KISWAHILI FOR BEGINNERS: TOPIC FIVE 3. Dates

We proceed with our five topic.

Telling dates in Swahili

In kiswahili telling dates follows the ordinary numbers system as one tells the date first ,then a month and last a year.

A word for date in kiswahili is “tarehe” both in singular and plural.

A word for month in Kiswahili is “mwezi” in singular but in plural you have “miezi” an a word for a year is “mwaka” in singular and in plural you have “miaka”

So month and year belong in a same class(m/mi) which is plaint noun class characterised by taking “m” in plural; while date belongs to a different noun class (N/N) meaning that these are words do not take plural forms.

The following are phrases used in telling dates in kiswahili.

Kiswahili                                                                              English

Leo ni siku Gani?                                                          What day is today?

Leo ni juma nne .

Leo ni juma ngapi?                                                       What day is today?

Leo ni jumanne

 Leo ni tarehe ngapi?                                                   What is today’s date?

Leo ni tarehe Moja, mwezi Januari ,mwaka 2006

Huu ni mwezi gani?                                                     What month is this?

Here are some examples on telling dates in kiswahili

1/1/1879 – Tarehe moja, mwezi wa kwanza ,mwaka elfu Moja mia nane sabini na tisa or ni tarehe moja, mwezi Januari mwaka elf moja mia nane sabini na tisa.

2/7/2005 – Tarehe mbili mwezi wa saba mwaka elf mbili na tano or tarehe mbili mwezi Julai mwaka elf mbili na tano

14/05/1999- Tarehe kumi na nne,mwezi wa kumi,mwaka elf moja mia tisa tisini na tisa

Or tarehe 14,mwezi oktoba, mwaka elf Moja mia tisa tisini na tisa.