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Kigezi kiri mu maserengeta ga Uganda.
♫ (Kigezi is in the south of Uganda)
Bugisu kiri mu buvanjuba bwa Uganda.
♫ (Bugisu is in the east of Uganda)
Acholi kiri mu mambuka ga Uganda.
♫ (Acholi is in the north of Uganda)
A: Gulu kibuga, oba nsi?
♫ (Gulu is a town or a region?)
B: Gulu kibuga.
♫ (Gulu is a town)
Note: currently districts are named after major towns in Uganda.
A: Kiri mu mambuka ga Uganda?
♫ (Is it in the north of Uganda)
Note: by the construction of the sentence and its tonality, one also knows that it is a question)
B: Yee, kiri mu mambuka ga Uganda, kiri mu Acholi.
♫ (It’s in the north, it’s in Acholi [region])
A: Mbale kiri ludda wa?
♫ (Where is Mbale?)
B: Mbale kiri mu Bugisu.
♫ (Mbale is in Bugisu [region])
Tuning the Ear to Tonality
Kino kiki?
♫ (What is this?),
Kitabo.
♫ (It’s a book.),
Kkalaamu.
♫ (It’s a pencil.),
Mmeeza.
♫ (It’s a table),
Kkalaamu ya bwino.
♫ (It’s a pen.),
Kafumu ka bwino.
♫ (It's a pen.) ,
Fuuti.
♫ (a ruler),
Akati.
♫ (a stick)
Building Vocabulary [ki/bi - class]
kigere
♫ (a foot),
bigere
♫ (feet),
kitengi
♫ (an African print cloth),
bitengi
♫ ([many] African print cloths),
kinaabiro
♫ (a bathroom),
binaabiro
♫ (bathrooms)
Summary
A: Mbarara kibuga, oba nsi?
♫ (Is Mbarara a town, or a region?)
B: Kibuga mu Uganda.
♫ (It is a town in Uganda.)
A: Kiri ludda wa?
♫ (Where is it?)
B: Kiri mu Ankole.
♫ (It's in Ankole.)
A: Ankole kiri mu bukiika ki obwa Uganda?
♫ (What region/part of Uganda is Ankole in?)
B: Kiri mu bugwanjuba.
♫ (It's in the west.)