McGrath Donovan and Marten Lutz - Colloquial Swahili: The Complete Course for Beginners

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ATHY AND

ICK

: Hatujambo.

ICK

: Na wewe, hujambo bwana?

CO: Mimi sijambo. Habari zenu?

ATHY AND

ICK

: Nzuri.

ATHY

: May we enter?

USTOMS

FFICER

: Welcome! Come in!

ATHY

: (After entering the ofﬁce) Thanks. How are

things with you, sir?

CO: Fine. Welcome.

ATHY AND

ICK

: Thanks.

CO: How are you both?

ATHY AND

ICK

: We are well.

ICK

: And how about you sir?

CO: I am well. How are things with you?

ICK AND

ATHY

: Good.

Vocabulary

Hodi Expression used when asking to enter a house, room,

place, etc.

karibu welcome, come in

asante thanks

habari news

yako your

bwana Sir, Mr

nzuri good, ﬁne, nice (beautiful, pretty)

karibuni welcome (to more than one person)

Hamjambo? How are you? (to more than one person)

Hatujambo We are ﬁne

na and (with, by)

wewe you

Hujambo? How are you? (to one person)

mimi I, me

Sijambo I am ﬁne

zenu your (pl.)

This short dialogue, besides being your ﬁrst ever Swahili dialogue,

shows a number of words and phrases which are used when meeting

people or when beginning a conversation.

Saying ‘Hello’

Jambo (matter)

Hujambo? How are you? (to one person; lit. There is no

matter with you?)

Hamjambo? How are you? (to two or more people)

Sijambo I am ﬁne

Hatujambo We are ﬁne

Habari (news)

Habari? How is it?/How are things? (lit. News?)

Habari gani? How are things?/What’s going on? (lit. News

what sort?)

Habari yako? How are you?/How are things with you?

(lit. Your news?)

Habari zenu? How are you? (to two or more people)

Nzuri Good, ﬁne

Njema Good, ﬁne

Salama Peaceful

Saﬁ Great (couldn’t be better)

Salama (lit. peaceful)

Salama? How are you?

Salama I’m ﬁne.

Karibu!

Karibu Welcome

Karibuni Welcome (to two or more people)

Asante Thanks

Asanteni Thanks (to two or more people)

Language points

A good answer to Habari yako? or Habari zenu? is nzuri, meaning

‘ﬁne’, ‘well’, or ‘good’. Nzuri can be used by and to one or many

persons. Karibu and asante are used when speaking to one person,

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whereas karibuni and asanteni are used when addressing more than

one person, as in the English ‘Welcome to you all’ or ‘Thank you

all’. Karibu and asante are used very often and, especially asante,

are always good words to say. Finally, the correct forms of -jambo

and habari depend on how many people are addressed in the ques-

tion, and on how many people are speaking in an answer, as shown

in the different phrases for habari and -jambo above.

Listen to the difference between karibu and karibuni on the

audio material. The stress in Swahili is on the last but one vowel,

so it is karíbu, but karibúni. Listen to the difference between asánte

and asanténi.

Exercise 1

Choose the correct reply.

E.g. Kathy says Karibu!

and Nick says Asante!

1 The CO says Karibuni!

and Nick and Kathy say ________

2 Nick and the CO say Karibu!

and Kathy says ________

3 Kathy says Karibuni!

and Nick and the CO say ________

4 Kathy and the CO say Karibu!

and Nick says ________

5 Kathy, Nick and the CO Karibu!

say and you say ________

Exercise 2

Choose the correct question.

E.g. Kathy asks Habari yako?

and Nick replies Nzuri.

The CO and Nick ask Hujambo?

and Kathy replies Sijambo.

1 CO: ________

Kathy and Nick: Hatujambo.

2 Kathy and Nick: ________

CO: Nzuri.

3 CO: ________

Kathy and Nick: Nzuri.

4 Nick: ________

CO: Sijambo.

5 Kathy and Nick: ________

CO: Asanteni.

Exercise 3

Pretend you are three people (or ﬁnd two friends). Greet each

other using Habari yako? Habari zenu? Nzuri. Hujambo? Sijambo.

