[Swahili] Mchezo wa tafsiri ya sentensi

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Set
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[Swahili] Mchezo wa tafsiri ya sentensi

Postby Set » 2013-05-23, 10:18

Simple game. You post a sentence in English and the next person has to translate it to Swahili and then post a new sentence in English for the following person. Anyone can make corrections.

Let's see if there is anyone else around.

First sentence:


I really like speaking Swahili.
Native:[flag=]en[/flag] Good:[flag=]de[/flag][flag=]ca[/flag] Focusing on:[flag=]fa[/flag][flag=]ku[/flag][flag=]ps[/flag] Interested in:[flag=]zza[/flag][flag=]tr[/flag][flag=]sw[/flag]

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Re: Mchezo wa tafsiri ya sentensi

Postby modus.irrealis » 2013-05-27, 11:42

I'm not even a pre-beginner when it comes to Swahili, but I've always been tempted by the language, so I can try to use (very simple) sentences as a way to learn some of the grammar.

Set wrote:I really like speaking Swahili.

Ninapenda sana kusema Kiswahili.

I already gave her the book.

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Re: Mchezo wa tafsiri ya sentensi

Postby Set » 2013-05-27, 15:36

Cool.

modus.irrealis wrote:I already gave her the book.

Nimemshapa kitabu.

I assume it works like this, but I'm not sure if you put the object infix before '-sha-' or if you can even use them together.
Anyway, here's the next sentence:

Did you buy anything at the market?
Native:[flag=]en[/flag] Good:[flag=]de[/flag][flag=]ca[/flag] Focusing on:[flag=]fa[/flag][flag=]ku[/flag][flag=]ps[/flag] Interested in:[flag=]zza[/flag][flag=]tr[/flag][flag=]sw[/flag]

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Re: Mchezo wa tafsiri ya sentensi

Postby modus.irrealis » 2013-06-10, 21:53

I had trouble finding out how to translate "anything" but maybe I can just drop it in Swahili?

Set wrote:Did you buy anything at the market?

Sokoni ulinunua? :?:

I don't want to talk to her anymore.

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Re: Mchezo wa tafsiri ya sentensi

Postby linguoboy » 2013-06-11, 2:27

modus.irrealis wrote:I don't want to talk to her anymore.

Sitaki semee mwanamke yule zaidi.

I don't want to hear any more of her little lies.
"Richmond is a real scholar; Owen just learns languages because he can't bear not to know what other people are saying."--Margaret Lattimore on her two sons

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Re: Mchezo wa tafsiri ya sentensi

Postby Set » 2013-06-11, 8:55

I'll make some corrections according to what I know, but don't expect them to be perfect.

modus.irrealis wrote:Sokoni ulinunua? :?:


Anything is: kitu cho chote (literally any thing). And the verb should come first, so:
Ulinunua kitu cho chote sokoni?

linguoboy wrote:Sitaki semee mwanamke yule zaidi.

You don't need to use the subjunctive here since both verbs have the same subject. 'mwanamke yule' means 'that women' but I don't know if it's a valid translation for 'her', the gender isn't really important in Swahili. And I think 'kusema' is more to say something, so I'd write it like this:

Sitaki kuzungumza nawe zaidi

linguoboy wrote:I don't want to hear any more of her little lies.


Sitaki kusikia zaidi ya maongo yake madogo.

You have to dig a well or the crops will die.
Native:[flag=]en[/flag] Good:[flag=]de[/flag][flag=]ca[/flag] Focusing on:[flag=]fa[/flag][flag=]ku[/flag][flag=]ps[/flag] Interested in:[flag=]zza[/flag][flag=]tr[/flag][flag=]sw[/flag]

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Re: Mchezo wa tafsiri ya sentensi

Postby modus.irrealis » 2013-06-25, 21:51

Thanks, Set.

Set wrote:You have to dig a well or the crops will die.

Lazima uchimbe kisima, au mazao yatakufa. :?:

(I mean, every translation of mine is very :?: but this one especially.)

Do you want beef or lamb for dinner?

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Re: Mchezo wa tafsiri ya sentensi

Postby vijayjohn » 2013-11-24, 21:51

modus.irrealis wrote:
Set wrote:I really like speaking Swahili.

Ninapenda sana kusema Kiswahili.


This is fine, although technically, this means "I like speaking Swahili very much." 'Really' (or 'truly', etc.) in Swahili is kwa kweli, so if I wanted to use that expression, I'd probably say:

Kwa kweli, ninapenda kusema Kiswahili.

Set wrote:Nimemshapa kitabu.

I assume it works like this, but I'm not sure if you put the object infix before '-sha-' or if you can even use them together.

It's the other way around: the object prefix goes after sha-. (Although this is admittedly unintuitive, all of the morphemes here besides the root are really prefixes; it's just that they have to be arranged/stacked in a particular order).

