Learn Swahili in a Fun Way: A linguistic Approach

PART ONE

LESSON ONE / SOMO LA KWANZA

SOUNDS, SYLLABLES AND STRESS/

HERUFI, SILABI NA MKAZO

Let us begin the Swahili learning journey with three crucial components that beginners need to know in order to read, write, speak, and understand efficiently: Sounds, Syllables, and Stress rules.

1. SWAHILI SOUNDS

A: Swahili Vowels / Irabu za Kiswahili

The Swahili orthography has 5 vowels, pronounced as follows:

• A, E, I, O, U: they sound more like Japanese or Spanish vowels.

• A is pronounced as in English m a m a .

• E is pronounced as in English d a y or as low as in e l e phant .

• I is pronounced as in English sl ee p .

• O is pronounced as in English b o at or as low as in b o re .

• U is pronounced as in English t oo.

Point and read: a, e, e, i, i, o, o, u, u, a, u, o, i, e, a, i, o, e, u, e, e, o, o, u, i

B: Swahili Consonants / Konsonanti za Kiswahili

The Swahili orthography has a number of consonants, some of which are similar to those in English, and some are somewhat different. The Swahili consonants are pronounced as follows:

• p, t, k, b, d, g:

In simple syllabic forms, these consonants are pronounced as:

• f, v, th, dh, s, z, sh, ch, j, h

In simple syllabic forms, these consonants are pronounced as follows²:

• m, n, ny, ng’

In simple syllabic forms, these are pronounced as follows:

• r, l, w, y

In simple syllabic forms, these are pronounced as follows:

The sounds w, and y can combine with other sounds to make complex syllables in Swahili³. These can be challenging and difficult to pronounce for English speakers. Therefore, it is good to practice regularly.

Another challenging sound is the gh sound, which comes from Swahili loan words from Arabic. This sound is pronounced in the soft palate as the English sound g but with friction. Try to say: gha, gho, ghu.

C: STRESS IN SWAHILI / MKAZO KATIKA KISWAHILI

In Swahili, a stressed or prominent syllable is the second from last or last but one. For instance, the word kabati, ‘cupboard’ will be pronounced as: kaBAti. Try to stress the second from last syllable on the following la-la-la-la pattern followed by actual words.

You will notice that, almost always, the stressed syllable is longer. We will practice the la-la-la-la pattern in each Chapter or class. Now, try to read the following words using all three components that we just talked about.

The first component is how Swahili vowels sound. Swahili vowels are consistent in their pronunciation and keep their respective sounds regardless of their combination with other surrounding vowels.

• The words mate (saliva), wifi (sister-in-law), pole (sorry) will be read or pronounced as [mate], [wifi], and [pole] respectively, and not [meɪt], [waɪfaɪ], [poʊl] as in English. We will find out more about this below.

The second component is the position of a prominent syllable (a.k.a stressed syllable) in a word. We will learn which syllable receives prominence or stress. (It is similar to getting the rhythm of a song)

• The phrase NINAKUPENDA (I love you) must be pronounced as ninaku PE nda and not niNAkupenda or ninaKUpenda. How do we know which syllable receives the stress? We will soon find the rule in Swahili.

The third component is understanding Swahili syllables. It is crucial to practice pronouncing various syllable types before trying to read or speak.

• Some syllables, such as nya , ng’o, etc, are not found in English. Therefore, we will practice all this.

(a) Words with matching single short vowels, e.g.

(b) Words with the same double vowels, each vowel must be pronounced distinctively, e.g.

(c) Words with dissimilar vowels appearing together, each vowel must be pronounced distinctively e.g.

(d) Words with different vowels on different syllables, e.g.

(e) Words with stressed consonant or syllabic nasals:

(f) Words with the sounds ny and ng’ :

(g) Words with the combination of sounds _w and _y :

(h) Words with the combination of sounds gh and ng’

As mentioned above, most mainland Swahili speakers replace the gh sound with g. Coastal speakers pronounce these words consistently as they are.

We will start our next Chapter with the Swahili pronouns and the greetings.

HOMEWORK / ZOEZI LA NYUMBANI

Choose the most correct answer:

1. The word unakaribishwa ‘you are welcome’ can be pronounced with stress on:

a) unaKAribishwa

b) unakaRIbishwa

c) unakariBIshwa

d) unakaribiSHWA

2. The word mgonjwa can be pronounced with stress on:

a) mgoNjwa

b) Mgonjwa

c) mGOnjwa

d) ngoNJWA

3. In hujambo ‘how are you?’ which syllable will receive stress?

a) HUjambo

b) huJAmbo

c) HUJAmbo

d) hujaMBO

4. Which la will receive stress if you are speaking Swahili?

a) lalaLAlala

b) laLAlalala

c) lalalaLAla

d) LAlalalala

5. The word for I like or I love is ninapenda, how do you pronounce this word correctly?

a) ninaPEnda

b) ninapeNDA

c) niNApenda

d) NInaPEnda

6. The Swahili word, mate ‘saliva’ should be pronounced as:

a) meit

b) mati

c) meiti

d) mate

7. What does jenga mean in Swahili

a) game

b) build

c) play

d) blocks

8. What does the word mwalimu mean?

a) student

b) students

c) teachers

d) teacher

9. Underline the syllable that receives stressed in the words:

a) watalii ‘tourists’

b) nchi ‘country’

c) kaa ‘sit’

