The Swahili Alphabet

Q: What is the Swahili language?

Kiswahili (Swahili, ISO 639-3: swa) is a Bantu language and the principal lingua franca of East and Central Africa. It has over 200 million speakers — approximately 15–20 million as a first language and the remainder as a second or trade language. It is the official language of Kenya , Tanzania , and Uganda [1] . Swahili is unique among Bantu languages in the scale of its spread as a lingua franca. It is taught as a subject across East Africa and has official status in the African Union since 2022. The word Kiswahili uses the Ki- noun-class prefix — meaning "language of" — applied to the Swahili people of the East African coast [3] .

Q: What alphabet does Swahili use?

Swahili uses 26 standard Latin letters A–Z , the same set as English, with no diacritics or special characters. The orthography is highly phonetic : every letter is always pronounced, every written vowel is spoken, and there are no silent letters or ambiguous sounds [2] . The main complexity comes from digraphs — two-letter units representing single sounds: ch (/tʃ/), sh (/ʃ/), mb, nd, ng, nj (prenasalized stops), ny (/ɲ/), and the Arabic-borrowed dh, gh, kh, th . Also special: ng' (ng + apostrophe) = velar nasal /ŋ/, distinguished from the prenasalized ng (/ᵑɡ/) [2] .

Q: Why does Swahili have Arabic loanwords?

Swahili absorbed a large number of Arabic loanwords through centuries of Indian Ocean trade. Arab and Persian merchants settled along the East African coast from around the 7th century CE, establishing trade networks and intermarrying with Bantu-speaking coastal communities. The resulting creole-influenced culture produced the Swahili civilisation of city-states like Kilwa, Mombasa, and Zanzibar [2] . Arabic loanwords include dawa (medicine — from Arabic dawā'), kitabu (book — from kitāb), habari (news — from ḫabar), and the numerals sita (6) and saba (7). The Arabic-borrowed digraphs (dh, gh, kh, th) appear primarily in these loanwords. Despite this vocabulary layer, Swahili grammar — including its noun-class system — remains entirely Bantu [1] .

Q: What is the Swahili noun-class system?

Swahili has approximately 15 noun classes (inherited from Proto-Bantu), each with a distinctive prefix. The prefix changes the meaning of the word and triggers subject–verb agreement throughout the sentence. Key classes: m-/wa- (class 1/2, people: mtu/watu = person/people), ki-/vi- (class 7/8, things: kitu/vitu = thing/things), m-/mi- (class 3/4, trees/plants) [2] . The Ki- prefix in Kiswahili (class 7) is the "language of" class — the same pattern as Chi-tonga, Chi-tumbuka, and Chi-chewa. Changing the prefix changes the meaning: mtu (person), watu (people), utu (humanity/personhood). The noun-class system is Swahili's most distinctively Bantu grammatical feature [3] .

Q: What does "safari" mean in Swahili?

In Swahili, safari means journey or travel — any kind of trip, not specifically a wildlife expedition. The word comes from Arabic safar (journey/travel) and entered Swahili through centuries of Indian Ocean trade contact. It entered English through the East African game-hunting expeditions of the 19th and early 20th centuries [2] . Other Swahili words that have entered English or global culture include bwana (boss/mister), simba (lion — familiar from The Lion King ), and hakuna matata (no worries/no problems — literally "there are no problems"). Uhuru (freedom/independence) was the rallying word of East African independence movements in the 1960s [1] .

Q: How many speakers does Swahili have?

Swahili has approximately 15–20 million first-language speakers and over 200 million total speakers when second-language users are included. The United Nations recognises this scale on World Kiswahili Language Day (7 July), noting Kiswahili is spoken across eastern and central Africa and serves communities from the DRC to Madagascar [1] . Tanzania has the highest number of first-language speakers (mainly coastal Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam communities). As a second language, Swahili functions as the lingua franca of East Africa — used in education, government, trade, and media across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, and eastern DRC. The East African Community (EAC) uses Kiswahili as a key working language alongside English [3] .

Q: Is Swahili a tonal language?

