INTRODUCTION

Learning Swahili from the Source-   Jifunze Kiswahili kutoka kitovuni.

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Kiswahili Beginners

KISWAHILI ELEMENTARY/BEGINNERS LEVEL

The Swahili morphology is similar to that of other Bantu languages. For example, when constructing a syllable just like in all other Bantu languages there are seven structures i.e.

(1)          Consonant and vowel e.g. dada (sister)

(2)          Syllables formed from vowels only e.g. oa (marry)

(3)          Syllables formed from consonants only e.g. mtu (person)

(4)          Syllables formed from more than one consonants and vowel e.g. ngoja (wait)

(5)          Syllables formed from a consonant semi vowel and a vowel e.g. mwalimu (teacher)

(6)          Syllables formed from two consonants a semi vowel and a vowel e.g. mbwa (dog)

Bantu languages have nouns that are grouped into different categories known as noun classes. These divisions are based on grammatical agreement in a sentence brought about by subject noun agreement; Swahili has noun classes which also rely on subject noun agreement.

Lastly, the fact that Swahili language has five vowels (a,e,i,o,u) just like many other Bantu languages qualifies it to be a Bantu language.

Swahili language spread and became an East African lingua franca through factors like trade, religion, internal strife, administration and education.

Pronunciation

Swahili is an easy language to learn, especially when it comes to pronunciation. Many Swahili words are pronounced the way they are written. It is however important to know that stress on Swahili words falls on the second last syllable. e.g

Nunua has three syllables, nu-nu-a. The stress will fall on the second nu.

There are 24 letters in the standard Swahili alphabet where Q and X are not used. The following are the letters in standard Swahili:-

A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  R  S  T  U V  W  Y  Z

Vowels

Swahili language has 5 vowels all of them cardinal as follows:

A  as in ask e.g   anza (start)

E  as in egg            e.g   embe (mango)

I  as in ink              e.g  imba (sing)

O  as in off             e.g omba (pray)

U  as in full             e.g  uta (bow)

Consonants

In Swahili consonants cannot be pronounced on their own but with a vowel. These are referred to as syllables.

B             as in bad

D             as in dive

F              as in father

G             as in guard         

H             as in have

J              as in just

K             as in clan/karaoke?

L             as in love

M            as in must

N             as in nice

P             as in persist

R             as in rice

S              as in snap

T              as in trust

V             as in vase

W            as in wonder

Y              as in yatch

Z              as in zest

Combinations

Syllables can also be made by combining a consonant with a semi vowel and a vowel, two consonants with a vowel or two consonants with a semi vowel and a vowel and one vowel. Swahili has two semi vowels, w and y. The following examples will serve as an elaboration to this.

Letters      approximate sound                             example

CH           as in church, each                             chumba- room