KISWAHILI FOR FOREIGNERS By AMIR. A. MOHAMED FIRST EDITION 1993 SECOND EDITION 2000 THIRD EDITION 2009 © Create Space 0f Amazon.com CONTENTS – YALIYOMO Page FOREWORD Ukurasa I INTRODUCTION – 1 KITANGULIZI II THE SOUND 2 SYSTEM III ROOTS, STEMS, 3 AFFIXES IV NOUNS AND 4 CLASSIFICATION V VERB AND THEIR 11 TENSES VI COMPOUND 16 TENSES VII PRONOUNS 17 VIII ADJECTIVES 22 X ADVERBS 25 XI PREPOSITONS 29 AND CONJUCTIONS XII VOBABULARY – 33 MSAMIATI XIII KISWAHILI 46 SAYING – MISEMO YA KISWAHILI XIV EXERCISE – 52 MZOESI XV KISWAHILI WORD 65 – 124 POWER IX KISWAHILI SLANGS & BOMBASTCS – SIMO ZA KISWAHILI 125-174 IIX BIBLIOGRAPHY FOREWORD Kiswahili*is a growing language in Africa and the world as a whole. There are historians who believe that Kiswahili is probably nine hundred years old and like other languages, its significance can be proved by the growing demand of its usage and the constant increase in the world of the need to learn and to speak Kiswahili. The world is entering into the new millennium and we are all striving to have a better life and a peaceful world. Therefore, it has now become increasingly necessary for foreigners to learn Kiswahili no matter what they do and no matter where they are. Besides the social and economic dimensions of the language abroad like working in East Africa or just on holidays, learning the language may help to improve the race relations between Africans and foreigners. It’s time to learn to understand each other and to know how to make perfect moves in our lives. History of the language reveals that Kiswahili is of Bantu origin but heavily loaded with Arabic, English, Indian and other oriental words. There are some researches done to understand the evolution of the language but so far there is a still a long way to go. Due to the centuries of dhow trade in the Indian Ocean with Arabia, India, Persia and Southern Europe, a new medium of communication was absolutely necessary to means coast facilitate the growing trade between the local East Africans and the maritime traders. Therefore Kiswahili might be the offspring after the cultural and commercial interaction between these two groups. Today, there are probably one hundred million people in East and Central Africa alone who speak the language and the governments of Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda has recognized the political and the cultural significance of the language by their decisions to make it their official language. Swahili literary By: A. A. MOHAMMED INTRODUCTION: KITANGULIZI This book is intended to assist foreigners who have developed a keen interest to know and to speak Kiswahili both as a student who is a beginner or just a visitor in East Africa. The book is composed in a way to guide those who do not speak the language at all. Although it is a basic text, I hope it will be of some help anyhow. The lessons will teach the student up to elementary stage and it would be advisable to look for advanced level if one wants to go beyond this point. It should be particularly noted that the meaning of the words given in the Vocabularies of this book should be limited to that described, for Kiswahili words sometimes cover a wide range of English words. Therefore it would be advisable for the Student to make frequent references to a Standard Swahili – English Dictionary so as to have a broader understanding of the root any word and its wider application. Regarding, intonation, a certain amount of variety of Tone patterns is naturally to be found Kiswahili speakers. In addition, a list of Swahili sayings have been included in the text as to give the reader the practice of speech and at the same time to give him and insight into Swahili thought. If the student still finds the book very complicated, he or she is advised to consult the Institute of Kiswahili and Foreign Languages in Zanzibar. THE SOUND SYSTEM Kiswahili’s sound system consist of twenty six consonants and five vowels. This section is particularly important to the beginner if one is to capture up easily this Bantu language. Kiswahili, unlike English, is mostly spoken or pronounced in a term of ‘You speak as you write even though there are some exceptions to this rule. KISWAHILI CONSONANTS WITH THEIR APPORPIATE ENGLISH EQUIVALENTS LETTER EXAMPLE- KISWAHILI b Baba Father ch Chuo College d Doti Pair dh Dhambi Sins f Fuata Follow g Gusa Touch gh Ghadhabu Anger h haki Justice j Jana Yesterday k Kasa Turtle l Lala Sleep m Mama Mother n Nani Who n’g Ng’onda Dry fish ny Nyota Star p Paka Cat s Samaki Fish sh Shaba Copper