Standard Swahili (based on the Zanzibar dialect) is not a tone language — it has a fixed penultimate stress accent (stress falls on the second-to-last syllable). This contrasts with most other Bantu languages: Zulu, Xhosa, Siswati, Tumbuka, Chitonga, and Tshivenda all have tonal systems (usually two or three tone levels) [2] . Some Swahili dialects (notably Mombasa Swahili on the Kenyan coast) retain tone distinctions from older Bantu substrate languages. Standard written Swahili does not mark stress or tone in the orthography. The absence of lexical tone in standard Swahili is one reason it has spread so successfully as a second language — tone systems are difficult for learners from non-tonal backgrounds [3] .

Q: What is the ISO 639-3 code for Swahili?

The ISO 639-3 code for Swahili (Kiswahili) is swa — a three-letter code. The ISO 639-1 two-letter code is sw . Swahili is one of the six official working languages of the African Union (alongside English, French, Arabic, Spanish, and Portuguese), having been admitted in 2022 as part of the AU's language diversity policy [3] . The University of Kansas Kiswahili Language Program (kiswahili.ku.edu) is one of North America's most prominent Swahili language programmes. The United Nations University and the East African Legislative Assembly both use Kiswahili as a working language. Swahili is the only African language used regularly in UN General Assembly proceedings [2] .

Swahili Language at a Glance

Kiswahili (Swahili, ISO 639-3: swa) is the most widely spoken Bantu language and the principal lingua franca of East and Central Africa, with over 200 million speakers including second-language users. It is the official language of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, an official working language of the African Union since 2022, and a key language of the East African Community (EAC) ^[1]
Swahili uses 26 standard Latin letters with no diacritics. Its orthography is highly phonetic — every letter is pronounced, there are no silent letters, and each letter consistently represents one sound. This regularity makes Swahili one of the most phonetically consistent major African languages ^[2]
Swahili has four digraphs borrowed through Arabic: dh (/ð/ — "this"), gh (/ɣ/ — velar fricative), kh (/x/ — "loch"), and th (/θ/ — "think"). These appear in Arabic loanwords and reflect centuries of Indian Ocean trade contact between East African coastal peoples and Omani Arab merchants from the 7th century onward ^[2]
The Swahili noun-class system is the language's grammatical core: 15 concord classes (based on Proto-Bantu classes) each have a distinctive prefix that changes the meaning and triggers agreement across the sentence. The prefixes m-/wa- (class 1/2 for people: mtu/watu), ki-/vi- (class 7/8 for things: kitu/vitu), and n-/n- (class 9/10) are fundamental to Swahili grammar ^[2]
Swahili numerals blend Bantu roots (1–5, 8, 9, 10) with Arabic borrowings (6: sita; 7: saba). The Bantu numeral root kumi (10) is the pan-Bantu *-kumi word found in Zulu ishumi, Tumbuka khumi, and Tshivenda gumi. The word safari (journey) entered English via Swahili, as did the philosophical concept ubuntu (humanity/human-kindness from the Nguni Bantu word) ^[1]
The University of Kansas Kiswahili Language Program is one of North America's leading centres for Swahili language education. The United Nations designated 7 July as World Kiswahili Language Day in recognition of Swahili's role as a bridge language for over 200 million speakers across Africa and the diaspora ^[3]

Swahili Vowels:

[a]

[e]

[i]

[o]

[u]

Swahili Consonants:

[b]

[tʃ]

[d]

[ð]

[f]

[ɡ]

[ɣ]

[h]

[dʒ]

[k]

[x]

[l]

[ᵐb]

[m]

[n]

[ⁿd]

[ᵑɡ]

ng'

[ŋ]

[ⁿdʒ]

[ɲ]

[p]

[r]

[s]

[ʃ]

[t]

[θ]

[v]

[w]

[j]

[z]

[b]

Voiced bilabial stop /b/ — Swahili: baba (father), bahari (ocean/sea), bustani (garden)

[tʃ]

