Latest / Learn Swahili with Fexingo / Swahili Ordinal Numbers - First to Tenth
Transcript
- Lucas: Welcome back to Learn Swahili with Fexingo. I'm Lucas, and with me as always is the wonderful Luna. Luna: Hey everyone! I'm so ready to learn some more Swahili. Last episode we were asking for help at the hotel, and I still remember 'Tafadhali nisaidie.' Lucas: Nice, Luna. You've got that down. Today we're going to learn something really useful: ordinal numbers. You know, first, second, third — that kind of thing. Luna: Oh, like when you say 'This is my first time visiting' or 'I'm second in line.' That's perfect. Lucas: Exactly. So let's start with the most common one: 'kwanza' — meaning first. Luna: Kwanza. First. Okay. Lucas: Good. Next is 'pili' — second. Luna: Pili. That sounds a bit like 'pili' in some other languages I know. Easy to remember. Lucas: Then 'tatu' — third. Luna: Wait, tatu? That's the same as the number three, right? We learned that in numbers. Lucas: Exactly. In Swahili, ordinal numbers for three and above are the same as the cardinal numbers, but they often use the prefix 'wa-' for people. But for now, just remember: tatu is both three and third. Luna: So 'nne' is four and fourth? And 'tano' is five and fifth? Lucas: You got it. Let's list them: kwanza, pili, tatu, nne, tano, sita, saba, nane, tisa, kumi. Luna: Kwanza, pili, tatu, nne, tano, sita, saba, nane, tisa, kumi. I think I need to practice that a few times. Lucas: Let's try a little role-play. I'll be at a market, and you're the seller. I ask: 'Hii ni bei gani?' and you answer with the position of the item. For example, I point to the first item and you say 'Hii ni ya kwanza.' Luna: Hii ni ya kwanza. That means 'This is the first one.' Lucas: Perfect. Now I point to the third item. Luna: Hii ni ya tatu. Lucas: Great. And if I ask about the second item? Luna: Hii ni ya pili. Oh, this is fun. Lucas: Now let's use them in a sentence about a race. 'Yeye alishinda nafasi ya kwanza' — he won first place. Luna: Yeye alishinda nafasi ya kwanza. What about second place? Lucas: Nafasi ya pili. And third place is 'nafasi ya tatu.' Luna: So 'nafasi' means place or position? Lucas: Exactly. Now, if you want to say 'This is my first time,' you can say 'Hii ni mara yangu ya kwanza.' Luna: Hii ni mara yangu ya kwanza. I've used that before when trying new food. It's so handy. Lucas: And 'mara yangu ya pili' would be 'my second time.' Luna: Okay, let me practice all of them in order. Kwanza, pili, tatu, nne, tano, sita, saba, nane, tisa, kumi. I think I've got it. Lucas: You're doing great. Let's do a quick call and repeat. I'll say the ordinal, and you repeat. Luna: Sounds good. Hit me. Lucas: Kwanza. Luna: Kwanza. Lucas: Pili. Luna: Pili. Lucas: Tatu. Luna: Tatu. Lucas: Nne. Luna: Nne. Lucas: Tano. Luna: Tano. Lucas: Sita. Luna: Sita. Lucas: Saba. Luna: Saba. Lucas: Nane. Luna: Nane. Lucas: Tisa. Luna: Tisa. Lucas: Kumi. Luna: Kumi. That was good practice. Lucas: Now, if you want to say 'the first day' it's 'siku ya kwanza.' What would 'the second day' be? Luna: Siku ya pili. Lucas: Exactly. And 'the third month' is 'mwezi wa tatu.' Luna: Mwezi wa tatu. So the preposition changes depending on the noun class? We haven't covered that yet. Lucas: We'll get into noun classes another time. For now, just remember the ordinals and you'll be fine. Luna: This is really useful for telling dates too, like 'the first of January'. Lucas: Yes, 'Januari tarehe kwanza' — January first. 'Tarehe' means date. Luna: Januari tarehe kwanza. So for the second it's 'Januari tarehe pili'? Lucas: Exactly. You're catching on. Luna: I love that this builds on numbers we already know. It makes it so much easier. Lucas: That's the idea. And speaking of building, if Fexingo has been helping you make actual progress with Swahili, you might want to support the show. We keep it ad-free on purpose. Luna: Yeah, it's nice not having interruptions. If you want to help keep it that way, you can find us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Lucas: Every little bit helps, and it lets us keep making episodes exactly like this one. So, back to ordinals — let's do one more example. 'Yeye ni mtoto wangu wa kwanza' means 'He is my first child.' Luna: Yeye ni mtoto wangu wa kwanza. What about 'my second child'? Lucas: Mtoto wangu wa pili. Luna: Mtoto wangu wa pili. I can imagine using that. Lucas: Okay, let's wrap up. Today we learned ordinal numbers from first to tenth: kwanza, pili, tatu, nne, tano, sita, saba, nane, tisa, kumi. Luna: I feel like I can actually use these. Thanks, Lucas. Thanks, Fexingo. Practice these until we chat again! Lucas: See you next time. Kwaheri! Luna: Kwaheri!