Learn about compounding in Swahili
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.
Intro |
|---|
| Mike: What is compounding in Swahili? |
| Gertrude: And what is the longest Swahili word? |
| Mike: At SwahiliPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Sahsa Lee is talking with her friend Terry Njoroge about a common friend. She's curious about his job, and asks Terry, |
| "What is he doing for a living?" |
| Sasha Lee: Anafanya kazi gani? |
| Dialogue |
| Sasha Lee: Anafanya kazi gani? |
| Terry Njoroge: Yeye ni mwanasanaa. |
| Mike: Once more with the English translation. |
| Sasha Lee: Anafanya kazi gani? |
| Mike: "What does he do for a living? |
| Njoroge: Yeye ni mwanasanaa. |
| Mike: "He's an artist." |
Lesson focus |
| Mike: In this lesson, you will be learning about compound words in Swahili. Compound words, or, |
| Gertrude: kuambatanisha maneno, |
| Mike: are words that have been formed by putting two or more full words together. Sometimes, these compounds can get quite lengthy. This leads one to wonder what the longest word in Swahili is. We will get to that later. In the meantime, let's look at some compound words in Swahili and discuss the basic rules and patterns that regulate their formation. |
| [Recall 1] |
| Mike: First, let’s take a closer look at the dialogue. |
| Do you remember how Sasha Lee says "What is he doing for a living?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Gertrude: Anafanya kazi gani? |
| [Recall 2] |
| Mike: Now let’s take a look at our second sentence. |
| Do you remember how Terry Njoroge says "He's an artist?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Gertrude: Yeye ni mwanasanaa. |
| Mike: Forming compound words in Swahili is just as simple as it is in most languages. All you need to do is place two words side by side. There are different rules depending on the words being formed, but that’s generally how you form compound words in Swahili. In our dialogue, the compound word is |
| Gertrude: mwanasanaa |
| Mike: It’s the combination of the words |
| Gertrudea: mwana |
| Mike: and |
| Gertrude: sanaa |
| Mike: The first word literally means "child," but, in compounding, it is used in words that describe a person’s relation to something, particularly when it comes to occupation. The second word, on the other hand, means "art" or "artwork." In a sense, it means "someone who does art" or "someone whose work involves art" — an artist. What’s unique about Swahili compound words is that the order of the words is the reverse of most found in the English language.Take this word, for instance: |
| Gertrude: pundamilia |
| Mike: This is the word for "zebra" in Swahili, and it is the combination of the words, |
| Gertrude: punda |
| Mike: which means "donkey," and, |
| Gertrude: milia |
| Mike: which is the plural form of the word "stripe." In most languages, the word "stripe" would appear first before the word "donkey." This is not so in Swahili, where "zebra" would literally be "donkey stripes" instead of "stripe-donkey." |
| [Summary] |
| Mike: So far, you've learned about compound words in Swahili. These are formed when two or more words are combined. Let's look at some more examples of Swahili compound words. I'm going to ask you to listen to the native speaker naming three compound words while we translate them. Let’s start with the word |
| Gertrude: tabianchi |
| Mike: This word means "climate" and is the combination of the word, |
| Gertrude: tabia, |
| Mike: which means "nature," but here it refers to the state or character of a person or thing, and the word, |
| Gertrude: nchi |
| Mike: literally "country," but, as a compound, it refers to the earth. In a sense, what we have is the word "the state of the earth" — "climate." Next, we have the compound word |
| Gertrude: kifyonzavumbi |
| Mike: This word means "vacuum cleaner." It’s the combination of the word |
| Gertrude: fyonza, |
| Mike: meaning "absorb", and the word |
| Gertrude: vumbi |
| Mike: which means "dust" or "powder." You will notice a prefix attached to the word, which is the prefix, |
| Gertrude: ki |
| Mike: This prefix is specifically used to refer to man-made tools and artifacts. Combining the three, you get the Swahili word for "vacuum cleaner," or literally "absorb dust." The next compound word on our list is |
| Gertrude: chakula |
| Mike: This word means "food" and combines the particle, |
| Gertrude: cha |
| Mike: or "of" and the word |
| Gertrude: kula, |
| Mike: which means "eating." And, finally, we have the compound word |
| Gertrude: garimoshi. |
| Mike: This is the combination of the words |
| Gertrude: gari |
| Mike: which means "vehicle," and the word |
| Gertrude: moshi |
| Mike: which means "smoke." This gives us "vehicle smoke" or, you guessed it, "train." |
| Expansion |
| Mike: Compounding in Swahili is done in various ways. The usual method is by using the genitive construction, such as in the case of the word, "basketball," or in Swahili, |
| Gertrude: mpira wa kikapu |
| Mike: which literally is "ball of basket." The same is true with the word "rainbow" or |
| Gertrude: upinde wa mvua |
| Mike: which literally means "bow of rain." In many cases, however, compounding in Swahili is as simple as placing two words side by side. This is especially common in compound words related to occupation, such as in the word |
| Gertrude: fundi viatu, |
| Mike: which means "maker of shoes," or more properly "shoemaker." Some compound words may also be spelled differently. For instance, in the case of one of our previous examples, the word "zebra" or |
| Gertrude: pundamilia, |
| Mike: the spelling varies from author to author. Some would spell it with a hyphen to separate the two words, while others would separate them with a space. |
| Cultural Insight |
| Mike: Now, regarding the longest word in Swahili, the longest that can be written without spaces is the word |
| Gertrude: Kikusitikishacho |
| Mike: It means "What a pity." It is usually combined with the word, |
| Gertrude: kipi, |
| Mike: which means "what." Together, they form the expression, "What’s bothering you?" |
Outro |
| Mike: Do you have any more questions? We’re here to answer them! |
| Gertrude: Nitakuona hivi karibuni! |
| Mike: See you soon! |
Comments
Hide