Toolbox Kiswahili

Kiswahili, one week at a time.

Karibu.

A running set of class notes from a beginners’ Kiswahili course, written up week by week and published here as they are finished. They are a learner’s notes, not a textbook — the reasoning, the mistakes and the questions asked in the room are part of what gets written down.

Swahili is the working language of much of East Africa, and SEESALT’s programmes run where it is spoken. Learning it is not a side project.

The notes

Published as each week is finished.

  • Note 01 Sounds, greetings, and the shape of a word The five vowels and every consonant; noun classes; the verb as a train of prefixes; the full introductions dialogue. 2 & 3 Sept 2026
  • Note 02 The people around you 第三人称 hajambo 与整套 -jambo 形式；亲属称谓与问候家人；平行与交叉的分法；出身的三个精度。
    The third person, the household, and how a family divides — with the full -jambo paradigm closed.         8 Sept 2026
  • Note 03 Counting to ten, and asking where you live 数字 0–10 与十以上的阿拉伯语层；-kaa 与 ngapi；句首的 je 和词尾的 -je。
    The numbers, the Arabic layer that takes over above ten, and the house-number dialogue.         10 Sept 2026
  • Note 04 How many years you have 整十位与 21–32；用"有"说年龄；ngapi 第一次戴上帽子；连接词 -a 的第 1 类形式。
    The tens completed, age stated with have, and the first visible agreement on ngapi.         11 Sept 2026
  • Note 05 Saying the past, and saying no -li- 与 -ta- 进入真句子；-zaliwa 的被动式；单音节词根的垫片 ku；年份与序数词；否定全套；宾语前缀。
    Tenses in use, the passive, the negative paradigm, and the object prefix.         14–15 Sept 2026
  • Note 06 What the date is, and what it always is 日期与月份；关系标记 -o-；-kuwa 的时态；第一个非人主语 i-；惯常式 huwa 与 itakuwa 的对比。
    Dates and months, the relative -o-, and the habitual set against the future.         21 Sept 2026
  • Note 07 What gets closed, and what gets opened 学科名与四条构词规律；muhula huu 与 siku za；-ua 反向后缀；被动式 ilifungwa / itafunguliwa；ku 的四种身份。
    Subjects, the reversal suffix, a full set of passives, and four kinds of ku.         23–24 Sept 2026
  • Note 08 Saying will not, and asking the time 将来时否定；从日出数起的钟点与 robo、nusu、kasoro；习惯式 hu-；kuwa na 的三个时态；-me- 初见；Shikamoo。
    The negative future, Swahili time, habitual hu-, and two dialogues worked through.         5–7 Oct 2026
  • Note 09 In preparation Noun classes in use, and more of the verb. —
  • Note 10 In preparation To follow. —
  • Note 11 In preparation To follow. —

How to use them

Read the grammar, then say the dialogue out loud.

Each note follows the same shape: what was taught, then the tables to refer back to, then a short set of drills with the answers hidden until you want them. Nothing here needs to be memorised in order — the vocabulary lists at the end of each note are the part worth returning to.

Each section carries an English gloss beneath the Chinese, so the notes can be read in either language.

Three things that make it easier than it looks

  • No tones.
  • No grammatical gender, and no case endings.
  • Spelling and pronunciation match, one letter to one sound.

And one thing that makes it harder: every noun belongs to a class, and the words around it change shape to agree. That is the whole difficulty, and it is covered in Note 01.

Corrections welcome.

These are notes taken by a student, checked against the handouts but not by a linguist. If you speak Kiswahili and something here is wrong, or right but not how anyone actually says it, please write — corrections are credited on the note they fix.

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