“Can I pay in cash or only by card?” in Swahili

When to use it

Use it in a shop or café before paying, when you are unsure cash is taken.

The sentence in English: “Can I pay in cash or only by card?”

In “Can I pay in cash or only by card?” two prepositions are used, ‘in’ and ‘by’, and ‘only’ goes before ‘by’.

Can

auxiliary verbcan · tense: present · modal verb of ability or permission; it opens the question

I

pronounpersonal pronoun, always written with a capital letter

pay

verbpay · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · main verb after "can"

in

prepositionpreposition

cash

noununcountable noun; money in notes and coins

or

coordinating conjunctioncoordinating conjunction

only

adverbadverb

by

prepositionpreposition

card

nounnoun; a bank card

The sentence in Swahili: “Je, naweza kulipa kwa pesa taslimu, au kwa kadi tu?”

In “Je, naweza kulipa kwa pesa taslimu, au kwa kadi tu?” one preposition, ‘kwa’, serves both options. ‘pesa taslimu’ is cash, and ‘tu’ (only) goes last.

Je

particle'Je' opens the question

naweza

auxiliary verbweza · person: 1st singular · tense: present (-a-) · 'I can', before kulipa

kulipa

verblipa · form: infinitive (ku-) · ku- + lipa 'to pay'

kwa

preposition'by, in'; used for both options

pesa

noun'money'

taslimu

adjectivepesa taslimu = cash

au

coordinating conjunction'or'

kwa

preposition'by', before kadi

kadi

noun'card'

tu

adverb'only', at the end

What changes from one language to the other: English × Swahili

English uses ‘in’ and ‘by’; Swahili ‘kwa’ twice. ‘only’ comes before, ‘tu’ after.

Example conversation