Swahili is one of the most loved language spoken in Africa especially on the east coast of Africa. People who speak Swahili as their mother tongue language are usually referred as Waswahili. In Tanzania Swahili is the language of administration and used as a tool of teaching in primary education level. However in Kenya and Uganda Swahili is after English since English language in both these countries is the main language. Furthermore, Swahili is also spoken in different countries such as Rwanda, Congo (DRC) and even in central and southern countries. In fact, Swahili language is used much in sub-Saharan Africa and is the most taught African language in the world, with a very rich literary tradition.

What is Swahili?

The name Swahili originates from Arabic language which means ‘of the coast’, This Swahili was named from the Arabic word sawaahili (سواحلي), which means ‘of the coast’, which you would use to refer to coastal people. The east coast of Africa is an area extending from Lamu Island, Kenya, in the north to the southern border of Tanzania in the south. The Bantu languages form a subgroup of the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo language family. Swahili (kiswahili) has 80 to 110 million speakers, but interestingly, very few speak it as their mother tongue and 90 million speak it as a second language.

Open to multiple influences, Swahili is first of all a Bantu language (family of Niger-Kordofanian languages), of which it has some fundamental characteristics such as the high number of nominal classes or genres, and simple phonetics with the tonic accent almost always on the penultimate syllable of words. The declension of nouns and adjectives is based not on the variation of the endings, but on the use of prefixes that specify the nominal class and the number (singular or plural).

The verbal system is complex in that, through the precise concatenation of prefixes and suffixes, the person, the tense and the root are merged in one word.

From a lexical point of view, modern Swahili incorporates terms coming mainly from other African languages ​​and to a lesser extent from Arabic, Persian, Hindi and English. Then come Portuguese, German and French terms, often reserved for specific sectors such as, for example, navigation, religion or law.

A curiosity of the Swahili is the unusual way of counting the hours of the day starting from sunrise, always at 6 in the morning, and ending at sunset, always at 6 in the evening. According to this system, 9 a.m. becomes 3 a.m. and 9 p.m. is 3 p.m.

Brief history and origin

Swahili originated from an African language of Bantu, where Bantu refers to people who speak Bantu languages. Swahili (from the Arabic sahel, coast, shore or border) was born on the east coast of Africa over 1000 years ago, as a language for merchant exchanges between Africa and Asia.

The routes of the caravans of merchants and blacksmiths first, and European colonization later, pushed the Swahili to spread from the ports overlooking the Indian Ocean to the internal regions of the African continent.

Thus born as a commercial language, Swahili is a Bantu language with important contributions derived from the Arabic, Persian and Hindi languages.

Initially written with Arabic characters, it later adopted the Latin alphabet, enriching itself in the colonial period with terms from Portuguese, English and German.

In 1930 it was defined the “standard Swahili” alongside which many dialectal variations still persist, from the Zungibar kiunguja to the kimrima of the Tanzanian coast, passing through the Congolese kingwana, the Somali chimwiini and the Nairobi sheng, to name just a few.

Although the entire East African community recognizes itself in this language, in Tanzania Swahili has played an authentic political role as it has been one of the pillars of the construction of the national identity, becoming the official language of the country together with English.

Let’s learn some Swahili proverbs and common words:

Karibu ATA Safaris,

Meaning: Welcome to ATA Safaris

Dalili ya mvua ni mawingu

Literal translation: Clouds are a sign of rain

Meaning: You can predict your success by watching for the right signs.

Haraka haraka haina baraka

Literal translation: Hurry, hurry has no blessing

Meaning: Haste makes waste.

Wapiganapo tembo wawili ziumiazo nyasi

Literal translation: When two elephants fight it’s the grass that gets hurt

Meaning: When the rich and powerful contend with each other it is the weak and powerless who pay the price.

Some Swahili common words which can be useful during your safari in Tanzania are

jambo! hello

habari gani? how are you?

Mzima wa Afya, all right

na wewe? and you?

asante, thank you

chakula chema, enjoy your meal

tafadhali, please

samahani, sorry

safari njema, good trip

siku njema, good day

kwaheri, goodbye

hakuna matata, no problem

shillingapi?, how much?

unaitwa nani? what’s your name?

karibuni! welcome!

haya! ok

simba, lion

kifaru, rhino

tembo, elephant

swala, gazelle

kiboko, hippopotamus

twiga, giraffe

Last but not least, in order to avoid confusion depending on the way you pronounce Swahili words, you should know some few words about ‘what not to say and do’ such as ‘Maziwa’ it can refer to milk but sometimes Swahili speakers also use it as a word for breast. So to avoid confusion in speaking Swahili when visiting amazing people in Tanzania, allow Savannah Explorers team who know to use Swahili words properly so that they introduce you to these Tanzanians where Swahili is their mother tongue language. Contact us at for your unforgettable safari in Tanzania.