120 Core Swahili Words — Basic Swahili To Get Along in East Africa
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Swahili spelling is fairly regular, and the language doesn’t use grammatical gender in the same way as many European languages. It does use noun classes, though, and those classes shape agreement throughout a sentence.
If you thought Swahili was going to be too hard to learn, this should help you feel more confident!
I am a native Swahili speaker and I am going to put myself in your shoes to help you out.
In this post, I will break the language down in the easiest way possible and teach you words that you will actually use, not what you’d find in textbooks or in a generic language course.
I’ll also share a few Kenyan slang phrases that I hear in everyday conversation.
A note from the Fluent in 3 Months team before we get started: You can chat away with a native speaker for at least 15 minutes with the “Fluent in 3 Months” method. All it takes is 90 days. Tap this link to find out more.
Table of contents
Before we get into the article, if you are interested in learning Swahili yourself, you should check out my absolute favourite resource for learning Swahili, SwahiliPod101.
For all language projects I’ve taken on, this has been by far my favourite resource, since it’s a podcast style learning resource that covers many aspects of the language much better than traditional courses do.
It also tackles the issue of listening comprehension better than literally anything else out there, since its catalogue of lessons eases you in with simple lessons at first that get progressively harder, and you can listen to them for a huge range of topics better suited to your hobbies and interests.
They have a free option for anyone who wants to test them out, based on just their limited recent episodes, but exclusively for Fi3M readers, you can get 20% off if you sign-up for any of their subscriptions, which allow you to access their full catalogue of many hundreds of lessons, using the code FLUENT3.
I highly recommend this to all Swahili learners!!
10 Most Basic Swahili Words
If you’re only going to learn 10 Swahili words, these are the must-knows!
- Habari – “Hello”
- Kwaheri – “Goodbye”
- Ndio – “Yes”
- Sawa – “Okay”
- Hapana – “No”
- Tafadhali – “Please”
- Asante – “Thank you”
- Karibu – “You’re welcome”
- Samahani – “I’m sorry”
- Sijui – “I don’t know”
42 Basic Swahili Nouns
Benny, the founder of Fluent in 3 Months suggests that one of the best ways to hack a language is to learn based on words that you use every day.
I will now introduce you to some words you’ll hear a lot, especially when moving around.
13 Swahili Words for Time
- Siku – “Day”
- Wiki – “Week”
- Mwezi – “Month”
- Leo – “Today”
- Jana – “Yesterday”
- Juzi – “The day before yesterday”
- Kesho – “Tomorrow”
- Saa – “Hour”
- Dakika – “Minute”
- Saa – “Time”
- Kabla – “Before”
- Baada – “After”
- Sasa – “Now”
10 Swahili Words for Places
- Hapa – “Here”
- Pale – “There” – if it’s close
- Huko – “There” – if it’s far
- Pahali – “Place”
- Shule – “School”
- Duka – “Shop”
- Kazi – “Work”
- Bafu – “Bathroom”
- Nyumbani – “Home”
- Nchi – “Country”
8 Swahili Words for Things
- Hoteli – “Hotel”
- Simu – “Phone”
- Kitu – “Something”
- Nyumba – “House”
- Gari – “Car”
- Chakula – “Food”
- Chai – “Tea”
- Maji – “Water”
11 Swahili Words for People
- Mwanamke – “Woman”
- Mwanaume – “Man”
- Mzee – “Old man/respectful way of referring to a man”
- Mama – Old woman/respectful way of referring to a woman
- Msichana – “Girl”
- Kijana – “Boy”
- Rafiki – “Friend”
- Mtu – “Person”
- Bwana – “Husband”
- Mke – “Wife”
- Jina – “Name”
25 Common Swahili Verbs
These are the 25 most common Swahili verbs you need to know.
Swahili dictionary verbs often begin with the infinitive prefix ku-, as in kutembea, “to walk”. Some common verbs have forms that don’t follow a simple add-ku pattern.
The Swahili infinitive isn’t the same as an English “-ing” form, so it’s more useful to learn each verb in its dictionary form.
For example, kuja already means “to come”, while kutembea means “to walk”. Don’t turn kuja into kukuja.
Below are some common dictionary forms. Most begin with ku-, while forms such as kwenda show why it helps to learn the whole word.