t Tano Five th Thamani Value v Viatu Shoes w Watu People y Yai Egg z zaa Give birth *These consonants do not have English equivalents, when preceded by m or n Note the following points: There is also one Kiswahili consonante kh which some speakers pronounced it as in Scotish word ‘loch’ or German word ‘dach’ or Dutch word ‘gaan’ but other Kishwahili speakers prefer h instead of Kh e.g Kheri {blessings} to Heri. Ny is pronounced like the ‘gn’ of French word ‘baigner’ Ng’like the ‘ng’ of English word ‘singer’ KISWAHILI VOWELS The five vowels are LETTER KISWAHILI ENGLISH -EXAMPLE – EXAMPLE a Kaka – Jazz brother e Embe - Better mango i Mimi – I See o Moto – fire Boat u Uzuri - Foot/too beauty Finally, all Kiswahili words have open syllabuses, that is they end in vowels ROOTS. STEMS AND AFFIXES Almost all Kiswahili words have stems and affixes to give meaning, words which consist of root only are very rare in Kiswahili. The root of a word is the irreducible element of it and can not be further analyzed. These stems and affixes may represent nouns, verbs, adjectives or pronouns Thus –tu is a root, with a prefix m produced The word m-tu a person If you change the prefex form m to wa - it becomes wa-tu – persons or people Other Example are:- Ji-tu - a huge person u-tu - humanity ki-tu - a thing vi-tu - things m-toto - a child u-toto - childhood ki-toto - a fine child VERBS Kuweza - to be able Ku-penda - to love or to like Ku-Sali - to pray ADJECTIVES Mzuri - beautiful M-baya - bad M-kubwa - large RPONOUNS Yu-le - that person Wa-le - those persons Pa-le - that place M- le - inside that NOUNS AND THEIR CLASSIFIACTION Kiswahili is an African language which is heavily fused with Arabic words, some few Indian and English. Therefore you may come a cross words that do not fit in singular and plural forms of it’s noun. There are several ways to classify the nouns of Kiswahili, but in this test we shall classify them as follows. 1. The Animate class or the M-WA Class 2. The inanimate classes which consist of The KI –Vi Class The M – Mi Class The MA Class The N Class The U Class The PA Class The KU Class 1. The Animate class or the M-WA Class. This is a class of nouns that include all living things except plants and trees. This group of nouns falls into two parts. That noun with prefix M. in the singular becomes WA in the plural. In this case the noun stem always start with a consonant. Example: SINGULAR MEANING M-tu a person M-levi a drunkard M-toto a child M-falme a King M-zee an old man M-gonjwa a sick person M-nyama an animal Nouns with the prefix MW in the singular and WA in the plural Example SINGULAR MEANING Mw-alimu a teacher Mw- a student anafunzi Mw- a politician anasiasa Mw- a lawyer anasheria Mw- andishi a writer Mw-ananchi a citizen NB. There are some few nouns in the group above that do not follow this pattern e.g Mwizi a thief wezi Example of animate nous which have prefix KI in singular and replaced by VI in Plural Examples Kiboko a hippo Kifaru a rhino Kijana A young person Kizee a old person Kipofu a blind person Kijitu a dwarf There are specific names of animals. Their nouns do not change either singular or plural. Paka a cat paka Bata a duck bata Farasi a horse farasi Mbwa a dog mbwa Mamba a crocodile mamba Mbuni an ostrich mbuni Fisi a hyena fisi Examples Nouns with prefix ma both in singular and plural: e.g. SINGULAR MEANING PLURAL Malaika angel malaika mahabusi prisoner mahabusi Masikini a poor masikini person Marehemu deceased marehemu Malkia a queen malkia The last group of nouns of Animate nature. They are not characterized by any specific prefix in either singular of plural although it may pick up prefix MA in the plural. Example Askari A Maaskari policeman Jambazi A criminal Majambazi Rafiki A friend Marafiki Shangazi Aunt Mashangazi Shemegi Brother Mashemegi Jamaa Relative Majamaa Kaka Brother Makaka Shoga Female Mashoga friend Dada Sister Madada Wifi Sister-in- Mawifi law THE KI/VI CLASS This class of nouns that start with prefix KI in a singular and a plural prefix KI. Usually they are inanimate nouns. Example SINGULAR MEANING PLURAL Kiatu a shoe viatu Kiazi yam viazi Kikapu a basket vikapu Kitabu a book vitabu Kiti chair viti Kitu a thing vitu Kioo mirror vioo Nouns with a singular prefix CH and plural prefix VY Example SINGULAR MEANING PLURAL Cheti chit vyeti Cheo rank vyeo Chakula food vyakula Chama a club or vyama party Choo a toilet vyoo Chuo college vyuo Note: There are some inanimate nouns that begins with a CH in singular and remains the same prefix in plural.