Useful Swahili Words. To be able to pronounce Swahili words correctly, I strongly recommend the Teach Yourself Swahili CD.You can also check out the Introduction to Kiswahili Language by AbdulGhany Mohammed and Kassim A. Abdullah or the Swahili Pronunciation Guide by Thomas Hinnebusch and Sarah Mirza.Some pronunciation is provided in each section of this page in MP3 format. Non-English Audiobooks Audiobook Sales & Deals More Lists & Collections. Master the basics of Swahili conversation! Start speaking Swahili in minutes, and learn key vocabulary, phrases. Welcome to Everyday Swahili for Beginners - 400 Actions & Activities by Innovative Language. This audiobook is a new way to learn and speak Swahili fast.
Asking and Answering Questions
Greetings and Introductions
Numbers and Time
Telephone Conversations
Eating Out and Shopping
Traveling
Going to the Doctor
If you're just starting to learn English, there's no better way to improve your speaking skills than with basic conversation exercises. These simple role-playing games will help you learn how to introduce yourself, how to ask for directions, and more. With practice, you'll be able to understand others and begin to enjoy conversations in your new language.
Getting Started
All you need to begin are the basic conversation guides you'll find below and a friend or classmate to practice with. Be patient with yourselves; English is not an easy language to learn, but you can do it. Begin with the first conversation in this list, then move on to the next when you feel comfortable doing so. You can also use the key vocabulary provided at the end of each exercise to write and practice your own conversations.
Asking and Answering Questions
Learn how to ask and answer simple questions in English with these articles. Key skills covered include basic questions, polite questions, asking permission, and providing personal information such as your name, address, and phone number.
Introductions
Learning how to introduce yourself and greet people both formally and informally are essential skills in any language, whether it's your own or a new one you're studying. In these lessons, you learn how to say hello and goodbye, as well as vocabulary that you can use when meeting new people and making friends. Giving Personal Information
Telling the Time and Using Numbers
Even if you're just visiting an English-speaking country for a few days, knowing how to tell the time is important. This role-playing exercise teaches you the right phrases to ask a stranger what time it is. You'll also learn how to thank the person who helped you, plus key conversation words.
And if you're going to tell time, you'll also need to know how to express numbers in English. This article will help you out with all kinds of numbers, including weights, distance, decimals, and more. Finally, when expressing quantities, English uses uses either much or many, depending on whether the noun is countable or non-countable.
Speaking on the Phone
Phone calls can be challenging for people who don't speak English well. Improve your telephone skills with this exercise and vocabulary quiz. Learn how to make travel arrangements and how to make purchases over the phone, plus other important words. Best of all, you'll use the conversation skills you learned in the other lessons here.
Shopping for Clothing
Everyone loves to go shopping for new clothes, especially if you're visiting a foreign country. In this exercise, you and your practice partner learn the basic vocabulary that you'll use in a shop. Although this particular game is set in a clothing store, you can use these skills in any kind of store.
Eating at a Restaurant
After you're finished shopping, you might want to eat at a restaurant or go to a bar for a drink. In these dialogues, you learn how to order from a menu and how to ask questions about the food, whether you're by yourself or out with friends. You'll also find a quiz to help you improve your restaurant vocabulary.
Traveling at the Airport
Security at most major airports is very tight, so you should expect to speak English with many different people when you're traveling. By practicing this exercise, you'll learn how to have basic conversations when you check in as well as when you go through security and customs.
Asking for Directions
It's easy for anyone to lose their way when traveling, especially if you don't speak the language. Learn how to ask simple directions and how to understand what people tell you. This exercise gives you basic vocabulary plus tips for finding your way. Finally, you'll want to know how to ask for a room at a hotel or motel once you've arrived at your destination.
Going to the Doctor
Nothing is worse than not feeling well and not knowing how to communicate with a doctor. These tips, vocabulary lists, and sample dialogues can help you practice making an appointment.
