Useful Swahili phrases

A collection of useful phrases in Swahili, a Bantu language spoken in much of east Africa by about 140 million people.

See these phrases in any combination of two languages in the Phrase Finder. If you can provide recordings, corrections or additional translations, please contact me.

Key to abbreviations: sg = singular (said to one person), pl = plural (said to more than one person), inf = informal

English	kiSwahili (Swahili)
Welcome	Karibu (sg) Karibuni (pl)
Hello (General greeting)	Habari (inf) Hujambo (sg) Hamjambo (pl)
How are you?	Habari (inf) Hujambo (sg) Hamjambo (pl)
Reply to 'How are you?'	Nzuri (reply to Habari) Njema (reply to Habari) Sijambo (reply to Hujambo) Hatujambo (reply to Hamjambo)
What's your name?	Jina lako ni nani?
My name is ...	Jina langu ni ...
Where are you from?	Unatoka wapi?
I'm from ...	Natoka ...
Pleased to meet you	Nafurahi kukuona Nimefurahi kukutana nawe
Good morning (Morning greeting)	Habari ya asubuhi
Good afternoon (Afternoon greeting)	Habari ya mchana
Good evening (Evening greeting)	Habari ya jioni
Good night	Usiku mwema Lala salama (sleep well)
Goodbye (Parting phrases)	Kwaheri
Good luck!	Kila la kheri!
Cheers! Good Health! (Toasts used when drinking)	Maisha marefu! Afya! Vifijo!
Have a nice day	Nakutakia siku njema!
Bon appetit / Have a nice meal	Ufurahie chakula chako (sg) Furahieni chakula chenu (pl) Chakula chema
Bon voyage / Have a good journey	Safari njema! Safari salama
Do you understand?	Unaelewa?
I understand	Naelewa
I don't understand	Sielewi
I don't know	Sijui
Please speak more slowly	Tafadhali sema polepole
Please write it down	Waweza kuiandika?
Do you speak English?	Unazungumza Kingereza?
Do you speak Swahili?	Unazungumza Kiswahili?
Yes, a little (reply to 'Do you speak ...?')	Ndiyo, kidogo tu
I'm learning Swahili	Ninajifunza Kiswahili
How do you say ... in Swahili?	Unasemaje ... kwa Kiswahili?
Excuse me	Samahani nipishe (to get past) Samahani (to get attention or say sorry)
How much is this?	Hii ni bei gani?
Sorry	Samahani
Please	Tafadhali
Thank you	Asante Asante sana (sg) Asanteni (pl)
Reply to thank you	Asante kwa kushukuru
No thanks	Hapana asante
Where's the toilet / bathroom?	Choo kiko wapi?
This gentleman/lady will pay for everything	Mtu huyu atalipia kila kitu
Would you like to dance with me?	Tucheze ngoma? Utapenda kudansi?
I love you	Ninakupenda
Get well soon	Ugua pole
Help!	Msaada!
Fire!	Moto!
Stop!	Usifanye hivyo!
Go away!	Nenda zako!
Leave me alone!	Usinisumbue!
Call the police!	Mwite polisi!
Christmas greetings	Krismasi Njema Heri ya krismasi
New Year greetings	Heri ya mwaka mpya
Easter greetings	Heri ya Sikukuu ya pasaka
Birthday greetings Swahili birthday song	Nakutakia mema katika siku yako ya kuzaliwa! Sikukuu njema ya kuzaliwa! Furaha katika siku yako ya kuzaliwa! Heri katika siku yako ya kuzaliwa!
Congratulations!	Hongera!
My hovercraft is full of eels	Gari langu linaloangama limejaa na mikunga
One language is never enough	Lugha moja haitoshi

Corrections, recordings and translations from Ylanne Sorrows, Rushomesa Remigius, Dwayne Panzeter, Corona Cermak and EasySwahili

Download all the audio files (Zip format, 2MB)

If you would like to make any corrections or additions to this page, or if you can provide recordings, please contact me.

Links

Other collections of Swahili phrases
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/other/swahili/guide/phrases.shtml
http://www.glcom.com/hassan/lessons/useful_swahili_words.html
http://goafrica.about.com/od/peopleandculture/a/swahili.htm
http://wikitravel.org/en/Swahili_phrasebook
https://www.easyswahili.com/2016/

Learn Swahili: For Beginners and Travellers

by G. O. Oyoo

- includes details of the Swahili alphabet and pronunciation; a guide to Swahili pronouns, sentence structure and sentence construction; useful words and phrases in various scenarios, and an English-Swahili dictionary.

Buy from: Payhip.com

Phrases in Bantu languages

Bemba, Chichewa, Chokwe, Duala, Herero, Ibinda, Kikuyu, Kinyarwanda, Lingala, Lozi, Luganda, Ndebele (Northern - South Africa), Ndebele (Northern - Zimbabwe), Ndebele (Southern) Ngoni, Nkore, Northern Sotho, Oshiwambo, Shona, Southern Sotho (seSotho), Swahili, Swati, Tsonga, Tswana, Tumbuka, Umbundu, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu

Phrases in other languages

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