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94 SWAHILI MADE EASY LESSON 27 HOW TO TELL TIME IN SWAHILI The Swahili day begins at 7 a.m. and ends at 6 p.m. It is called siku “day”. The night is also 12 hours beginning at 7 p.m. and ending at 6 a.m. From 6 a.m. to about 10 a.m. it is asubuhi, “morning”; from 11 a.m. to about 4 p.m. it is mchana, during the day·; from 5 p.m. to about 8 p.m. it is jioni, “evening “.The night is usiku. which means also “at night”. e.g. Alikuja usiku, “He came at night”. Likewise: Alikuja mchana, “He came during the day”. Alikuja asubuhi, “He came in the morning”. Alikuja jioni, “He came in the evening “. Swahili time can be reckoned from the English time system in the following manner: 1. From 7 am. to 12 noon: subtract 6 from the English time, and you get the corresponding Swahili time. e.g. 7 - 6 = 1 : saa moja. 8 - 6 = 2: saa mbili. 12 - 6 = 6: saa sita. etc. As the word saa, “ hour” is in the N class, the words moja, mbili, tatu, etc. do not take nominal prefixes. We say: saa tatu, saa nne, saa tano, etc... Now let us see if you can tell time in Swahili. What time is it in Swahili when it is 9 p.m.? How do you get the Swahili equivalent of 9 p.m.? Of course, you subtract 6 from 9 and get 3; so it becomes saa tatu usiku in Swahili. 2. From 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. add 6 to get the Swahili time. e.g. 1 p.m. + 6 = 7: saa saba mchana. PART ONE 95 3 p.m. + 6 = 9: saa tisa mchana. 6 p.m. + 6 = 1 2 : saa kumi na mbili. 3. Likewise, from 1 a m. to 6 a.m. add 6 to get the Swahili time, thus: 1 a.m. + 6 = 7: saa saba usiku. 2 a.m. + 6 = 8: saa nane usiku. 6 a.m. + 6 = 1 2: saa kumi na mbili asubuhi. The expressions kutwa, “the whole day”, and kucha, “the whole night”, are common. e.g. Tulifanya kazi kutwa, “We worked the whole day”. So too,“Hatukulala usiku kucha, “We did not sleep the whole night”. EXERCISE 36 Translate into English: 1. Je, ulikuja saa ngapi jana? Nilikuja saa moja jioni. 2. Ni saa ngapi?18 Sasa ni saa sita mchana. 3. Njoo kesho saa mbili asubuhi, nitakuwa nyumbani. 4. Je, unakwenda kazini saa ngapi? Saa moja na nusu.19 5. Je, shule inaanza saa ngapi? Inaanza saa moja. 6. Watoto lazima waende kulala saa moja jioni na waamke saa kumi na mbili asubuhi. 7. Je, siyo mapema mno (too early)? Ni vizuri, watapata afya (health). 8. Tulifanya kazi jana kutwa, tulichoka sana.Tulirudi nyumbani saa tatu usiku. 9. Je, uliamka saa ngapi leo? Niliamka saa kumi na moja. 10. Baba alichelewa kurudi, alikuja saa saba usiku. 18 saa ngapi? Literally means “how many hours”, i.e. “what time is it?” 19 nusu means “half ”, so “half past seven” in this case. ...

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