Voiceless postalveolar affricate /tʃ/ — CH as in "church"; Swahili: chakula (food), chuo (school/college), cheza (play)

[d]

Voiced alveolar stop /d/ — Swahili: damu (blood), dawa (medicine), duka (shop)

[ð]

Voiced dental fricative /ð/ — like English "th" in "this"; borrowed via Arabic loanwords; Swahili: dhuluma (oppression), dhambi (sin)

[f]

Voiceless labiodental fricative /f/ — Swahili: faida (benefit/profit), familia (family), furaha (happiness/joy)

[ɡ]

Voiced velar stop /ɡ/ — Swahili: gari (car/vehicle), gazeti (newspaper), ghali (expensive — note gh is a separate digraph)

[ɣ]

Voiced velar fricative /ɣ/ — Arabic borrowing; a "soft g" sound; Swahili: ghali (expensive), ghafla (suddenly), mghairi (other/unlike)

[h]

Voiceless glottal fricative /h/ — Swahili: hewa (air), haki (right/justice), habari (news — the standard East African greeting "habari?" = "what's the news?")

[dʒ]

Voiced postalveolar affricate /dʒ/ — J as in "jam"; Swahili: jambo (hello/matter/thing), jua (sun), jibu (answer)

[k]

Voiceless velar stop /k/ — Swahili: karibu (welcome), kazi (work), kumi (ten — the pan-Bantu root shared with Zulu ishumi, Tumbuka khumi)

[x]

Voiceless velar fricative /x/ — like Scottish "loch"; Arabic borrowing; Swahili: kheri (good/well), khasara (loss/damage), akhlaki (ethics/morals)

[l]

Alveolar lateral approximant /l/ — Swahili: lugha (language), leo (today), lala (sleep)

[ᵐb]

Prenasalized voiced bilabial stop /ᵐb/ — a single phoneme, not two; Swahili: mbili (two — the pan-Bantu root shared with Zulu -bili, Tumbuka -bili), mbaya (bad), mboga (vegetables)

[m]

Bilabial nasal /m/ — Swahili: mtu (person — from m- singular prefix of noun class 1), mama (mother), maji (water)

[n]

Alveolar nasal /n/ — Swahili: ndizi (banana), nchi (country), nyumba (house)

[ⁿd]

Prenasalized voiced alveolar stop /ⁿd/ — a single phoneme; Swahili: ndizi (banana), ndege (bird/airplane), ndugu (sibling/comrade)

[ᵑɡ]

Prenasalized voiced velar stop /ᵑɡ/ — a single phoneme; Swahili: ngoma (drum — the famous Swahili drum tradition), ngozi (skin/leather), nguvu (power/strength)

ng'

[ŋ]

Velar nasal /ŋ/ — same as English 'ng' in 'sing'; spelled ng' (with apostrophe) to distinguish from the prenasalized ng; Swahili: ng'ombe (cow/cattle), ng'aa (to shine/sparkle)

[ⁿdʒ]

Prenasalized voiced postalveolar affricate /ⁿdʒ/ — a single phoneme; Swahili: njia (path/way/road), njema (good/fine — as in "safari njema" = "have a good journey")

[ɲ]

Palatal nasal /ɲ/ — like "ny" in "canyon"; a single phoneme; Swahili: nyumba (house), nyama (meat), nywele (hair)

[p]

Voiceless bilabial stop /p/ — Swahili: paka (cat), pesa (money), pumzika (rest/relax)

[r]

Alveolar flap /ɾ/ — a short tap, not the English /r/; Swahili: rafiki (friend), rudi (return), ramani (map)

[s]

Voiceless alveolar fricative /s/ — Swahili: safari (journey/travel — entering English through Swahili), salama (peace/safe — from Arabic salama), siku (day)

[ʃ]

Voiceless postalveolar fricative /ʃ/ — SH as in "ship"; Swahili: shule (school), shamba (farm/field), shauri (matter/affair)

[t]

Voiceless alveolar stop /t/ — Swahili: tena (again), tisa (nine), tatu (three)

[θ]

