Shona

Buying and Selling

Zimbabwean currency is not stable. After years of inflation the Zimdollar or Zollar was introduced in 2019 (ZML$) but inflation still plagues the country.

Vocabulary

  1. Tenga – buy
  2. Mutengi – buyer/customer
  3. Tengesa – sell
  4. Mutengesi – seller
  5. Kumusika – market
  6. Mari – money
  7. imarii – how much?
  8. chingwa imarii? – how much is bread?
  9. Chinoitamarii? – How much is this?
  10. mutengo – price
  11. dhora – dollar
  12. mutengo idhora rimwe – the price is one dollar
  13. Ndipewo chenji yangu – please give me my change
  14. Handidikutenga – I don’t want to buy
  15. handina mari yakakwana – I do not have enough money
  16. zvakachipa – cheap
  17. zvinodhura – expensive
  18. chirikudhura – it is expenive
  19. -kanaka – good
  20. -ibva – ripe
  21. -isina kuibva – unripe

Scenario: Buying bananas at the market

Rachel: Mhoro, Wakadii? (Hi, how are you?)

Mutengesi: Ndakasimba, waita hako. (I am well, thanks)

Rachel: Ndinoshuvira kutenga mabhanana. (I wish to buy bananas)

Mutengesi: Mabhanana mangani? (How many bananas)

Rachel: Mabhanana gumi. Imarii bhanana? (Ten bananas. How much are the bananas?)

Mutengesi: Dhora rimwe pamabanana maviri. (One dollar per two bananas.)

Rachel: Heano madhora mashanu. (Here are your five dollars.)

Mutengesi: Wazviita. (Thank you.)

Rachel: Chisarai zvakanaka. (Goodbye.)

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Resources for Self-Instructional Learners of Less Commonly Taught Languages Copyright © by University of Wisconsin-Madison Students in African 671 is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.