A Guide to Swahili - The Swahili alphabet
What's the Swahili alphabet like?
Here's the alphabet and how to pronounce it.
- right click and choose 'save target as'
- LetterPronunciation
- Aaa as in far
- Bbbe as in best
- Ccch as in church
- Ddde as in desk
- Eee as in bed
- Ffef as in far
- Ggge as in get
- Hhh as in hint
- Iiee as in feel
- Jjje as in jelly
- Kkka as in cup
- Llle as in let
- Mmem as in men
- Nnen as in net
- Ooo as in ox
- Pppe as in pen
- Rrre as in rep
- Ssse as in set
- Ttte as in take
- Uuoo as in cool
- Vvve as in vet
- Wwwe as in went
- Yyye as in yet
- Zzze as in zoo
Consonant combination
There are other letters in the language but they are not considered as separate letters of the alphabet:
ÌýCH as in the word Ìýchai, tea
ÌýDH as in the word Ìýdhahabu, gold, and similar to the 'th' sound in 'this', but not in 'think'
ÌýGH as in the word Ìýghala, warehouse
ÌýKH is mostly used in Arabic words, for example Ìýkheri, luck, and is similar to the 'ch' sound in the Scottish word 'loch'
ÌýNG' as in the word Ìý²Ô²µâ€™o³¾²ú±ð, cow
ÌýNG as in Ìýngapi, meaning how much
ÌýNY as in ÌýKenya
ÌýSH as in Ìýshamba, farm
ÌýTH as in Ìýthamani, worth, similar to the 'th' sound in 'think'.
ÌýVowels and vowel combinations:
Standard Swahili has five vowels: Ìý a, e, i, o and u. These vowels are always pronounced the same, regardless of stress (see the examples above).
ÌýMissing letters
Even though Swahili uses the same alphabet as English, the letters Q and X are not used in Swahili.
ÌýEmail and website conventions
When giving an email or website address the conventions are:
Ìý@Ìýkwa, at
Ìý.Ìýnukta, dot
Ìý/Ìýmkwaju, slash
Ìý/Ìýkuunga, hyphenÌý
Â鶹Éç Languages links
Guide to Arabic: Key facts and phrases
Quick Fix: Essential phrases in 36 languages