- Kufanya – “To do”
- Kuwa – “To be”
- Kuwa – “To become”
- Kusema – “To say”
- Kuja – “To come”
- Kwenda – “To go”
- Kuweza kufanya – “To be able to do”
- Kuona – “To see”
- Kutuma – “To send”
- Kuwa na – “To have”
- Kuchukua – “To take”
- Kungoja – “To wait”
- Kukutana – “To meet”
- Kuishi – “To live”
- Kufikiri – “To think”
- Kupa – “To give”
- Kupata – “To receive”
- Kujua – “To know”
- Kutengeneza – “To make”
- Kutumia – “To use”
- Kujifunza – “To learn”
- Kula – “To eat”
- Kunywa – “To drink”
- Kucheka – “To laugh”
- Kusoma – “To read”
18 Simple Swahili Adjectives and Adverbs
Like other languages, Swahili has many adjectives you could use to make your sentences more colourful.
Knowing these is what will set you apart from a typical foreigner, and you will be treated very well if you can use these adjectives.
- Mingi – “Many, lots of”
- Kidogo – “Few”
- Kubwa – “Big”
- Ndogo – “Small”
- Refu – “Tall”
- Fupi – “Short”
- Karibu – “Near”
- Mbali – “Far”
- Poa – “Good, nice”
- Mbaya – “Bad”
- Rahisi – “Easy”
- Ngumu – “Difficult”
- Poa/maridadi – “Beautiful”
- Mbaya – “Ugly” (another common sense of the same word)
- Tamu – “Delicious”
- Moto – “Hot”
- Baridi – “Cold”
- Sana – “Very”
Pro tip: If you go to buy something from a shop, especially curio items, you’ll most likely be charged a lot more than locals.
Here’s what to do:
When the seller mentions the price, just smile and say Hiyo pesa ni nyingi sana. Niuzie vizuri. (“That’s a lot of money. Sell it to me at a better price.”)
The phrase may catch a seller’s attention and gives you a natural way to ask for a better price, though a discount is never guaranteed.
5 Core Swahili Conjunctions and Connectors
If you want to be fluent in any language, conjunctions are super helpful. They give you a moment to think and help to connect your sentences smoothly.
Here are five common ones in Swahili:
- Lakini – “But, however”
- Pia – “Also”
- Kwa mfano – “For example”
- Kwa hivyo – “So”
- Halafu – “Then”
Swahili Pronouns
Swahili pronouns still matter, but subject prefixes on the verb often show who is doing the action, so an overt pronoun may be unnecessary.
Here are some examples:
- “The driver is coming. He went to buy some soda” – Dereva anakuja. Ameenda kununua soda.
- “The guests are late because they stopped in Nairobi” – Wageni wamechelewa kwa sababu walisimama Nairobi.
In these examples, the verb’s subject prefix carries the person and number information that English expresses with a separate pronoun.
However, it’s still good to know the pronouns. If it’s not clear who or what you’re talking about, then you need to be able to use them in the sentence.
So here are the Swahili pronouns
- Mimi – “I”
- Wewe – “You”
- Yeye – “He”
- Yeye – “She”
- Wao – “They”
- Sisi – “We”
- Hii – “This” (class 9 singular)
- Ile – “That over there” (class 9 singular)
Wewe, “you”, is a real and useful pronoun. It is often omitted when the verb already makes the subject clear, but it can appear for emphasis or contrast.
Politeness depends on the relationship, setting and local expectations, rather than on a blanket ban on one pronoun.
If you don’t know someone’s name, start with a greeting and follow the way people around you address one another.
Bonus: 5 Kenyan Swahili Slang Phrases
These slang phrases can help you recognise some of the casual Swahili I hear in Kenya.
Why?
Usage varies by place, age and social group, so treat these as Kenyan examples rather than phrases that everyone in East Africa uses.
Here are five phrases you may hear in casual Kenyan conversation.
- Unaitwa? – “What’s your name?”
- Noma sana – “Amazing, great”, or “that’s crazy”
- Fiti kabisa – “The best, really great,”
- Baadaye – “Goodbye, see you later”
- Niaje bro – “Hello, brother”
If you speak to me using any of these words, you’ll be my new best friend. 🙂
Now that you know a few Swahili words, I would like to explain to you why Swahili words aren’t that hard to learn…
5 Reasons Why Swahili Words Are Easy to Learn
If you can speak English, Swahili will be quite similar to what you are used to.
1. Swahili Uses Noun Classes Instead of Grammatical Gender
When I started learning German, I was taken by surprise by the fact that a “dog” is masculine, a “cat” is feminine and a “rabbit” is neutral. At first, I thought that only words for living things have a gender… Only to find out that “beer” is neutral but “glass” is masculine.
