We had coffee and tea and couldn't even drink them.
Let's remedy!
Oh and before that let's welcome you all.
| asubuhi | morning |
is an N/N class word, too.
| Asubuhi njema ! | Good morning ! |
- - ema is very similar to
- -zuri
Both mean 'good'.
| -zuri | - good / pretty / beautiful - nice - often used to describe things/ conditions / situations |
| -ema | - good / healthy (food) - nice / pleasant - describes people or their qualities - moral goodness - mtu mwema - a good person - asubuhi njema - Good morning - usiku mwema - Good night |
As a conclusion '-ema' is used in greetings meaning pleasant
- a pleasant morning / a pleasant night
- Hodi hodi - May I come in ? / Knock, knock !
- Hodi nyumbani ? - May I come inside (the house) ?
- Karibu ! - Welcome !
habari - news
Another N/N word and a very versatile one.
- Habari ya asubuhi ? - 'news (sg) of the morning = How is your morning ? / How are you doing? / What's up ?
- Habari za asubuhi - 'news (pl) of the morning = How is your morning ? / How are you doing? / What's up ?
- Habari za nyumbani? - How is home/ family ?
- kazi - work
- Habari za kazi?- -How is work?
- safari - trip / journey
- Habari za safari? - How is/was your trip?
- Habari za shule ? - How is school ?
- Habari za baba? - How is Dad?
I guess you got the idea...
Let's look at some answers:
- Nzuri. - Fine./ I'm fine / We are fine./ Everything is fine...
- Salama. - Peaceful. / I'm fine / Everything is peacefull....
- Poa. - Cool/ calm / I am fine...
- Safi. - Clean / pure / I am fine....
And now let's have some coffee.
| kunywa | to drink |
| kula | to eat |
These two verbs behahve a little different from 'kupenda' and 'kuogopa'.
'Kupenda' dropped its infinive marker 'ku-' in order to add person and time marker instead. e.g. ninapenda. Our new verbs keep the 'ku-' for the positive present tense; they drop it for the negative present tense. ( ninaKUla - Sili)
| Kula | positive | negative | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First person | Ninakula | I eat | Sili | I don't eat | ||
| Second person | Unakula | You eat | Huli | You don't eat | you | you |
| Third person | he / she / it | they |