Hamjambo? Hatujambo. Karibu. Karibuni. Asante. Asanteni.

Language structure

Participant markers

The word jambo is really a noun, meaning ‘matter’, ‘affair’, but in

the greetings above, it is used more like a verb because it is

combined with u, m, and tu, so-called participant markers (func-

tioning as subject concords) to show who is saying what to whom.

H(a)-, the ﬁrst part of hujambo, hajambo and hatujambo, is a nega-

tive marker, meaning ‘not’:

h(a) + participant marker + jambo

h – not + u – you (one person) + -jambo = hujambo

ha – not + m – you (many) + -jambo = hamjambo

ha – not + tu – we + -jambo = hatujambo

So hatujambo means literally something like ‘Not we (have)

matter’, or ‘There is nothing the matter with us.’ In hujambo, the

-a- of ha- ‘not’ disappears because of the following -u-. The form

for ‘I have no matter’, sijambo, although it also has a ‘not’ in it,

works a bit differently, and we ignore it for the moment. The partic-

ipant marker for ‘I’ is in fact ni-:

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Participant markers

ni- I (1st person singular)

u- you (2nd person singular)

tu- we (1st person plural)

m- you (2nd person plural)

These four forms are always combined with tense markers and

verbs (hence the little dash). They are called ‘participant markers’,

since they help to identify the participants in a conversation – me

and you and us and you all. People and things talked about (the

topics of a conversation) can be identiﬁed in English by using he,

she, they and it. This can be done in Swahili as well, but exactly

how this works in Swahili will be explained in the next Unit.

Dialogue 2

While Nick and Kathy are ﬁlling out their customs declaration forms

another Customs Ofﬁcer enters the ofﬁce

1 Which of the four participant markers are used in this dialogue?

CO2: Hamjambo?

CO1, K

ATHY

AND

ICK

: Hatujambo.

ICK

:(Noticing that this ofﬁcer is much older and of a

higher status than the ﬁrst ofﬁcer whom they met

earlier) Shikamoo!

CO2: Marahaba! (And then to the ﬁrst Customs Ofﬁcer)

Habari za kazi?

CO1: Nzuri mzee, shikamoo.

CO2: Marahaba. (Looks at Nick and says) Jina lako

nani?

ICK

: Jina langu Nick Braun.

CO2: Habari za safari?

ICK

: Njema.

CO2: (Turns towards Kathy) Na wewe jina lako nani?

ATHY

: Jina langu Kathy Houston.

CO2: Habari za leo?

ATHY

: Salama.

CO2 Mnafanya kazi hapa?

ICK

: Ninafanya kazi TAZARA huko Dar es Salaam.

ATHY

: Na mimi ninasoma chuo kikuu.

CO2: Karibuni Unguja.

ATHY AND

ICK

: Asante.

CO2: Kwaherini.

ATHY AND

ICK

: Kwaheri.

CO2: How are you?

CO1, K

ATHY

AND

ICK

: We are well.

ICK

: (Noticing that this ofﬁcer is much older and of

a higher status than the ﬁrst ofﬁcer they met)

My respects!

CO2: You’re most welcome! (And then to the ﬁrst

Customs Ofﬁcer) How’s work?

CO1: Good, elder, my respects.

CO2: You’re welcome. (Looks at Nick and says)

What’s your name?

ICK

: My name is Nick Braun.

CO2: How’s the journey?

ICK

: Good.

CO2: (Turns towards Kathy) And you, what’s your

name?

ATHY

: My name is Kathy Houston.

CO2: How are you today?

ATHY

: Fine.

CO2: Are you working here?

ICK

: I’m working for TAZARA over there in Dar es

Salaam.

ATHY

: And I am studying at the university.

CO2: Welcome to Zanzibar.

ATHY AND

ICK

: Thanks.

CO2: Goodbye.

ATHY AND

ICK

: Goodbye.

