Chapter 24 - Days, Months, Dates

 1. DAYS OF THE WEEK : 

The names of the days of the week in Swahili are a curious mixture of two languages, Arabic and Bantu. Thus, the five first days of the week have got Bantu names, from Jumamosi (= Saturday), i.e. first day of the week, until Jumatano (= Wednesday), i.e. fifth day of the week. The system would be perfect if one went on with "Jumasita" and "Jumasaba", except that instead of those, Swahili borrowed its two last names from the Arabic : Alhamisi (= Thursday), i.e. "five" in Arabic (so that we have now got two "fifth" days in the week ! ) and Ijumaa (= Friday) which means the assembly (of faithful, for the Friday prayer at the mosque).

 2. THE GREGORIAN CALENDAR : 

There are two ways for naming the months in Swahili : either by giving them an ordinal number : first month, second month, etc... or by giving them their English names, with an adapted spelling.

 3. HOW TO READ A DATE : 

1. The date of today :

2. Day :

   We use the word Tarehe (= date) followed by the ordinal number of the day in the month.

   EXAMPLES :

   Tarehe mosi	the first
   Tarehe pili	the second
   Tarehe tatu	the third
   Tarehe kumi	the tenth

   
   

3. Day and Month :

   We can use the word Tarehe followed by the number of the day and the number of the month, or simply use the English name of the month followed by the ordinal number of the day.

   EXAMPLES :

   Tarehe saba, mwezi wa saba	Julai saba	7th July
   Tarehe mosi, mwezi wa tano	Mei mosi	1st May
   Tarehe tisa, mwezi wa kumi na mbili	Desemba tisa	9th December

   
   

4. Day, Month and Year :

   EXAMPLES :

   Tarehe ishirini na sita, mwezi wa nne / mwezi wa Aprili, mwaka wa elfu mbili na mbili

   26th April 2002

 4. THE MUSLIM CALENDAR : 

Although the Gregorian calendar is used by a majority, yet the Muslim calendar is still in use for all that relates to religious life and the Muslim festivals. In Swahili, the year is based on Ramadan, the month of fasting, and the following months are counted Mfunguo mosi, Mfunguo pili, Mfunguo tatu, ... (= first opening of the fast, second opening, third opening, etc...). Only the two months that precede Ramadan have proper Arabic names known by all.

It is impossible to establish a strict correspondance between the months of the Gregorian calendar and those of the Muslim one since this last follows a lunar calendar, which produces year after year an incremental shift of 10 days between the two calendars.

Here are the names of the months in the Muslim calendar corresponding to the Swahili names (there may exist local variants) :

 5. HOLIDAYS IN TANZANIA : 

Few and far between during the socialist era (when even New Year was a working day), holidays in Tanzania, and particularly public holidays, have multiplied as the years went by :

 6. EXPRESSIONS RELATED TO TIME : 

VOCABULARY

EXERCISES

EXERCISE 1 : Translate into Swahili :

1. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, January, June, July, October, November, April, May, Good Friday, Easter, Christmas, Zanzibar Revolution Day, Idd-el-Fitr, Idd-el-Kebir.

2. 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 18^th, 31^st, 1^st January, 20^th May, 2^nd April, 19^th August, 9^th December, 12^th January 2002, 5^th February 1997, 25^th December 1999, 7^th July 1977, 11^th September 2001.

EXERCISE 2 : Translate into English :

1. Leo, jana, juzi, juzi juzi, kesho, kesho kutwa, zamani, sasa, mapema, kila siku, sikuzote, mara kwa mara, milele, bado kidogo, hatimaye, kabla, baadaye, karne, pengine, mwisho.

2. Jumamosi, jumanne, alhamisi, ijumaa, mwezi wa kwanza, mwezi wa pili, mwezi wa saba, machi, mei, juni, desemba, agosti, rajabu, shaabani, ramadhani, shawali, Pasaka, Krismasi, Siku ya Wakulima, Sikukuu ndogo.