word pesa meaning “money”
Altogether, we have
Naweza kubadilisha wapi pesa?
(slow) Naweza kubadilisha wapi pesa?
Naweza kubadilisha wapi pesa?
Literally, this means “Where can I change money?”
Exchanging currency is pretty straightforward—you need to fill out some forms, and then give them the amount you want exchanged. One extremely useful phrase is "Smaller denominations, please." It's usually beneficial to have smaller amounts of currency on you for paying the bus fare, taxi fare, and so on.
In Swahili, “Smaller denominations please” is
Nipe katika viwango vya chini tafadhali.
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Nipe katika katika viwango vya chini tafadhali.
Once more:
Nipe katika katika viwango vya chini tafadhali.
The first word, nipe, is a polite way of saying “give me”
nipe
(slow) nipe
nipe
The next two words, katika, meaning “in”, and viwango, meaning “denominations” when combined mean “in denominations”
(slow) katika viwango
katika viwango
Next we have vya meaning “in” and chini meaning “small” which combined are “in small,”
(slow) vya chini
vya chini
Then, you have tafadhali, “please,”
(slow) tafadhali
tafadhali
Altogether, we have
Nipe katika viwango vya chini tafadhali.
(slow) Nipe katika viwango vya chini tafadhali.
Nipe katika viwango vya chini tafadhali.
In English, this means, “Could I get it as small change, please?”
Finally, you can also use the phrase “Break this, please” to indicate you would like smaller units of the currency. In Swahili, “Break this, please” is Zivunje hivi tafadhali.
Let’s break it down:
Zivunje hivi tafadhali.
Once more:
Zivunje hivi tafadhali.
The first word, zivunje, means “break” and is “to break”, both literally and figuratively, in request form.
(slow) zivunje
zivunje
Then we have hivi, meaning “these”
(slow) hivi
hivi
then tafadhali, which as we have already seen means “please.”
(slow) tafadhali
tafadhali
Here’s the request again:
(slow) Zivunje hivi tafadhali.
Zivunje hivi tafadhali.
Say this when you have a big bill that you want to break.

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