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Swahili: Unit 7 - Counting and Swahili Time Unit Objectives: by The End of This Unit, You Should Be Able To

This document provides information about counting, numbers, and telling time in Swahili. It begins by listing basic Swahili numbers from 1 to 1 billion. It then explains how to form composite numbers by pronouncing each place value distinctly. The document also covers counting objects by using numbers as adjectives and attaching the correct prefix based on noun class. Finally, it describes the Swahili clock system, which is based on 12-hour cycles of sunrise and sunset rather than a.m. and p.m. Times are told using the hour in Swahili along with descriptors of morning, day, evening, or night.

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MartyneJohn
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539 views11 pages

Swahili: Unit 7 - Counting and Swahili Time Unit Objectives: by The End of This Unit, You Should Be Able To

This document provides information about counting, numbers, and telling time in Swahili. It begins by listing basic Swahili numbers from 1 to 1 billion. It then explains how to form composite numbers by pronouncing each place value distinctly. The document also covers counting objects by using numbers as adjectives and attaching the correct prefix based on noun class. Finally, it describes the Swahili clock system, which is based on 12-hour cycles of sunrise and sunset rather than a.m. and p.m. Times are told using the hour in Swahili along with descriptors of morning, day, evening, or night.

Uploaded by

MartyneJohn
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as ODT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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SWAHILI: UNIT 7 COUNTING AND

SWAHILI TIME
UNIT OBJECTIVES
By the end of this unit, you should be able to:

Count to a billion in Swahili

Describe numbers of objects for nouns of all classes

Tell Swahili Time

Master the following vocabulary: Swahili Unit 7 Vocabulary

NEW CONTENT
Heres the lecture audio, if youd like to listen along:
KUHESABU: TO COUNT
Basic Numbers

1: Moja

40: Arobaini

2: Mbili

50: Hamsini

3: Tatu

60: Sitini

4: Nne

70: Sabini

5: Tano

80: Themanini

6: Sita

90: Tisini

7: Saba

100: Mia (mia moja)

8: Nane

1000: Elfu (elfu moja)

9: Tisa

100,000: Laki

10: Kumi

1,000,000: Milioni

20: Ishirini

1,000,000,000: Bilioni

30: Thelathini

Composite Numbers

When forming composite numbers, pronounce every place (e.g., ones, tens,
hundreds, etc.) distinctly, with a na (and) before the ones place (or the last
place in use). The number 49, then, is said as, forty and nine. Here are some
examples
21: ishirini na moja //
32: thelathini na mbili //
43:arobaini na tatu //
54: hamsini na nne //
65: sitini na tano //
76: sabini na sita //
87: themanini na saba //
98: tisini na nane.
Multiple hundreds are pronounced hundred two or hundred three, etc. For
example,
200: mia mbili //
300: mia tatu //
400: mia nne //
800: mia nane.

The same rule applies for multiple thousands, hundred thousands, millions, etc.
For example,
5000:elfu tano //
12,000: elfu kumi na mbili //
60,000: elfu sitini //
400,000: laki nne //
7,000,000:milioni saba.
More complex numbers combine all these rules. For example,
249: mia mbili arobaini na tisa //
928:mia tisa ishirini na nane //
1,364: elfu moja mia tatu sitini na nne //
8,723: elfu nane mia saba ishirini na tatu //
19,284: elfu kumi na tisa mia mbili themanini na nne //
53,981: elfu hamsini na tatu, mia tisa themanini na moja //
125,728: laki moja elfu ishirini na tano mia saba ishirini na nane //
500,200: laki tano (na*) mia mbili.

*As in English, youll often hear people add the na before the final
consequential place: Laki tano na mia mbili rather than laki tano mia mbili.
Both are correct, just as five hundred thousand two hundred and five
hundred thousand and two hundred are both correct.
Lets practice. How would you say the following numbers? Check your answers
against the audio.
26:
COUNTING OBJECTS
Fun as it is to just count, numbers will be most useful to you when they function
as adjectives to indicate the number of objects being described:5 mangos,
1000 shillings, 8 spoons, etc. There are two important rules to remember
when using numbers to answer the question -ngapi? (how many?):
1) The number (or any other adjective) always comes after the object being
described. So, 1000 shillings is, shilingi elfu moja. Two seeds (yay!) is
mbegu mbili.
2) Certain numbers, when used as adjectives, must be modified with the
adjectival prefix for the class of the noun being described. The numbers that
take adjectival prefixes are: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 8. Dont ask me why this is. This is
a good time to introduce the basic adjectival prefixes for all noun classes (much
more to come on adjectives later):

Noun Class

Sample Noun

Basic Adjectival Prefix

mtu

m-

watu

wa-

mti

m-

miti

mi-

tunda

(-)

matunda

ma-

kitu

ki-

vitu

vi-

nyumba

(-)

10

nyumba

(-)

