"If I had gone to school, I would have known to read"
Translation:Ningalienda shule ningalijua kusoma
4 Comments
In English, this should be "I would have known how to read." I don't know if there is a different verb for knowing how than kujua
That's indeed what it means in Swahili. kujua kufanya kitu means "know how to do something" ...
"I would have known to read" is, in Swahili, I think ,Ningalijua (kwamba) nisome (I'm not sure if the kwamba is necessary, but I don't think it is) - basically "I wouldn't have known (that) I should read."
I agree. But I hope that the editors will use common English rather than direct translation. Knowing the literal translation helps to understand the construction, but to learn to think in Swahili it needs to flow out of common usage.
Yeah, absolutely ... if they write "know to do something" for a phrase that means "know how to do something", that will confuse everyone.
