'No' in Swahili

[charlotteh]

Hi, does anyone know how to say 'no, get away' in Swahili and Kipsigis?
Thanks!
Charlotte

[Roberta]

No, go away in Swahili is "hapana, toka!" "toka" is used a lot to get someone , something (like a dog) to go away. You can also use the word "la" for no. But in the case you are describing I would use "hapana, toka!"

[Sarabi]

So is "la" the basic word for "no"?

[Lumijaguaari]

So is "la" the basic word for "no"?

From what I gather, 'hapana' (along vith 'hakuna' and 'hamna') are basic 'no's and 'la' a bit stronger.

[eskandar]

Does anyone know if "la" is a loan from Arabic?

[Steisi]

AFAIK you use the negative form of a verb to say no in the following cases:

Unasema Kiswahili?
Sisemi Kiswahili.

And la for this kind:

Wewe ni mwanafunzi?
La, mimi si mwanafunzi. Mimi ni mwalimu.

Note that in the above example both kinds are used

[chicmyers]

Just a note, in Kenya, they don't really use "unasema" - they say, "unazumgumza kiswahili?" and "sizumgumzi".

Also, "nafahamu" and "sifahamu" are not used either - they use "naelewa" and "sielewi" for "I don't understand". "Fahamu" is "to be aware".

For "no", "hapana" is okay. If you say, "la, asante" it's polite, not harsh. "Hakuna" is "there is no" or "there are none" or "there isn't any" (you get the point).

"Hamna" is more like "you (pl.) don't" as in "Hamna tambui mna nini hapa" (You don't realize what you have here.)

I just got back this past weekend from spending 2 months in Kenya (I also spent a month there last year) and the native speakers corrected me (in a nice, helpful way, of course). Just thought I'd pass that along. Hope it is helpful.

Smooches.

[The Finnish Spaniard]

how about "Si ndiyo"? Does that even make sense?

[The Finnish Spaniard]

Or Siyo?

[Sarabi]

Just a note, in Kenya, they don't really use "unasema" - they say, "unazumgumza kiswahili?" and "sizumgumzi".

Also, "nafahamu" and "sifahamu" are not used either - they use "naelewa" and "sielewi" for "I don't understand". "Fahamu" is "to be aware".

Interesting. Did you experience this across different places in Kenya, or could it have just been one place? I know my Kenyan teacher never corrected me for using kusema lugha, but as a professor she was aware of the dialectal variations. I wanted to learn more after reading your post, so I started looking on Google, and I have found Tanzanians and Congoese people using -sema Kiswahili, but not Kenyans. However, it seems to be used more by foreigners than anyone.