Voiceless dental fricative /θ/ — like English "th" in "think"; Arabic borrowing; Swahili: thamani (value/worth), thelathini (thirty)

[v]

Voiced labiodental fricative /v/ — Swahili: vitu (things — from ki/vi noun class 7/8 plural), vijana (youth), vitabu (books)

[w]

Labio-velar approximant /w/ — Swahili: watu (people — from m-/wa- noun class 1/2 plural), wewe (you), wakati (time)

[j]

Palatal approximant /j/ — Y as in "yes"; Swahili: yeye (he/she), yai (egg), yule (that one — distal demonstrative)

[z]

Voiced alveolar fricative /z/ — Swahili: zawadi (gift), zamani (long ago/the past), zana (tools)

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[1]

One in Swahili — moja (Bantu root; shared with many East African languages; compare Tumbuka chimodzi)

[2]

Two in Swahili — mbili (Bantu root; the mb- is a prenasalized bilabial, as in ngoma; compare Zulu -bili, Tumbuka -bili — the same Proto-Bantu root)

[3]

Three in Swahili — tatu (Bantu root; compare Zulu -thathu, Tumbuka vitatu — all from the same Proto-Bantu root *-tatu)

[4]

Four in Swahili — nne (Bantu root; compare Zulu -ne, Xhosa -ne, Tumbuka vinai — the pan-Bantu root *-nai/-ne)

[5]

Five in Swahili — tano (Bantu root; unlike the Nguni -hlanu with lateral fricative, Swahili uses the regular -tano form; compare Tumbuka visanu — both from Proto-Bantu *-tanu)

[6]

Six in Swahili — sita (from Arabic sitta; one of two numerals borrowed from Arabic, replacing an earlier Bantu form)

[7]

Seven in Swahili — saba (from Arabic sab'a; Swahili acquired this alongside sita through centuries of Omani Arab trade contact on the East African coast)

[8]

Eight in Swahili — nane (Bantu root; compare Zulu isishiyagalombili "leave two" — contrasting counting strategies; Swahili retained the original additive Bantu eight-root)

[9]

Nine in Swahili — tisa (Bantu root; compare Zulu isishiyagalolunye "leave one" — Zulu lexicalised 9 but Swahili kept the original root tisa)

[10]

Ten in Swahili — kumi (Bantu root; the pan-Bantu *-kumi root found in Zulu ishumi, Tumbuka khumi, Tshivenda gumi — one of the most conserved numerals across the entire Bantu family)

[a]

[b]

[tʃ]

[d]

[e]

[f]

[ɡ]

[h]

[i]

[dʒ]

[k]

[l]

[m]

[n]

[o]

[p]

[ɾ]

[s]

[t]

[u]

[v]

[w]

[j]

[z]

[a]

Open central vowel /a/ — Swahili: asante (thank you), Afrika, baba (father)

[b]

Voiced bilabial stop /b/ — Swahili: bahari (sea/ocean), bustani (garden)

[tʃ]

Always /tʃ/ as part of the digraph ch — Swahili: chakula (food), chuo (school). C alone is rare in native Swahili words.

[d]

Voiced alveolar stop /d/ — Swahili: dawa (medicine), duka (shop)

[e]

Mid front vowel /e/ — Swahili: elimu (education), wewe (you)

[f]

Voiceless labiodental fricative /f/ — Swahili: faida (benefit), furaha (joy)

[ɡ]

Voiced velar stop /ɡ/ — Swahili: gari (car), giza (darkness)

[h]

Voiceless glottal fricative /h/ — Swahili: habari (news/greetings), haki (right/justice)

[i]

Close front vowel /i/ — Swahili: inchi (country), mimi (I/me)

[dʒ]

Voiced postalveolar affricate /dʒ/ — Swahili: jambo (hello/thing), jua (sun)

[k]

Voiceless velar stop /k/ — Swahili: karibu (welcome), kumi (ten)

[l]

Alveolar lateral approximant /l/ — Swahili: lugha (language), leo (today)

[m]