So it should be:

Nimeshampa kitabu.

Anything is: kitu cho chote (literally any thing). And the verb should come first, so:
Ulinunua kitu cho chote sokoni?

I believe chochote is one word, not two. I don't think I've ever seen it written as two words. (As two words, kitu chochote would mean 'thing of all' or something, I think).

Sitaki kuzungumza naweye zaidi

You probably know this already, but just to make sure this is absolutely clear:
Nawe is short for na wewe 'with you'.
Naye is short for na yeye 'with him/her'.

modus.irrealis wrote:Lazima uchimbe kisima, auama sivyo mazao yatakufa. :?:

(I mean, every translation of mine is very :?: but this one especially.)

That wasn't bad at all! The only thing there (AFAICT) is that 'or' here means 'otherwise', which (apparently) is ama sivyo. :D

Do you want beef or lamb for dinner?

Unataka nyama ya ng'ombe au nyama ya mbuzi jioni?

Let's do a really easy sentence this time. :D

How are you?(to one person)

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Re: [Swahili] Mchezo wa tafsiri ya sentensi

Postby ceid donn » 2014-01-11, 20:59

OK, I hope someone else around here will play. If not I'll just play alone. :) I need to practice. And of course, if anyone knows enough kiSwahili to correct me, please do. I'm using Simplified Swahili, which apparrently teaches just that--a very simplified version of kiSwahili--so any help "flushing" out what I am learning to help me write more natural kiSwahili would be appreciated!


vijayjohn wrote:How are you?(to one person)


Hujambo?, Habari gani?, Habari yako? au U hali gani? (Was there as specific greeting you were looking for?)


There is a tree over there.

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Re: [Swahili] Mchezo wa tafsiri ya sentensi

Postby ceid donn » 2014-01-11, 23:27

Ok I'm being impatient but I don't want to wait for days for someone else to stop in.

Pana mti pale.

Pa- (definite place marker) + -na (to have) + mti (tree, sing.) + pa- (definite place marker) + -le (there, over there)

Google Translate can't make heads or tails of that but that's what my textbook says how to say that. :?

The crops are ripe now and there are workers in the field.

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Re: [Swahili] Mchezo wa tafsiri ya sentensi

Postby ceid donn » 2014-01-13, 2:32

Mimea inaiva sasa na wafanyakazi wako shambani.

I couldn't figure out how to say "there are workers in the field" exactly so I changed it to slightly to "workers are in the field".

The children arrived today but the parents stayed at the village.

I'm trying to keep the grammar and vocabulary within the scope of the first 20 chapters of Simplifed Swahili :P

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Re: [Swahili] Mchezo wa tafsiri ya sentensi

Postby vijayjohn » 2014-01-14, 5:43

ceid donn wrote:OK, I hope someone else around here will play.

Kwa hakika! :mrgreen:

And of course, if anyone knows enough kiSwahili to correct me, please do. I'm using Simplified Swahili, which apparrently teaches just that--a very simplified version of kiSwahili--so any help "flushing" out what I am learning to help me write more natural kiSwahili would be appreciated!

Nitajaribu. :)

vijayjohn wrote:How are you?(to one person)


Hujambo?, Habari gani?, Habari yako? au U hali gani? (Was there as specific greeting you were looking for?)

Ndiyo, "hujambo" tu. :P I've never seen "u hali gani" before :hmm:...interesting! But for the other two, I'd use different translations. For "habari gani?" I think I'd say either "what's new?" or "what's up?" For "habari yako?" I think I'd say "what's new/up with you?" Eh, I should've just picked a less ambiguous English phrase. :P

Ok I'm being impatient but I don't want to wait for days for someone else to stop in.

Sorry. :oops:

Google Translate can't make heads or tails of that but that's what my textbook says how to say that. :?

Google Translate has lots of problems, especially for non-Eurasian languages, trust me. :lol:

Mimea inaiva sasa na wafanyakazi wako shambani.

Mimea means 'plants' (singular mmea). 'Crops' is mazao. Also, inaiva means 'they are ripening', so 'the crops are ripe' (i.e. the crops have ripened) would be mazao limeiva.

I couldn't figure out how to say "there are workers in the field" exactly so I changed it to slightly to "workers are in the field".

"There are workers in the field" = either pana wafanyakazi shambani or wafanyakazi pana shambani.

The children arrived today but the parents stayed at the village.

Watoto walifika leo lakini wazazi walikaa kijijini.

I'm trying to keep the grammar and vocabulary within the scope of the first 20 chapters of Simplifed Swahili :P

Unfortunately, I don't have Simplified Swahili, but hopefully what I came up with here is simple enough to be within those boundaries anyway. :P

I come from the US.