10. Record yourself saying the word ‘ng’ombe’ three times and submit the audio to your teacher

LESSON TWO / SOMO LA PILI

PRONOUNS AND PRONOUN-VERB SENTENCES

(Grammar song: The Pronouns Song) 

1. ZOEZI LA MATAMSHI / PRONUNCIATION EXERCISE

2. ZOEZI LA MAAMKIZI / GREETINGS EXERCISE

3. ZOEZI LA MAAMKIZI/GREETINGS EXERCISE

4. ZOEZI LA MAAMKIZI/ GREETINGS EXERCISE (FORMAL)

(Greetings between a child/young person and an adult)

5. ZOEZI LA MAAMKIZI / GREETINGS EXERCISE (INFORMAL)

(Greetings between agemates/contemporary greetings)

Pronouns and the Swahili Verb

Before we start our lesson about pronouns (i.e., a word that stands for a noun (pronoun), let us sing the pronoun song:

The Swahili simple verb has three main parts:

{Subject/pronoun prefix} + {Tense prefix} + [stem]

For example, the Swahili word ninacheza ‘I am playing’ has the following parts:

The order of these three elements here is I + present time + play = I am playing:

• ni -is a pronoun prefix; it identifies the subject as first person singular. In Swahili grammar, it is generally known as the subject marker of the verb.

• -na -is a tense prefix; it marks the time of the event. With na it means that the event is taking place in the present time.

• chez - a is the verbal stem; Chez is the radical (the part that never changes), and -a is the final vowel.

We will explore these morphemes in our future lessons.

Swahili has two types of pronouns which express various persons:

(i) The independent pronouns a.k.a stand-alone pronouns: These can replace nouns.

(ii) The Pronoun prefixes: these morphemes go on the verb’s initial position:

The independent pronouns can be used along with the pronoun prefixes, in which case they must match or agree:

To avoid mistakes such as those in the (b) sentences and to make your speech more fluent, simply memorize the pronouns song. Be sure to do the action and internalize the song. The video and audio versions of the song are freely available at: https://sites.google.com/view/learnswahiliinafunway/home.

Note that since Swahili has both the independent and the prefixal pronouns, the independent pronouns are optional in most cases. The speaker can drop them and use the pronoun prefix alone with the verb. Let’s practice speaking with and/or without using them in a sentence! Assign stress correctly:

Some typical examples of Swahili sentences with only pronoun prefixes are given below:

1. PLAYING TAG WITH PRONOUNS AND PREFIXES

1. If I pick an English pronoun, then match the Swahili pronoun. If I pick the Swahili pronoun, then you should match the correct English pronoun. Ready, set, go:

2. If I pick a pronoun, then you should give its matching prefix. If I pick the pronoun prefix, then it should match the pronoun. The pronouns song can be very helpful. Let’s start:

WHERE / WHEN WE MUST USE INDEPENDENT PRONOUNS?

There are at least three contexts where the independent pronoun is necessary:

1. To Mark emphasis

They can mark or place emphasis on the subject or object.

2. To function as the only subject

Pronouns are used to identify a subject of the sentence where no other subject is used. For instance, with ni ‘is’:

3. To call or refer to someone whom you don’t know by name or people whom you don’t want to disclose their names (keep anonymity):

6. READING EXERCISE / ZOEZI LA KUSOMA

Wordlist of the reading

Chiku na Fiona

Mimi ninaitwa Chiku. Ninaishi Toronto, Canada. Mimi ni mwanafunzi. Ninasoma Kiswahili na sayansi. Mama na Baba wanaishi Tanzania.

Wao wanafanya kazi kwenye kampuni. Mimi ninapenda sana safari. Nina rafiki anaitwa Fiona. Yeye anasoma Kiswahili pia. Sisi tunapenda kusafiri. Mimi na Fiona tunapenda kusafiri kwenda Tanzania. Je wewe unapenda kusafiri kwenda wapi?

Maswali:

i) Rafiki yangu anaitwa nani?

ii) Mama na baba wanaishi wapi?

iii) Mimi ninaishi wapi?

iv) Mimi ninapenda nini?

v) Mimi na Fiona tunapenda kufanya nini?

7. ZOEZI LA KUZUNGUMZA / SPEAKING EXERCISE

KUJITAMBULISHA / INTRODUCING ONESELF

8. KAZI YA NYUMBANI / HOMEWORK

1. If someone greets you: hujambo? How should you answer?

a) hujambo

b) Nzuri sana

c) hamjambo

d) sijambo

2. If someone greets you: Mambo? How should you answer?

a) sijambo

b) Nzuri

c) Poa sana

d) Habari

3. __napika wali na chai ‘They are making rice and tea’ the missing prefix is:

a) tu-

b) ni-

c) m-

d) wa-

4. Habari gani?       How should you answer?

a) sijambo

b) ni mzuri

c) ni nsuri

d) nzuri

5. In the pronouns Song: tembea can be added the ku prefix to be kutembea which means:

a) walk b) she walks c) he walks d) to walk

6. If someone says to you: Shikamoo; you can reply:

a) Nzuri

b) sana

c) Marahaba

d) Sijambo

7. The pronoun ninyi means:

a) I/me

b) You (sg)

c) S/he

d) You (pl.)

8. If Yeye, mama, kaka, or dada is used in a sentence the