11

ukuta

m-

14

upendo

m-

So, when using the numbers 1,2,3,4,5, and 8 as adjectives, you must affix the
appropriate adjectival prefix to them, as in the following examples:
Mtu mmoja : One person //
Kitabu kimoja: One book
When affixing an adjectival prefix to mbili, the stem changes to wili, so we
get:
Matunda mawili : Two fruits //
Mikate miwili : Two breads
None of the other number stems change when used as adjectives. So:
Nyumba tatu : Three houses (remember, noun class 10 has no adjectival
prefix!) //
Wanafunzi watatu : Three students //
Viti vinne : Four chairs //
Miti minne : Four trees //

Mashamba matano : Five farms //


Wazee watano : Five elders //
Mazao manane: Eight crops //
Vitu vinane: Eight things
When using any of the other numbers as adjectives, you do not have to add a
prefix:
Viti sita: Six chairs //
Watu tisa: Nine people //
Majiko ishirini: Twenty stoves //
Walimu mia moja: One hundred teachers
Note: You will sometimes hear Swahili purists use the adjectival prefixes within
complex numbers. So, rather than saying watu kumi na mbili (12 people) they
will say watu kumi na wawili.

SWAHILI TIME
Cultural Note on Relative Importance of Time
One of the most common distinctions people (both Tanzanian and foreigners)
make about the difference between Tanzanian culture and our own regards
punctuality. Simply put, we tend to place a high value on it, and Tanzanians do
not. Meetings in Tanzania just never seem to start on time. There is a real
cultural difference here, but its also one that can be slightly overblown. After
all, its harder to be punctual when you dont own any time-keeping device, as
is the case for many of our friends and Partners. But the debate does offer an
important window into the way the modes of economic production shape
culture. In a subsistence economy, time is not money. In a true capitalist
economy, it is. The economy of rural Tanzania exists somewhere in between
these two zones, a fact reflected in attitudes towards time: people recognize the
importance of time, but as the legacy of subsistence culture remains strong,
most Tanzanians still do not value it as much as we tend to.
The Swahili Clock
To top this all off, the Swahili method of telling time lends itself well to jokes
about lack of punctualitythe Swahili clock actually runs six hours behind our
own. We divide our days into two 12-hour cycles of a.m. and p.m.
according to the 12 oclocks (midnight and noon). The Tanzanian clock is based
instead on 12-hour cycles according to the hours of sunrise and sunset, which
happen at 7:00am and 7:00pm every day. So 7:00am (Sunrise) marks hour one
of the daytime on the Swahili clock: saa moja (saa means hour). 7:00pm
(Sunset) is hour one of the nighttime: saa moja again.

The clock proceeds accordingly:


7:00am/pm = saa moja
8:00am/pm = saa mbili
9:00am/pm = saa tatu
10:00am/pm = saa nne
11:00am/pm = saa tano
12:00am/pm = saa sita
1:00am/pm = saa saba
2:00am/pm = saa nane
3:00am/pm = saa tisa
4:00am/pm = saa kumi
5:00am/pm = saa kumi na moja
6:00am/pm = saa kumi na mbili
Rather than distinguishing times by a.m. and p.m., Swahili speakers distinguish
according to the period of day. A rough breakdown:
Saa kumi na moja hadi (until) saa nne (5:00am-10:00am): Asubuhi (morning)
Saa nne hadi saa kumi (10:00am 4:00pm): Mchana (day)
Saa kumi hadi saa moja (4:00pm 7:00pm) : Jioni (evening)
Saa tatu hadi saa kumi na moja (8:00pm 5:00am): Usiku (night)
So:
8:00am = saa mbili asubuhi
12:00pm = saa sita mchana
6:00pm = saa kumi na mbili jioni
10:00pm = saa nne usiku

Telling the exact time


So, ni saa ngapi?what time is it?
In the first 30 minutes of an hour, you combine the current hour and minutes
(note that multiples of 15 minutes are special). 7:10am: Saa moja na dakika
kumi asubuhi (the first hour and ten minutes of the morning)
9:15am: Saa tatu na robo (the third hour and a quarter of the morning)
10:27am: Saa nne na dakika ishirini na saba mchana (the fourth hour and twenty
seven minutes of the daytime)
3:30pm: Saa tisa na nusu mchana (the ninth hour and a half of the daytime)
In the last 30 minutes of the hour, you read the time as a statement of
subtraction from the coming hour, using kasoro to indicate less than:
7:40am: Saa mbili kasoro dakika ishirini asubuhi (twenty minutes short of the
second hour of the morning)
9:45pm: Saa nne kasorobo usiku (A quarter short of the fourth hour of the
night).
Since most people in villages dont have clocks, youll rarely discuss time with
minute precision. But its good to know the rules.
CONCLUDING ADVICE
Tardiness is unprofessional!
EXERCISES
Listening comprehension questions for Unit 7 dialogues are in the worksheet.

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