So much confusion!
Swahili doesn’t use grammatical gender or articles equivalent to English “a” and “the”. It does, however, organise nouns into classes that control agreement.
For example, gari can mean “a car” or “the car” depending on context. A demonstrative such as ile adds the separate meaning “that”.
2. Subject Prefixes Often Make Pronouns Optional
In most languages, you have to know which pronoun to use in a sentence. This changes depending on who or what you are referring to.
This means that if you are talking about a person, then you use “I”, “you”, “he”, “she”, “they”, e.t.c, and if you are talking about something then you use “it”.
In Swahili, a subject prefix on the verb often tells you who is doing the action. Separate pronouns are still important when you need emphasis, contrast or extra clarity.
Here are some examples:
“Ronaldo is one of the best players in the world. He has scored very many goals.” – Ronaldo ni mmoja wa wachezaji bora kabisa wa kandanda. Amefunga mabao mengi sana.
“She said the dog ate her book…but we all know it didn’t.” – Alisema mbwa alikula kitabu chake. Lakini sote twajua kwamba hakula.
3. Words in Swahili Are Pronounced as They Are Read
Yes, in Swahili, there are no umlauts that cause pronunciation changes, no silent letters that shouldn’t have been there in the first place, and no accents that make language acquisition an entirely awkward affair.
On top of that, we don’t pronounce any letters differently from how they appear.
In German, for example, the word welt is pronounced as velt, while vater is pronounced as fater.
This is not the case in Swahili as every word is pronounced as it is read.
4. Swahili Nouns Control Agreement
Swahili has several noun classes, and the class of a noun affects demonstratives, adjectives and other words that agree with it.
The pattern cannot be reduced to one form for living things and another for everything else. These examples show several agreement patterns:
| Examples in singular form | Examples in plural form | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| This person | Huyu mtu | These people | Hawa watu |
| This table | Hii meza | These tables | Hizi meza |
| This cat | Huyu paka | These cats | Hawa paka |
| This car | Hili gari | These cars | Haya magari |
| This lion | Huyu simba | These lions | Hawa simba |
| This house | Hii nyumba | These houses | Hizi nyumba |
Agreement becomes easier as you learn nouns together with the class patterns they trigger.
Plants aren’t a special exception to an animate-versus-inanimate rule. They belong to noun classes too.
The noun-class system is called ngeli, and demonstratives change according to the class and number of the noun.
You don’t need to memorise every class in one sitting. Notice the agreement around each noun as you listen and speak, then practise a few patterns at a time.
If you want live coaching and accountability while you practise these patterns, you can join the Fluent in 3 Months Bootcamp.
Related learning: The Best Podcasts to Learn Swahili at Any Level
5. There Are Little Differences Between the Formal and Informal Versions of Words
I will explain this point with an example. While there are many versions of the Swahili word for “hello”, the most common one is habari.
If you want to be formal, then you could say hujambo if you are greeting one person, or hamjambo if there are many people.
The most natural greeting depends on the region, relationship and setting, so a textbook form may sound unusually formal in some conversations.
Hujambo and hamjambo are still real greetings, but in my experience in Kenya they can sound more formal than the alternatives below. Coastal and other regional usage can differ.
If you are in Kenya and really want to get along like a true Kenyan, here are the common Swahili words you could use for hello:
| Greeting | Mode of use |
|---|---|
| Habari | A broadly useful greeting, though the best form still depends on context |
| Mambo | Use mostly with friends, younger people or people at the market, hotel etc. |
| Vipi | Use mostly with friends, younger people or people at the market, hotel etc. |
| Niaje | Casual Kenyan slang; use it when the setting and relationship suit it. |
| Sasa | An informal greeting in some Kenyan contexts. |
Let me put this into perspective…
When some friends came visiting from Finland and learnt the word mambo, everyone they greeted was very pleased and didn’t look at them as regular tourists.
And how did Obama greet people while in Kenya? He said “niaje”!
Interesting, right?
Now here’s a little challenge: if you are in Kenya, or have a friend from East Africa that you can talk to or send a message to, just type the word niaje and see the excitement you will cause.
How to Learn and Practise Swahili Words
Using even a few well-chosen Swahili words can make everyday conversations in East Africa easier and more enjoyable.
Start with greetings and words you genuinely need, then listen for the agreement patterns that surround them.
If you’d like a structured course, you can try SwahiliPod101. To build a reliable system for remembering the words you collect, use the Vocab Vault.
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