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Re: [Swahili] Mchezo wa tafsiri ya sentensi

Postby ceid donn » 2014-01-15, 4:49

vijayjohn wrote:Unfortunately, I don't have Simplified Swahili, but hopefully what I came up with here is simple enough to be within those boundaries anyway. :P


SS is very grammar-ortiented and does give you quite a bit of vocabulary. But as you probably know, there's a quite a bit to learn with Swahili grammar, so just be patient with me. I'm trying to get handle on all of this! :wink:

"U hali gani? " is a phrase given in SS, but I know I've seen it elsewhere too. Not sure if it's more favored in some dialects or what. And thank you for writing "there are farmers in the field". I wasn't sure how to use pana/kuna without pale/kule or hapa/huku. I see I was overthinking it! :lol:

vijayjohn wrote:I come from the US.


Nakota Marekani.

The girl and her father travelled as far as Kenya.

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Re: [Swahili] Mchezo wa tafsiri ya sentensi

Postby vijayjohn » 2014-01-19, 4:48

ceid donn wrote:SS is very grammar-ortiented and does give you quite a bit of vocabulary. But as you probably know, there's a quite a bit to learn with Swahili grammar, so just be patient with me. I'm trying to get handle on all of this! :wink:

No problem! :D

"U hali gani? " is a phrase given in SS, but I know I've seen it elsewhere too. Not sure if it's more favored in some dialects or what.

Nah, probably just some textbooks. :P I used TY to learn Swahili. It's been really helpful, but it's pretty long, and it doesn't have "U hali gani?" :ohwell:

And thank you for writing "there are farmers in the field". I wasn't sure how to use pana/kuna without pale/kule or hapa/huku. I see I was overthinking it! :lol:

Meh, I had to look it up in TY anyway. :P The whole pa-/ku- thing is pretty confusing.

Nakota Natoka Marekani.

The girl and her father travelled as far as Kenya.

Mtoto wa kike na baba yake walisafiri mbali kama Kenya.

I may not know what exactly is in Simplified Swahili, but this sentence is using words and constructions (well, a construction) we just discussed here, so I know you can translate it! :mrgreen:

There are crops in the field.

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Re: [Swahili] Mchezo wa tafsiri ya sentensi

Postby ceid donn » 2014-01-20, 4:51

I wanted to get TY Swahili but I wanted the earlier version and the only copies with the CDs for sale where way overpriced.

SS has mimea for plants or crops, but I'll use mazao like you did (that's what the online dictionary has too):

Pana mazao shambani


Were they able to buy bread in town? Yes.

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Re: [Swahili] Mchezo wa tafsiri ya sentensi

Postby vijayjohn » 2014-02-02, 18:30

Waliweza kununua mkate mjini? Ndiyo.

(Samahani, nimechelewa kufika hapa. :P).

The plants in the field are big.

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Re: [Swahili] Mchezo wa tafsiri ya sentensi

Postby modus.irrealis » 2014-02-03, 14:59

Thanks, vijayjohn, for your corrections from before. And now to try out Swahili again...

vijayjohn wrote:The plants in the field are big.

Mimea ya shamba ni mikubwa.

This is more like "plants of the field", I guess? But I haven't learned about prepositions yet, and I can't even find out if they can directly modify nouns or not...

There are many roses in the garden.

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Re: [Swahili] Mchezo wa tafsiri ya sentensi

Postby vijayjohn » 2014-02-04, 6:06

modus.irrealis wrote:Thanks, vijayjohn, for your corrections from before. And now to try out Swahili again...

No problem! Glad to see you're trying it out again! :D

Mimea ya shamba ni mikubwa.

This is more like "plants of the field", I guess? But I haven't learned about prepositions yet, and I can't even find out if they can directly modify nouns or not...

Yes, they can directly modify nouns, but I'd say they're not quite as common as in European languages (consider e.g. unakwenda posta? 'are you going (to) the post office?' with no prepositions).

In any case, there is no preposition that means 'in', but there is a postposition that does. 'In the field' would be shambani. :)

There are many roses in the garden.

Pana mawaridi mengi bustanini.

How many stamps do you want?

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Re: [Swahili] Mchezo wa tafsiri ya sentensi

Postby modus.irrealis » 2014-02-04, 22:41

vijayjohn wrote:How many stamps do you want?

Unataka stempu ngapi?

How much does one stamp cost?

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Re: [Swahili] Mchezo wa tafsiri ya sentensi

Postby ceid donn » 2014-02-05, 18:44

The chapter I'm on covers question words but for some reason "How much...?" isn't covered. :evil: So I had to do a bit a googling. I hope this is at least in the ballpark:

modus.irrealis wrote:How much does one stamp cost?

Ni kiasi gani cha gharama moja stempu?


When will you go to the post office?


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