Swahili

Swahili Greetings 101 (Maamkio / Salamu)

How can teaching help you learn as a self-directed learner?

“Coming up with a lesson for Swahili was a great exercise to help me review what I already knew about greetings in Swahili. It also helped me look into the cultural significance of some of these greetings I have been using for a long time without really having a background on the cultural significance. Additionally, thinking of how I can teach what I know reinforced my knowledge because I had to deconstruct what I knew and the best way to communicate this to non-Swahili speakers.” – Irène Tombo
Now let’s learn and practice some Swahili Greetings!
There are multiple ways of greeting in Kiswahili but today we will focus on the following: 
  • A). Shikamoo.
  • B). Habari gani?
  • C). Hujambo?
  • D). U hali gani?
  • E). Mambo? / Vipi?

A). Shikamoo (formal)

Example 1 – A younger person greeting an elder person

Youth: Shikamoo. [I touch your feet/ I am under you feet.]

Elder Person: Marahaba. [You have my blessings.]

B). Habari gani?

Example 1 – Two people greeting each other (formal)

Person A: Habari gani? [What’s the news/how are things?]

Person B: Nzuri! [Good]

Alternative responses:

Person B – Nzuri / njema / salama / safi / sawa / poa.

 [Good / nice / peaceful / clean / fine / cool.]

 

 

C). Hujambo?

Example 1 – Two people greeting each other

Person A: Hujambo? [How are you doing?]

Person B: Sijambo. [I am okay / fine!]

 

Example 2 – Teacher greeting students

Teacher: Hamjambo? [How are you doing?]

Students: Hatujambo! [We are okay / fine!]

 

D). U hali gani?

Example 1 – Two people greeting each other

Person A: U hali gani? [What’s your condition? / How are you?]

Person B: Njema. [Nice]

 

Example 2 – One person greeting many people

Person A: M hali gani? [What’s your condition? / How are you?]

Persons B, C, & D: Salama. [Peaceful]

Alternative responses:

Person B – Nzuri / njema / salama / safi / sawa / poa.

 [Good / nice / peaceful / clean / fine / cool.]

 

E). Mambo? / Vipi? (informal)

Example 1 – Two people greeting each other

Person A: Vipi? [What’s up?]
Person B: Poa. [Cool]

Example 2 – Two people greeting each other

Person A: Mambo? [What’s up?]
Person B: Safi. [Clean]

Alternative responses:

Person B – Nzuri / njema / salama / safi / sawa / poa.

 [Good / nice / peaceful / clean / fine / cool.]

 

Practice:

Provide the Swahili translation.

  1. What’s up? _______________ ? OR    ______________ ?
  2. What’s the news/how are things? ____________________?
  3. I touch your feet/ I am under you feet. _________________.
  4. Good! __________ !
  5. Nice! __________ !
  6. How are you doing? _________________ ?
  7. Peaceful! _____________ !
  8. Clean! ___________ !
  9. You have my blessings. ______________.
  10. Fine! __________ !
  11. Cool !  ________ !
  12. I am okay / fine! _________________ !
  13. How are you doing? _________________ ?
  14. We are okay / fine! _________________.
  15. What’s your condition? / How are you? (Greeting one person) __________________________________ ?
  16. What’s your condition? / How are you? (Greeting many people) _________________________________ ?

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Resources for Self-Instructional Learners of Less Commonly Taught Languages Copyright © by University of Wisconsin-Madison Students in African 671 is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.