Bilabial nasal /m/ — also the singular noun-class 1 prefix (mtu = person; mwana = child); Swahili: mama, maji (water)

[n]

Alveolar nasal /n/ — also the singular noun-class 9 prefix; Swahili: nchi (country), nyumba (house)

[o]

Close-mid back rounded vowel /o/ — Swahili: moto (fire/hot), ovyo (carelessly)

[p]

Voiceless bilabial stop /p/ — Swahili: paka (cat), pesa (money)

[ɾ]

Alveolar flap /ɾ/ — Swahili: rafiki (friend), rudi (return)

[s]

Voiceless alveolar fricative /s/ — Swahili: safari (journey), salama (peace)

[t]

Voiceless alveolar stop /t/ — Swahili: tena (again), tatu (three)

[u]

Close back rounded vowel /u/ — Swahili: uhuru (freedom), ujumbe (message)

[v]

Voiced labiodental fricative /v/ — Swahili: vijana (youth), vitabu (books)

[w]

Labio-velar approximant /w/ — Swahili: watu (people), wakati (time)

[j]

Palatal approximant /j/ — Swahili: yeye (he/she), yai (egg)

[z]

Voiced alveolar fricative /z/ — Swahili: zawadi (gift), zamani (the past)

Swahili Ajami — Arabic Script for Kiswahili

Before the Latin alphabet was standardised in the 19th century, Swahili was written in Ajami (from Arabic ʿajamī, meaning "non-Arab script") — the Arabic alphabet adapted for Kiswahili. Zanzibar and the East African coast produced Ajami manuscripts, verse epics (tendi), and Islamic devotional texts from the 18th century onward ^[2].

The standard 28 Arabic letters cover most Swahili sounds, with four extended letters added for sounds absent from Arabic: پ (p), چ (ch), گ (g), ڤ (v). Arabic script runs right to left; diacritics mark short vowels ^[3].

[a]

[b]

[t]

[θ]

[dʒ]

[h]

[x]

[d]

[ð]

[r]

[z]

[s]

[ʃ]

[s]

[d]

[t]

[ð]

[ʔ]

[ɣ]

[f]

[k]

[l]

[m]

[n]

[h]

[w]

[j]

[p]

[tʃ]

[ɡ]

[v]

[a]

Alif — vowel bearer; represents /a/ or long /aː/ with diacritics; also marks the glottal stop at word onset; the most frequent letter in Swahili Ajami texts

[b]

Bāʾ — voiced bilabial stop /b/; Swahili: baba (father), bahari (sea), bustani (garden)

[t]

Tāʾ — voiceless alveolar stop /t/; Swahili: tatu (three), tena (again), tisa (nine)

[θ]

Thāʾ — voiceless dental fricative /θ/ as in "think"; used in Arabic loanwords: thamani (value), thelathini (thirty)

[dʒ]

Jīm — voiced postalveolar affricate /dʒ/; Swahili: jambo (hello), jua (sun), jibu (answer)

[h]

Ḥāʾ — pharyngeal /ħ/ in Arabic; rendered as /h/ in Swahili; habari (ḥabar = news in Arabic), ḥaki → haki (right/justice)

[x]

Khāʾ — voiceless velar fricative /x/ as in Scottish "loch"; Swahili: kheri (good/well), akhlaki (ethics)

[d]

Dāl — voiced alveolar stop /d/; Swahili: dawa (medicine), duka (shop), damu (blood)

[ð]

Dhāl — voiced dental fricative /ð/ as in "this"; Arabic loanwords: dhuluma (oppression), dhambi (sin)

[r]

Rāʾ — alveolar flap /ɾ/; Swahili: rafiki (friend), ramani (map), rudi (return)

[z]

Zayn — voiced alveolar fricative /z/; Swahili: zawadi (gift), zamani (the past/long ago)

[s]

Sīn — voiceless alveolar fricative /s/; Swahili: safari (journey), salama (peace), siku (day)

[ʃ]

Shīn — postalveolar fricative /ʃ/ as in "ship"; Swahili: shule (school), shamba (farm), shauri (matter)

