Learn how to tell time 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 |
|---|
| Antoni: How do you ask for the time in Swahili? |
| Gertrude: And how do you tell the time? |
| Antoni: At SwahiliPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: During a school break, Sasha Lee asks her classmate Terry Njoroge about the time. They don't want to be late for their next class. Sasha asks, |
| "What time is it?" |
| Sasha Lee: Ni saa ngapi? |
| Dialogue |
| Sasha Lee: Ni saa ngapi? |
| Terry Njoroge: Ni saa tisa na robo. |
| Antoni: Once more with the English translation. |
| Sasha Lee: Ni saa ngapi? |
| Antoni: "What time is it?" |
| Terry Njoroge: Ni saa tisa na robo. |
| Antoni: "It's a quarter past three." |
Lesson focus |
| Antoni: Asking for the time is one of the most fundamental things in any language, including Swahili. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask for the time and answer questions about it. |
| Gertrude: But, before this, we need to discuss some basics. |
| Antoni: That’s right. The first thing you need to understand is that Swahili expresses time differently from standard time. In Swahili, the day has twelve light hours, which is known as |
| Gertrude: mchana |
| Antoni: and twelve night hours, which is known as |
| Gertrude: usiku |
| Antoni: Since most countries that speak Swahili are located near the equator, sunrise and sunset are constant all year long. The day begins with the sun rising around seven o'clock in the morning and ends when the sun sets, around seven o'clock in the evening. |
| In Swahili, time is expressed with the hour followed by the portion of the day. The time between 5:00 am and 6:00 am is referred to as |
| Gertrude: Alfajiri |
| Antoni: or |
| Gertrude: Asubuhi mapema sana |
| Antoni: which means "very early in the morning." From 6:00 am till 11:59 am, the time is expressed as |
| Gertrude: Asubuhi |
| Antoni: which means "morning." This is followed by |
| Gertrude: Mchana |
| Antoni: which means "afternoon" and refers to the time between 12:00 pm and 2:59 pm. The time from 3:00 pm to 4:59 pm is referred to as |
| Gertrude: Alasiri |
| Antoni: or "late afternoon." From 5:00 pm to 6:59 pm, the time is referred to as |
| Gertrude: Jioni |
| Antoni: which means "evening." And, finally, the time from 7:00 pm till 4:59 am the next day is referred to as |
| Gertrude: Usiku |
| Antoni: or "night time." |
| [Recall 1] |
| Antoni: Now, let’s take a closer look at the dialogue to find out how to specifically ask for and tell time in Swahili. |
| Do you remember how Saha Lee asks "What time is it?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Gertrude as Sasha Lee: Ni saa ngapi? |
| Antoni: The Swahili word for "time" is |
| Gertrude: wakati |
| Antoni: When asking for the time, however, the word used is |
| Gertrude: saa |
| Antoni: which means "hour." Here, we also encounter the word |
| Gertrude: ngapi |
| Antoni: which means "how many." In a sense, Sasha Lee is asking "How many hours?" Another way to ask for the time in Swahili is to say |
| Gertrude: Ni wakati gani sasa hivi? |
| Antoni: which means "What time is it now?" If you want to sound more polite, you can say |
| Gertrude: Naweza kujua ni saa ngapi? |
| Antoni: which means "May I know what time it is?" |
| [Recall 2] |
| Antoni: Now let’s take a look at our second sentence. |
| Do you remember how Terry Njoroge answers "It's a quarter past three?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Gertrude: Ni saa tisa na robo. |
| Antoni: In Swahili, time is expressed like Standard Time, wherein the hour is followed by the minutes. In this case, we have the hour expressed as |
| Gertrude: saa tisa |
| Antoni: or "three o’clock." However, instead of using the word for "fifteen," we have the expression |
| Gertrude: na robo |
| Antoni: This means "a quarter past." This can also be expressed as |
| Gertrude: Saa tisa na dakika kumi na tano |
| Antoni: or "Three o’clock and fifteen minutes," or simply "3:15." Depending on the time of the day, this can be followed by |
| Gertrude: asubuhi |
| Antoni: "in the morning," or |
| Gertrude: usiku |
| Antoni: or "in the evening." Now, if you want to tell time that’s half past the hour, you say |
| Gertrude: u nusu or na nusu |
| Antoni: So, if the time is half past two in the afternoon, you can say, |
| Gertrude: Ni saa nane u nusu mchana |
| [Summary] |
| Antoni: In this lesson, you learned how to ask time as well as express time in Swahili. Why don’t we practice what we’ve learned using some examples? Let’s start with this one: |
| Gertrude: Ni saa ngapi? |
| Antoni: "What time is it?" |
| Gertrude: Saa tatu na dakika tano asubuhi. |
| Antoni: "It’s 9:05 in the morning." |
| Gertrude: Ni wakati gani sasa hivi? |
| Antoni: "What time is it now?" |
| Gertrude: Ni saa nane na robo alasiri. |
| Antoni: "It’s 2:15 in the afternoon." |
| Gertrude: Naweza kujua ni saa ngapi? |
| Antoni: "May I know what time it is?" |
| Gertrude: Ni saa kumi u nusu mchana |
| Antoni: "It’s half past four in the afternoon." |
| Expansion/Contrast (Optional) |
| Antoni: Perhaps you’re wondering why the numbers in our examples do not match. For instance, in our example, |
| Gertrude: Saa tatu na dakika tano asubuhi. |
| Antoni: or "It’s 9:05 in the morning," you might be wondering why "nine" is expressed as |
| Gertrude: tatu |
| Antoni: which is the Swahili word for "three." That’s because in Swahili, seven o’clock, or |
| Gertrude: saa moja |
| Antoni: is considered the first hour of the day, and the first hour of the night. In the morning, seven o'clock is referred to as |
| Gertrude: saa moja asubuhi |
| Antoni: literally "first hour in the morning," while the seven o'clock in the evening is referred to as |
| Gertrude: saa moja usiku |
| Antoni: literally "first hour at night." This is in contrast with the Standard Time where the first hour is one o’clock in the morning. That makes nine o’clock the third hour. |
| Cultural Insight/Expansion (Optional) |
| Antoni: There are several ways to ask for the time in Swahili. Some can be direct or informal, while others sound more polite. In most cases, you’d want to sound polite when asking for the time since the Swahili people value politeness, especially toward their elders and superiors. Adding the term "brother," or |
| Gertrude: ndugu, |
| Antoni: at the end of the question is one way to sound polite. You can say, |
| Gertrude: Ni saa ngapi ndugu? |
| Antoni: or "What time is it, brother?" If you’re asking a female, you can say, |
| Gertrude: Ni saa ngapi dada? |
| Antoni: or "What time is it, sister?" |
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) |
Comments
Hide