Caalii
Yooyyaa! Gara sagantaa barnootaa How do I…tti baga nagaan dhufte! An Caaliidha. Saam na waliin jirti.

Sam
And I'm Sam. Hello, everybody!

Caalii
Kutaa kana keessatti, waan tookko gochuu danda’uukee malawwan itti fayyadamnee gaaffachu mallu garaagaraa ilaalla. Namoota waantokko gochuuf gaafatan caqsuun haa eegallu. Ammaaf hundisaanii maal gochuuf akka gaafatan qalbeeffadhu.

Can I sit here, please?

Could I sit here, please?

Do you mind if I sit here?

Caalii
Tole, egaa tokkoon tokkoonsaanii as taa’uu - ‘sit’ - yoo danda’aniif gaafachaa turan. Egaa Saam, gaafiiwwan gaaffachuuf qooqa fayyadamu mallu haa ilaalluu?

Sam
Yes! The first speaker used the verb ‘can’. This is very common for making requests.

Caalii
Eeyee. Gaafii waan ta’eef bakka raawwataa fi gochaa waljijiirsisu akka qabdu hindagatiin. So ‘Can I…?’ not 'I can…'. Like this:

Can I sit here, please?

Sam
So you can use this to make many different requests. Like this:

Can I speak to you?

Caalii
Siiwaliin dubbachuu danda’aa?
Egaa, 'Can I…?' booda gocha (bu’ura ) ta’e si barbaachisa.

Sam
It's often polite to say 'please' too. Now, let’s quickly practise the pronunciation together! Repeat after me:
‘can’
‘Can I…’
‘Can I sit here, please?’

OK, great! So now let's look at another way to make a request – we also heard 'Could I…?' We can use this in the same way as 'Can I…?' but 'could' is more polite than 'can'.

Caalii
Eeyee, kanaafuu gaafiin 'Could I…?', gaafii 'Can I…?' irra caalaa qajeelaafi kabaja qabeessa. Let’s practise the pronunciation of this.

Sam
'could'
‘Could I sit here, please?’

Caalii
Tole, mala dabalataa gaafii ittiin dhiheessinu tokko ni qabna. Haa ta’u malee kun isa caalaa kabaja qabeessa, akkas mitii?

Sam
Yes, so we also heard 'Do you mind if I…?' Let's listen again:

Do you mind if I sit here?

Caalii
Egaa waantokko hojjachuuf haala baay’ee ulfina qabeessa ta’een gaafachuu yoo barbaadde, ‘Do you mind if I…?’ jettee gocha ittaansuudhaan gaafachuu dandeessa. Gaafii dhiheessita waanta’eef akkaataan ittiin sagaleessitu ol ka’uu qaba.

Sam
Yes, let's practise that quickly:
‘Do you mind if I…?’
…and you can follow it with any request.

Caalii
Tole egaa, foddaa banuu yoo feete akka ittaanu jechuu dandeessa.

Do you mind if I open the window?

Caalii
Amma haalawwan gaafii ittiin dhiheessan sadii baratteetta; ammammoo, yeroon kan itti shaakaltuudha. Deebiikee kan Saam waliin walbira qabii ilaali.
Tole, qalamakee(kobbeekee) waan irraanfatteef hiriyaakeerraa tokko ergifachuu barbaadde haa jennu. Akkamitti gaafatta? Jechi si gargaaruu danda’u muraasni kunooti – ergifachuun ‘borrow’ dha. Egaa namni kun hiriyaakee kan itti dhihaattu waan ta’eef, gaafiinkee haalaan kan kabajaa gochuun sirraa hineegamu.

Sam
Can I borrow your pen, please?

Caalii
Ammammoo hojiirraa dursitee gara manaa deemuu yoo dandeesseef hogganakee gaaffachuu barbaada. Kanaafuu haala kabajaa agarsiisu ‘could’ fayyadami.

Sam
Could I go home early, please?

Caalii
Dhumarratti, bilbilakee gatteetta; akkasumas dhimma cimaadhaaf bilbilachuu barbaadde haa jennu. Nama hinbeeknerra bilbilasaanii ergifachuu yoo dandeesseef gaafadhu. Haala baay’ee kabaja qabeessa ta’een gaaffachuun waan sirra jiruuf 'mind' fayyadami.

Sam
Do you mind if I borrow your phone?

Ok, so now you know how to ask to do things in English – find a friend and ask them if you can borrow something!

Caalii
Good idea! Sangantaalee ‘How do I…’ dabalataaf dhiheenyatti walitti deebina. Nagaatti! Bye!

Sam
Bye!