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 is today?
Leo ni Jumanne .
Leo ni juma ngapi?
What 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 elfu Moja mia nane sabini na tisa.
2/7/2005
Tarehe mbili mwezi wa saba mwaka elfu mbili na tano or tarehe mbili mwezi
Julai mwaka elfu mbili na tano.
14/05/1999
Tarehe kumi na nne,mwezi wa kumi,mwaka elfu moja mia tisa tisini na tisa
Or tarehe 14,mwezi Oktoba, mwaka elfu moja mia tisa tisini na tisa.
