Learn some common Swahili idioms
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Intro |
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| Antoni: What are some common Swahili idioms? |
| Gertrude: And how are they used? |
| Antoni: At SwahiliPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Karen Lee hears an idiom she's not familiar with. She asks Mary Ouma: "What does "the slow walker does not stumble" mean?" |
| Karen Lee: Mwenda pole hajikwai ina maana gani? |
| Dialogue |
| Karen Lee: Mwenda pole hajikwai ina maana gani? |
| Mary Ouma: Inamaanisha ukifanya mambo pole pole kuna uwezekano hautayaharibu. |
| Antoni: Once more with the English translation. |
| Karen Lee: Mwenda pole hajikwai ina maana gani? |
| Antoni: "What does "the slow walker does not stumble" mean?" |
| Mary Ouma: Inamaanisha ukifanya mambo pole pole kuna uwezekano hautayaharibu. |
| Antoni: "It means someone who walks slowly does not hurt their toes, or in other words, if you do things at a slow pace you are not likely to mess up." |
Lesson focus |
| Antoni: In this lesson, we'll talk about idiomatic expressions, or |
| Gertrude: semi zenye nahau |
| Antoni: Idiomatic expressions, or idioms for short, are expressions with a meaning that's very different from the individual words that compose them. We use idioms if we want to convey what would be a long message using as few words as possible. A good example for this is "a piece of cake," which in English means that something is very easy. It's important to learn idioms when studying a new language like Danish, as they provide a window into better understanding a culture and its people. |
| [Recall 1] |
| Antoni: For us to understand things better, let’s take a closer look at the dialogue. |
| Do you remember how Karen Lee says, "What does "the slow walker does not stumble" mean?"" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Gertrude as Karen Lee: Mwenda pole hajikwai ina maana gani? |
| [Recall 2] |
| Antoni: Now, let’s take a look at our second sentence. |
| Do you remember how Mary Ouma says, "It means someone who walks slowly does not hurt their toes, or in other words, if you do things at a slow pace you are not likely to mess up?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Gertrude as Mary Ouma: Inamaanisha ukifanya mambo pole pole kuna uwezekano hautayaharibu. |
| Antoni: The literal translation of the phrase Karen Lee was asking about is "He who walks slow does not stumble." If you love Shakespeare, then you’re probably familiar with this phrase. In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare writes, "Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast." In Swahili, just like in most other cultures, this expression means that if you are in a haste to finish something, there is a huge chance that you will make a lot of mistakes. There’s another idiom that’s similar to this. |
| Gertrude: Haraka haraka haina baraka. |
| Gertrude: This literally means "Haste haste has no blessing," or in English "Great haste makes great waste." |
| [Summary] |
| Antoni: In this lesson you learned that idiomatic expressions, or |
| Gertrude: semi zenye nahau |
| Antoni: are non-literal phrases that are used to emphasize your statement. They are used to help the speaker better get their message across. |
| Expansion/Contrast (Optional) |
| Antoni: So far, we have covered a couple of idiomatic expressions commonly used in Swahili. Learning and using idioms will help you to use Swahili more freely, and to express your feelings in a more accurate way. To help you with idioms, we created a list of ten very common idioms in Swahili, with a short description of what they mean. The first is |
| Gertrude: Usipoziba ufa utajenga ukuta. |
| Antoni: This literally means "If you don't seal a crack, you will have to build a complete wall." It’s the equivalent of the English idiom "A stitch in time saves nine," which means sorting out a problem immediately will save you a lot of extra work later on. The next idiom is |
| Gertrude: Wapishi wengi huharibu mchuzi. |
| Antoni: Here’s another idiom that’s related to work. It literally means "Many cooks spoil the sauce." It’s the equivalent of the famous idiom: "Too many cooks spoil the broth." What this saying means is that, while teamwork is good, getting too many people involved in a task increases the chance that the project will not be done well. This reminds us of a famous proverb, |
| Gertrude: Wakati maneno ni mengi, dhambi sio mbali |
| Antoni: "When words abound, sin is not far off." True enough, when there are many people working on a project, the result is an excess in words. This often leads to disagreement, which delays or hinders the completion of the project. In such circumstances, you would want to listen to the expert in the group. As another famous idiom says, |
| Gertrude: Asiyesikia la mkuu, huvunjika guu. |
| Antoni: Literally, these words mean "He who does not listen to the prince, breaks his leg." It’s a warning not to ignore expert advice because, if you do, ill might befall you. In relation to this, don’t simply do something just because it worked for someone else. This can be expressed better by the following idiom: |
| Gertrude: Bahati ya mwenzio usiilalie mlango wazi. |
| Antoni: It literally means "Do not leave the door open and go to bed just because someone you know did the same thing but nothing happened to him." In other words, just because someone got lucky doesn’t mean you can be reckless and simply listen to yourself. Since we’re talking about advice, here’s another useful idiom to remember: |
| Gertrude: Usiache mbachao kwa msala upitao. |
| Antoni: The literal translation is "Do not abandon your own in favour of ephemeral matters." Its equivalent in English is "Don’t throw away your old rag for a borrowed mat." It’s easy to get tempted to leave things that have been tried and tested for a new method that seems promising. This idiom advises that you should rely on what has been proven to work and not change directions without thinking carefully about the consequences. Here’s another idiom that is just equally important: |
| Gertrude: Mtaka cha mvunguni sharti ainame. |
| Antoni: "He who wants to fetch something from under the bed must bend over." In other words, you have to do whatever it takes to achieve your goals. Here’s a similar one: |
| Gertrude: Ukitaka kula nguruwe, kula aliyenona. |
| Antoni: "If you would like to eat a pig, eat a fat one." If you are going to achieve your goals, you need to work hard for them. And if you’re going to do something, you need to do it properly and wholeheartedly. That involves being careful with your actions, not being in a haste, as advised by this idiom: |
| Gertrude: Pole pole ndio mwendo. |
| Antoni: or "Slowness is the better locomotion." It means that, while working fast is also important, sometimes, it is better to proceed slowly to avoid misfortune. As the wise people say, |
| Gertrude: Mvumilivu hula mbivu. |
| Antoni: or "The patient one eats ripe things." In other words, patience pays. |
| Cultural Insight/Expansion (Optional) |
| Antoni: You’ve probably noticed that many of the idioms we’ve covered in this lesson are related to time, particularly to the idea of moving slowly in contrast to being in a haste. Swahili speakers have this saying that goes |
| Gertrude: Pole pole. |
| Antoni: or "Slowly slowly." That’s how things often happen in Africa. In Africa, people are not in a hurry all the time. African people can enjoy everything that they do and take the time to do their work properly. There’s another saying in Swahili that goes |
| Gertrude: Kawia ufike. |
| Antoni: which means ‘"Delay in order to arrive." It’s the equivalent of the saying "Better late than never." However, it means much more, with a focus on careful planning and safety. Does that mean that Swahili speakers tend to be late all the time? No, it doesn’t. In fact, there is an idiom in Swahili that shows how important time is. |
| Gertrude: Ngoja ngoja huumiza matumbo. |
| Antoni: This literally means "Wait wait hurts the entrails." An equivalent expression in English is "Time and tide wait for no man," which means you should grab a favorable opportunity when it comes or you may never get the same chance again. |
Outro |
| Antoni: Do you have any more questions? We’re here to answer them! |
| Gertrude: Nitakuona hivi karibuni! |
| Antoni: See you soon! |
| Credits: Gertrude (Swahili, Kenya), Antoni (English, synthetic voice) |
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