Tips for English Teachers
These basic English conversations can also be used in a classroom setting. Here are a few suggestions for using conversation lessons and role-playing activities:
- Ask students about their experiences in the situation featured in the dialogue. Solicit important phrases, grammar structures, and so on from the students and write them on the board.
- Introduce new vocabulary and key phrases to students.
- Pass out printed dialogue to students.
- Have each student take on a role and practice the dialogues in pairs. Students should take on both roles.
- Based on the dialogue, ask students to write out their own related conversations using key vocabulary.
- Have students practice their own dialogues to the point where they can perform short conversations in front of the class.
If you're planning a trip to East Africa, consider learning a few basic phrases of Swahili before you go. Whether you're embarking on a once-in-a-lifetime safari or planning on spending several months as a volunteer, being able to converse with the people you meet in their own language goes a long way towards bridging the cultural gap. With a few of the right phrases, you'll find that people are friendlier and more helpful everywhere you go.
Who Speaks Swahili?
Swahili is the most widely spoken language in sub-Saharan Africa, and acts as the lingua franca for most of East Africa (although it's not the first language of many people). In Kenya and Tanzania, Swahili shares the title of official language with English and primary school children are usually taught in Swahili. Many Ugandans understand some Swahili, although it's rarely spoken outside of the capital, Kampala.
If you're traveling in Rwanda or Burundi, French will probably get you further than Swahili, but a few words here and there should be understood and the effort will be appreciated. Swahili is also spoken in parts of Zambia, the DRC, Somalia and Mozambique. It is estimated that around 100 million people speak Swahili (although only around one million consider it to be their mother tongue).
Origins of Swahili
Swahili may date back several thousand years, but it certainly developed into the language we hear today with the arrival of Arab and Persian traders on the East African coast between 500 - 1000 AD. Swahili is a word the Arabs used to describe 'the coast' and only later did it come to apply to the distinctive East African coastal culture. In Swahili, the correct word to describe the language is Kiswahili and the people who speak Kiswahili as their mother tongue may call themselves Waswahilis. Although Arabic and indigenous African languages are the main inspiration for Swahili, the language includes words derived from English, German and Portuguese as well.
Learning to Speak Swahili
Swahili is a relatively simple language to learn, mostly because words are pronounced as they are written. If you wish to expand your Swahili beyond the basic phrases listed below, there are several excellent online resources for doing so. Check out the Kamusi Project, a vast online dictionary that includes a Pronunciation Guide and a free Swahili-English dictionary app for Android and iPhone. Travlang allows you to download audio clips of basic Swahili phrases, while Swahili Language & Culture offers a course of lessons that you can complete independently via CD.
Another great way to immerse yourself in Swahili culture is to listen to in-language broadcasting from sources like BBC Radio in Swahili, or Voice of America in Swahili. If you would rather learn Swahili upon arrival in East Africa, consider attending a language school course. You'll find them in most major towns and cities in Kenya and Tanzania - just ask your local tourist information center, hotelier or embassy. However you choose to learn Swahili, make sure to invest in a phrasebook - no matter how much you study, you're likely to forget everything you've learned the first time you're put on the spot.
Basic Swahili Phrases for Travelers
If your Swahili needs are more simple, browse through the list below for a few top phrases to practice before you leave on vacation.
Greetings
- Hello = jambo/ hujambo/ ​salama
- How are you? = habari gani
- Fine (response) = nzuri
- Goodbye = kwa heri/kwa herini (more than one peson)
- See you later = tutaonana
- Nice to meet you = nafurahi kukuona
- Goodnight = lala salama
Civilities
- Yes = ndiyo
- No = hapana
- Thank you = asante
- Thank you very much = asante sana
- Please = tafadhali
- OK = sawa
- Excuse me = samahani
- You're welcome = starehe
- Can you help me? = tafadhali, naomba msaada
- What is your name? = jina lako nani?
- My name is = jina langu ni
- Where are you from? = unatoka wapi?
- I'm from... = natokea...
- May I take a picture? = naomba kupiga picha
- Do you speak English? = unasema kiingereza?
