Howdy.
How do you do.
No, really how’s your day ?
We used to be quite talkative, I guess. But these days the typical interaction between two people is much less of an interaction than a clash of two monologues.
Not so Swahili. As I said in my previous blog post. It starts out with «Shikamoo» - «Marahaba».
Introducing now the Question Answer Game (QAG).
After giving or receiving respect it goes on to
«Hujambo?» Hu- [YouNot-] jambo [matter]
So you basically ask «How are things?»
The answer will be «Sijambo» Si- [MeNot-] jambo [matter].
From there you go on to ask about the day or better the news of the day.
Habari ya …. [New(s) of ….] asubuhi [morning] mchana [daytime]
Habari za …. [News of ….] jioni [evening] siku nyingi [days many]
The news will always be good. Since even in English nobody wants to hear how bad your day was when they ask you «How are you?»
So you'll answer:
Mzuri [Good/Nice] Safi [Clean] Salama [Peacful]
It will not stop there. You can ask about: Habari za watoto [children], …. za kazi [work] etc.
Want to play the QAG a little further try some of these:
Q: Mzima? [Whole?] A: Mzima [Whole] … meaning healthy
If you want some slang:
Mambo vipi? [Matters how?] Poa [Cool]
Shortened to Mambo? or Vipi? A: Shwari [Easy], Kama kawaida [Like usual]
Gangster style:
Mzuka [Ghost which suddenly appears] A: Mzuka [Ghost]
Some other day we'll pluralize this all but … that's it for today :)
Just remember that «Hi, I'd like to have a coke.» will be more like:
P1: Shikamoo
P2: Marahaba
Hujambo?
P1: Sijambo
Habari za asubuhi?
P2: Salama.
Habari za kazi?
P1: Nzuri.
P2: Naomba Coke. [present-beg Coke] (I'd like a Coke please :)
Tune-In on @DiveInSwahili for more vocabulary through learning Swahili proverbs.
Hope that helped
Yours,
Joel
How do you do.
No, really how’s your day ?
We used to be quite talkative, I guess. But these days the typical interaction between two people is much less of an interaction than a clash of two monologues.
Not so Swahili. As I said in my previous blog post. It starts out with «Shikamoo» - «Marahaba».
Introducing now the Question Answer Game (QAG).
After giving or receiving respect it goes on to
«Hujambo?» Hu- [YouNot-] jambo [matter]
So you basically ask «How are things?»
The answer will be «Sijambo» Si- [MeNot-] jambo [matter].
From there you go on to ask about the day or better the news of the day.
Habari ya …. [New(s) of ….] asubuhi [morning] mchana [daytime]
Habari za …. [News of ….] jioni [evening] siku nyingi [days many]
The news will always be good. Since even in English nobody wants to hear how bad your day was when they ask you «How are you?»
So you'll answer:
Mzuri [Good/Nice] Safi [Clean] Salama [Peacful]
It will not stop there. You can ask about: Habari za watoto [children], …. za kazi [work] etc.
Want to play the QAG a little further try some of these:
Q: Mzima? [Whole?] A: Mzima [Whole] … meaning healthy
If you want some slang:
Mambo vipi? [Matters how?] Poa [Cool]
Shortened to Mambo? or Vipi? A: Shwari [Easy], Kama kawaida [Like usual]
Gangster style:
Mzuka [Ghost which suddenly appears] A: Mzuka [Ghost]
Some other day we'll pluralize this all but … that's it for today :)
Just remember that «Hi, I'd like to have a coke.» will be more like:
P1: Shikamoo
P2: Marahaba
Hujambo?
P1: Sijambo
Habari za asubuhi?
P2: Salama.
Habari za kazi?
P1: Nzuri.
P2: Naomba Coke. [present-beg Coke] (I'd like a Coke please :)
Tune-In on @DiveInSwahili for more vocabulary through learning Swahili proverbs.
Hope that helped
Yours,
Joel