Vocabulary

Shikamoo My respects! (A respectful greeting to someone who is

older or who is of a higher rank or social status; the

historical literal meaning is ‘I am touching your feet’)

Marahaba Welcome! (This must be used as a reply to Shikamoo:

it is an acknowledgement of the respect given to

someone who is older or superior)

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kazi work

mzee old man, an elder, parent

jina name (pl. majina)

lako your (in reference to jina)

nani? who, what person(s)?

langu my (in reference to jina)

safari journey(s)

leo today

-fanya do, make

hapa here

-soma read, study

Unguja Zanzibar

ndiyo yes, that is so, indeed

kwaherini goodbye (to more than one person)

kwaheri goodbye (to one person)

Language structure

The subject concord and verb tense

As you have no doubt noticed, three of the four participant

markers are used in Dialogue 2, namely tu- and m- in hatujambo

and hamjambo, and ni- in ninafanya kazi and ninasoma, and m-

in mnafanya kazi hapa? In the latter verbs, the participant markers

function as subject concord and are combined with the tense

marker -na- and the verb stem:

Subject + tense + verb

concord marker stem

ni + na + soma = ninasoma

(I am reading/studying)

tu + na + soma = tunasoma

(we are reading/studying)

m + na + fanya = mnafanya

(you (pl.) are doing/

making)

The tense marker -na- refers to present tense, to indicate that

events are taking place now, at the time of speaking. Most Swahili

verbs are built in this fashion, by combining a subject concord

(either a participant marker or a concord which will be introduced

soon), a tense marker and a verb stem. An example of the partic-

ipant marker for the 2nd person singular is the following:

Unafanya nini? What are you doing?

In answering this question, the participant marker ni- is used:

Ninafanya kazi. I am working.

In colloquial speech, some participant markers can be contracted

(‘fused together’) with a tense marker. Most frequent is the case

of ni + na = na, so that for example ninasoma becomes nasoma.

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Exercise 4

Fill in the gap.

E.g. Unafanya nini? Ninafanya kazi.

1 Unafanya nini? –––– nasoma.

2 Mnafanya nini? –––– nafanya kazi.

3 –––– nafanya nini? Tunasoma chuo kikuu.

Language use

Asking someone their name

Jina lako nani? What’s your name?

Jina langu . . . My name is . . .

Asking what somebody is doing

Unafanya nini? What are you doing? (sing.)

Ninafanya kazi. I’m working.

Mnafanya nini? What are you doing? (pl.)

Tunasoma. We’re studying.

Saying goodbye

Kwaheri! Goodbye. (sing.)

Kwaherini! Goodbye all. (pl.)

Language points

Habari za, meaning literally ‘news of’ is another common form

used in polite conversation. Like habari yako? it can be used to

ask about someone’s well-being, but it is more speciﬁc. So habari

za kazi? means literally ‘news of the work’. When meeting some-

body who is travelling, you can ask Habari za safari? ‘How is the

journey?’ The answer to this question is always positive – you can

choose nzuri, njema, saﬁ, or salama.

The word nani means ‘who’, but in jina lako nani? it is better

translated as ‘what’, so the expression reads as ‘What is your

name?’

Listen to the audio material for the pronunciation of njema.

Exercise 5

Choose the correct reply (several answers are sometimes possible;

use many different forms).

E.g. The CO asks Habari za safari?

and Kathy replies Salama.

1 CO: Hujambo? K

ATHY

: ________

2 CO: Habari yako? K

ATHY

: ________

3 CO: Habari za safari? K

ATHY

: ________

4 CO: Karibu! K

ATHY

: ________

ATHY

: Hamjambo? CO1

AND

CO2: ________

ATHY

: Habari za kazi? CO1

AND

CO2: ________

ATHY

: Asanteni! CO1

AND

CO2________

Language point

In Swahili there are many kinds of greetings, which may depend

on the relationship between the people involved. For instance, a

younger person or a person of a lower rank or status would greet

their elder or superior respectfully by using the word Shikamoo

(‘My respects’ – just as Nick did in the previous dialogue); the

reply is always Marahaba (‘Welcome’). This is the same form of

greeting a student would use to a teacher. People of the same age

group would be less formal in their greetings, saying for example,

U hali gani? (‘How’s your health/state?’); often the reply is, Mzima

(‘Well/Fine’) or Salama (‘Fine’).

Muslims usually greet each other by saying Salaam aleikum

(‘Peace be unto you’), and the reply is always Aleikum salaam

(‘And peace unto you’).

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