[s]

Ṣād — emphatic /sˤ/ in Arabic; merged with sīn /s/ in Swahili pronunciation; retained in Ajami for etymological spelling of Arabic loanwords

[d]

Ḍād — emphatic /dˤ/ in Arabic; merged with dāl /d/ in Swahili; classical Arabic grammarians called Arabic "the language of the Ḍād" — this letter uniquely identified the Arabic tongue

[t]

Ṭāʾ — emphatic /tˤ/ in Arabic; merged with tāʾ /t/ in Swahili; retained in Ajami script for etymological spelling of Arabic-origin words

[ð]

Ẓāʾ — emphatic /ðˤ/ in Arabic; merged with dhāl /ð/ in Swahili; the four emphatic letters (ص ض ط ظ) have no distinct Swahili phonemes and were written but not pronounced differently

[ʔ]

ʿAyn — voiced pharyngeal fricative /ʕ/ in Arabic; in Swahili Ajami it functions as a vowel bearer or is dropped; ʿilmu → elimu (knowledge), ʿali → ali (noble name)

[ɣ]

Ghayn — voiced velar fricative /ɣ/, a "soft g" sound; Swahili: ghali (expensive), ghafla (suddenly)

[f]

Fāʾ — voiceless labiodental fricative /f/; Swahili: faida (benefit/profit), familia (family), furaha (joy)

[k]

Qāf — uvular stop /q/ in Arabic; typically realised as /k/ in standard Swahili; conservative coastal speech may preserve /q/ in words like Qurani (Quran)

[k]

Kāf — voiceless velar stop /k/; Swahili: karibu (welcome), kazi (work), kumi (ten)

[l]

Lām — alveolar lateral approximant /l/; Swahili: lugha (language), leo (today), lala (sleep)

[m]

Mīm — bilabial nasal /m/; also the Swahili noun-class 1 singular prefix (mtu = person); Swahili: mama, maji (water)

[n]

Nūn — alveolar nasal /n/; in Ajami also used to write prenasalized clusters (mb, nd, ng, nj) by combining with the following stop letter

[h]

Hāʾ — voiceless glottal fricative /h/; Swahili: habari (news/greetings), haki (justice), hewa (air)

[w]

Wāw — labio-velar approximant /w/ at syllable onset; also represents /u/ or long /uː/ in Arabic loanwords; Swahili: watu (people), uhuru (freedom — u written with wāw)

[j]

Yāʾ — palatal approximant /j/ at syllable onset; also represents /i/ or long /iː/ in Arabic loanwords; Swahili: yeye (he/she), yai (egg)

[p]

Extended bāʾ with three dots below — voiceless bilabial /p/, absent from Arabic; added in Swahili Ajami for Bantu words: paka (cat), pesa (money), pumzika (rest)

[tʃ]

Extended jīm with three dots below — postalveolar affricate /tʃ/ as in "church"; added for the ch digraph: chakula (food), chuo (school), cheza (play)

[ɡ]

Extended kāf with three dots above — voiced velar stop /ɡ/, absent from standard Arabic; added for Bantu-origin words: gari (car), giza (darkness)

[v]

Extended fāʾ with three dots above — voiced labiodental fricative /v/, absent from Arabic; added for Swahili: vijana (youth), vitabu (books), vitu (things)

Expand All Collapse All

What is the Swahili language?

What alphabet does Swahili use?

Why does Swahili have Arabic loanwords?

What is the Swahili noun-class system?

What does "safari" mean in Swahili?

How many speakers does Swahili have?

Is Swahili a tonal language?

What is the ISO 639-3 code for Swahili?

References:

[1] United Nations. "World Kiswahili Language Day". Retrieved from United Nations — World Kiswahili Language Day
[2] University of Kansas, Department of African and African-American Studies. "Introduction to Kiswahili Language". Retrieved from University of Kansas — Kiswahili Language Program
[3] African Union (AU). "Kiswahili Portal — Official Languages of the African Union". Retrieved from African Union — Kiswahili Language Portal