Learning basic Swahili words

Do you know how Swahili is being spoken on Africa moreso East Africa. It's an official langauge spoken in Kenya and Tanzania. Swahili is a phonetic langauge meaning words are being pronounced the way they are written or spelled.

Swahili is mostly spoken by a large group of people . Swahili(Kiswahili) is even taught in schools and even done as part of the exam. Most of the primary,secondary and universities use Swahili in either training of teachers,or educating the learners. 

Sometimes it's used as a medium of instruction in lower primary school even in Tanzania it's used as a langauge of instruction.

Learning a new language can help you to learn or adopt new cultures and understand and even talk or communicate with the locals. If you are planning to travel to Africa moreso East Africa in terms of business,tourist ,project manager or an organization ,learning Swahili is very important.

You may find many locals who don't understand ,speak or even know any English word,but if you know Swahili , at least you can communicate and understand each other. 

In Kenya we love visitors and there's always on SwahiliI song that's mostly used to welcome our visitors. The song is HAKUNA MATATA meaning there's is no problem ,we always receive our visitors without considering the race,skin or colour. 

The song goes like this:

Jambo,Jambo bwana,habari gani?mzuri sana(hello,hello,how are you,am fine)

Wageni wakaribishwa Kenya yetu hakuna MATATA(all visitors are welcome)

Kenya nchi nzuri(hakuna MATATA) A beautiful country

Nchi yenye amani(hakuna MATATA) a country with peace(amani)

If you find people singing for you this song ,be assured that you are highly welcomed and feel at home because Kenya is a peaceful country.

We have formal and informal greetings . Sometimes when walking in the streets of kenya,you may find youths using a 'sheng' that's not used in formal learning or greetings. You may hear'mambo' fiti,fresh, Sasa,niaje. The youths in various estates moreso those from slums ,they have their own Swahili slang that's is difficult to be understood. A slang in a certain estate may mean something different from the other state. Swahili emerges everyday.

The following are basic Swahili Words

Hello(hujambo,habari)

How are you?(U hali gani)am fine(nzuri,njema)

Write(andika)

Read (soma)

Come(kuja)

Go(enda)

Come back(Rudi)

Cry(Lia)

Went(alienda)

School(shule)

Church(kabisa)

Hospital(hospitali)

Cup(kikombe)

Book(kitabu)

Pen(kalamu)

Spoon(kijiko)

Plate (sahani)

 I am reading (Mimi ninasoma)

I am singing (Mimi ninaimba)

Tunacheza (we are playing)

In the next topic we are going to look on common basic greetings. Don't forget to look at formal and informal greetings in swahili.

Please follow and share the information widely.

N/B I do offer online Swahili teaching using zoom and Google meet ,you can always try to find me at lydia.bundi@yahoo.com for more information.