- Do you speak Swahili? = unasema Kiswahili?
- Just a little bit = kidogo tu!
- How do you say in Swahili? = unasemaje ... kwa kiswahili
- I don't understand = sielewi
- Friend = rafiki
Getting Around
- Where is the...? = ni wapi...?
- Airport = uwanja wa ndege
- Bus station = stesheni ya basi
- Bus stop = bas stendi
- Taxi stand = stendi ya teksi
- Train Station = stesheni ya treni
- Bank = benki
- Market = soko
- Police station = kituo cha polisi
- Post office = posta
- Tourist Office = ofisi ya watali
- Toilet/ bathroom = choo
- What time is the... leaving? = inaondoka saa... ngapi?
- Bus = basi
- Minibus = matatu (Kenya); dalla dalla (Tanzania)
- Plane = ndege
- Train = treni/ gari la moshi
- Is there a bus going to...? = kuna basi ya...?
- I'd like to buy a ticket = nataka kununua tikiti
- Is it near = ni karibu?
- Is it far = ni mbali?
- There = huko
- Over there = pale
- Ticket = tikiti
- Where are you going? = unakwenda wapi?
- How much is the fare? = nauli ni kiasi gani?
- Hotel = hoteli
- Room = chumba
- Reservation = akiba
- Are there any vacancies for tonight? = mna nafasi leo usiko? (Kenya: iko nafasi leo usiku?)
- No vacancies = hamna nafasi. (Kenya: hakuna nafasi)
- How much is it per night? = ni bei gani kwa usiku?
Days and Numbers
- Today = leo
- Tomorrow = kesho
- Yesterday = jana
- Now = sasa
- Later = baadaye
- Every day = kila siku
- Monday = Jumatatu
- Tuesday = Jumanne
- Wednesday = Jumatano
- Thursday = Alhamisi
- Friday = Ijumaa
- Saturday = Jumamosi
- Sunday = Jumapili
- 1 = moja
- 2 = mbili
- 3 = tatu
- 4 = nne
- 5 = tano
- 6 = sita
- 7 = saba
- 8 = nane
- 9 = tisa
- 10 = kumi
- 11 = kumi na moja (ten and one)
- 12 = kumi na mbili (ten and two)
- 20 = ishirini
- 21 = ishirni na moja (twenty and one)
- 30 = thelathini
- 40 = arobaini
- 50 = hamsini
- 60 = sitini
- 70 = sabini
- 80 = themanini
- 90 = tisini
- 100 = mia
- 200 = mia mbili
- 1000 = elfu
- 100,000 = laki
Food and Drinks
- I'd like = nataka
- Food = chakula
- Hot/ cold = ya moto/ baridi
- Water = maji
- Hot water = maji ya moto
- Drinking water = maji ya kunywa
- Soda = soda
- Beer = bia
- Milk = maziwa
- Meat = nyama
- Chicken = nyama kuku
- Fish = sumaki
- Beef = nyama ng'ombe
- Fruit = matunda
- Vegetables = mboga
Health
- Where can I find a... = naweza kupata... wapi?
- Doctor = daktari/mganga
- Hospital = hospitali
- Medical center = matibabu
- I'm sick = mimi ni mgonjwa
- I need a doctor = nataka kuona daktari
- It hurts here = naumwa hapa
- Fever = homa
- Malaria = melaria
- Mosquito net = chandalua
- Headache = umwa kichwa
- Diarrhoea = harisha/endesha
- Vomiting = tapika
- Medicine = dawa
Animals
- Animal = wanyama
- Buffalo = nyati/ mbogo
- Cheetah = duma/ chita
- Cow = n'gombe
- Elephant = tembo/ ndovuh
- Giraffe = twiga
- Goat = mbuzi
- Hippo = kiboko
- Hyena = fisi
- Leopard = chui
- Lion = simba
- Rhino = kifaru
- Warthog = ngiri
- Wildebeest = nyumbu
- Zebra = punda milia
This article was updated by Jessica Macdonald on December 8th 2017.